LC GEC 18 COURSE MANUAL UNIT2.

THE ACT

Module 8

Moral Courage

INTRODUCTION

We encounter different moral dilemmas every day. We make decisions to resolve this
dilemma. However, sometimes our decisions are different with what we actually do to
address that dilemma. Sometimes we falter to execute our plan. Hence, we need to
study this behavior. In this module, we will discuss about moral courage and moral
imagination.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

1. Define moral imagination and moral courage;

2. Differentiate knowing and actually executing a good moral decision;
3. Judge your own moral behavior in terms of planning and execution in important
moral experiences.

DISCUSSION
I would like you to recall the social issues that you have observed these past few days.
Of course, many of these issues are quiet connected with COVID-19 such as stranded
OFWs, poor people who were not able to receive their SAP subsidies, public officials
who were included in the list of the SAP recipients, and others. We include in here the
questions on honesty, whistleblowing, or may be cheating in this time that the whole
country is suffering from the effects of the pandemic. If you were to decide on what are
we going to do with these people, what do you think is your decision? There are only
two possibilities for your decision. Maybe you give your sentiments to these people or
you may go against them. Whether you decide to be or not to be with these people, the
question is why did you decide that way? Does it take courage to do it?

In this module, we are going to describe and discuss moral imagination and moral
courage?

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Dr. Manny Dy, in his article, Moral Courage, shared a case of his student.

Dr. Dy shared a recent moral dilemma of student X who was discovered by his teaching
assistant to have plagiarized a part of his paper.

He had this dilemma: After giving him an F for his paper, should I file a case in the
Committee on Discipline which would mean suspension or dismissal?

He made this decision: I asked him to write to me a letter to be given to me personally

the following day explaining why I should nor report him to the Committee on Discipline.

According to Dr. Dy: He did write a handwritten (2 pages of yellow pad paper) the gist
of which is begging me to give him another chance for the sake of his parents. But what
touched me in the letter is his mention of what he was taught in grade school: when
you do something wrong, it is not enough to say “I’m sorry, I will not do it again.”, but
also to ask for recompense.

Dr. Dy continued that he saw two insights from his experience:

 Moral imagination: his asking him to write that letter

 Moral courage: my not reporting him to the Committee after reading the letter.

MORAL IMAGINATION

Moral imagination is the necessary ingredient in responsible moral judgment. There are
times that you just sit down on your chair and allow your mind to bring you to a world of
fantasy. Or you may be imagining that you are having a date with your crush. Or you
may be filled with worries when you are imagining of what will happen when your
neighbor whom you have a debt of 1,000.00 will pop-up today in your house and will get
the sum from you. The Bible says: Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares
about what happens to you (1 Peter 5:7). Sometimes our imagination will make us sick
if we do not allow ourselves to trust God.

When we speak about imagination, I think this is the first thing that we can think of.
But, is this really what imagination is all about?

 Imagination: way to frame experience= broaden, evaluate, change moral point of

view
 Imagination is…Adam Smith -“Faculty that enables us to understand the
sentiments of others”

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Patricia Werhane in Moral Imagination and Management Decision Making expressed

what moral imagination is all about. “…a questing spirit…(or) moral imagination. While
I do not argue that all moral reasoning is grounded in the imagination, I conclude that
moral imagination is necessary ingredient in responsible moral judgment. Only through
imagination can one project alternative ways to frame experience and thus broaden,
evaluate, and even change one’s moral point of view.” (pp 89-126)

What is moral imagination?

I would like to present here three definitions of moral imagination based from the article
of Dr. Dy:

For Charles Latmore: “our ability to elaborate and appraise different courses of action
which are only partially determined by the given content of moral rules, in order to learn
what in a particular situation is the morally best thing to do…Moral imagination belongs
to…the exercise of moral judgment” (Werhane, p.92)

Moral imagination as Latmore points it out is a skill or a capacity of an individual person.

Since it is an ability, it must be harnessed. This is a skill to “elaborate and appraise
different courses of action”. As moral agents, we need this skill of understanding how
do we act and why did we act like that on a given situation.

For Mark Johnson: “an ability to imaginatively discern various possibilities for acting
within a given situation and to envision the potential help and harm that are likely to
result from a given situation”

“Moral imagination, then, is the ability in particular circumstances to discover and

evaluate possibilities not merely determined by that circumstance, or limited by its
operative mental models, or merely framed by a set of rules or rule-governed concerns.”
(Werhane, p.95)

We can say then that moral imagination is necessary but not a sufficient condition for
moral decision making. Moral reasoning is still needed. Therefore, to be truly
imaginative, we must be disengaged, and yet we still be operating within a scheme.

“Moral imagination involves developing less partial and self-critical perspectives. But
this is obviously a dynamic, two-way relationship, for being self-critical and at the same
time cognizant of one’s schema requires lots of imagination on one particular situation.
On the other hand, this process is not just imaginative. To be morally imaginative, one
needs to appeal to good reasons as the basis for evaluation and moral judgments, good
reasons supplied by the ideal of an impartial spectator, social moral rules, expectations
of common morality, and moral standards.” (Werhane, p117)

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Are we then tied to a relativistic notion of spheres of social goods? (Michael Walzer,
Spheres of Justice)

“Because different societies or different groups within a society could have quite
disparate social goods, one can define “basic goods, or the human good “only
contextually” (Walzer, Chapter 1)

Moral Minimums (Michael Walzer, Through Thick and Thin)

 The mutual agreements on what is unjust

 Negative standards, the “bottom lines”
 Still subject to change according to different historical periods, yet appeal to
impartial standards, still within limits of human understanding and imagination

MORAL COURAGE

For Socrates and Plato: “ Virtue is knowledge and teachable, then “no one does evil
knowingly and willingly.”

When a man chooses that which de facto evil is, he chooses it sub specie boni, what he
imagines to be good.

For Aristotle: Knowledge is not enough for I may know something good and yet not do
it, or I may know something bad and still do it. This is an inner struggle between the
reason and the will.

“Human acts in relation to the will refer to those actions which are started, performed,
and completed by the will alone or through faculties which are under the control of the
will.” (Babor, Ethics the Philosophical Discipline of Action, p.146)

“Human acts in relation to reason refer to those actions that are either in agreement or
disagreement with reason.” (Babor, Ethics the Philosophical Discipline of Action, p.146)

Voluntariness of Human Acts

 Voluntary- knowledge and approval. “Voluntariness comes from the Latin word
“voluntas”, referring to the Will. Voluntariness is essential to an act. Without it,
an act is a mere act of man” (Agapay, Ethics and the Filipino: A Manual on Moral
for Students and Educators, p. 15). Voluntary act is “the act that proceeds from
an intrinsic principle with knowledge of an end. In other words, the voluntary act
proceeds from the will and depends upon the will for its performance” (Panizo as
cited by Babor, Ethics: The Philosophical Discipline of Action, p. 150).

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 Involuntary – knowledge and lack of approval.

 Non-voluntary- no knowledge, and no approval
 Only voluntary act can be held liable

So, what is moral courage? It is the will to do what one knows is the good or the will to
avoid what one knows to be bad.

COURAGE AS VIRTUE

Aristotle held that courage is virtue. The original meaning of the contemporary word
“virtue” comes from the Latin “virtus.” In Latin vir means a man, and virtus means
manliness which is synonymous with courage because in ancient barbaric times, it is
the man who protects the village from the enemy. Later, when killing was no longer an
everyday act, courage came to mean internal fortitude of both man and woman.
(Imamichi as cited by Dy, Moral Courage)

Inner fortitude needed “when we should create a situation that will be unpleasant for us.
It takes courage to apologize. If a friend is grieving, it takes courage to ask her directly
how she is doing. It takes courage to volunteer to do something nice that you don’t
really want to do” (Rachels, p.177 as cited by Dy, Moral Courage)

Courage is a mean between two extreme: cowardice (lack) and foolhardiness (excess).

What about the courage for the hijackers who murdered almost 3,000 people on
September 11, 2001? Is this called courage?

Courage in an unworthy cause is not a virtue (Peter Geach). So, we should add “moral”
to courage. Moral courage therefore is a virtue.

We need courage because no one (not even the scholar) is free from danger (Rachels,
p.184). But, we need courage (inner) even more to be MORAL.

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ACTIVITY 7-1

You write a Reflection Paper wherein you are going to discuss this dilemma:
Jen and her messenger husband Lito, along with their three young children, live as
informal settlers in a compound in Halaan City. Jen works as the stay-out house-help
for Ms. Carla, who is the administrative assistant of Mayor Balasic of Halaan City. One
day, Ms. Carla approached Jen to offer her a source for extra money, which Jen could
make much use of. What Ms. Carla wants Jen to do is sign up as a ghost employee in
a city hall project Ms. Carla is overseeing. Ms. Carla tells Jen she does not have to do
anything, just put her signature in an employee contract. Ms. Carla will give Jen half of
the expected Php 8,000.00 monthly allowance for the six- month long project. Jen, who
is an active member of her local parish, is now feeling conflicted. Ms. Carla wants her
to sign soon.
The following questions will guide to make sound moral choice and discernment:
1. If you are in the shoes of Jen, what you must do and why?
2. What is the role of moral imagination in solving Jen’s moral dilemma?
3. Will it take a moral courage to solve the dilemma of Jen? Why?
4. What will happen to Jen if she is not going to sign the document?
5. Is your decision in accordance with reason or that of the will?
6. How did you decide and what did you actually do in the context of this dilemma?

SUMMARY

In this module, we have discussed the following points:

 Moral imagination is the necessary ingredient in responsible moral judgment.

 Moral imagination belongs to…the exercise of moral judgment
 Moral imagination is the ability to imaginatively discern various possibilities for
acting within a given situation
 Moral imagination is the ability in particular circumstances to discover and
evaluate possibilities

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 We can say then that moral imagination is necessary but not a sufficient
condition for moral decision making. Moral reasoning is still needed.
 To be morally imaginative, one needs to appeal to good reasons as the basis for
evaluation and moral judgments, good reasons supplied by the ideal of an
impartial spectator, social moral rules, expectations of common morality, and
moral standards.
 Moral courgaeIt is the will to do what one knows is the good or the will to avoid
what one knows to be bad.
 Courage came to mean internal fortitude of both man and woman
 Inner fortitude needed “when we should create a situation that will be unpleasant
for us.
 Courage in an unworthy cause is not a virtue.

REFERENCES

Agapay, R (1991). Ethics and the Filipino: A Manual on Morals for Students and
Educators. Mandaluyong City: National Book Store.

Cariňo, J. (2018). Fundamentals of Ethics. Quezon City: C and E Publishing, Inc.

Dy, M. Jr. (2003). Philosophy of Man: Selected Readings 2 nd Edition. Manila:

Goodwill Book Store.

General Education Training (Ethics) Manual for Second Generation. Commission on

Higher Education.

Glenn, P. (1968). Ethics: A Class Manual in Moral Philosophy. London: B. Herder

Book Co.

Kolhberg, L. (1981). Essays on Moral Development. The Philosophy of Moral

Development: Moral Stages and the Idea of Justice, Volume 1. San Francisco,
CA: Harper and Row.

Licuanan, P et al. A Moral Recovery Program: Building a People-Building a Nation. In

Values in Philippine Culture and Education: Philippine Philosophical Studies I,
edited by Manuel B Dy, Jr. 31-48. Washington, DC: The Council for Research
in Values and Philosophy, 1994.

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Pasco, M.O., Fulente Suarez, V., and Rodriguez, A.M. (2018). Ethics. Quezon City: C
and E Publishing, Inc.

https://www.iep.utm.edu/moral-ch/

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