Republic of the Philippines

BOHOL ISLAND STATE UNIVERSITY

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Mission : BISU is committed to provide quality higher education in the arts and sciences, as well as in the professional and technological fields; undertake research and
development, and extension services for the sustainable development of Bohol and the country.

Module II – Culture and the Moral Agent

Lesson 3: Culture and Morality

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:
1. articulate the meaning of culture and how it affects moral behavior;
2. distinguish morality from culture; and
3. evaluate the issue of cultural relativism, descriptive and normative relativism.

Key Reading:
Baring, J. C. “The Influence of Culture in Moral Development,” in Academia,
file:///C:/Users/computer/Downloads/The_Influence_of_Culture_in_Moral_Develo.pdf
This article reexamines the influence of culture in the moral development of the human
person. Thus, it centers on the relation of the influence of culture to moral development. But
primarily, this article begins with the meaning of culture and later followed by the articulation of
moral development. And how culture influence the moral development of the human individuals
would be its final task.

Introduction
Before human beings had conceived the idea of culture, culture had been already
lingered with them. Later, certain culture was known to be within every human race and
generally defined as everything that shapes the human lives. Culture then has been
understood as something which unconsciously dictates our path, on how we live our lives
and on how we relate with other similar kind (may be with the other one or with the collective
others). But in a broader range, a culture may stand a significant difference(s) from others. Say,
people in a specific community or society may hold different outlooks or principles, beliefs,
traditions, etc., compared to other communities or societies. In such sense, culture can be
relative. Meaning, people of different social groups may express diverse beliefs, traditions, and
the like. If this is the case, then culture may significantly affect human moral condition. It may
even disturb the objectivity of moral standards installed in one’s innermost consciousness. But
the question is: Does culture surpass morality? Or does cultural activity more necessary than
the objective moral principles? Or are our cultural beliefs in so far as they are in conflict with the
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good and right principles of ethics acceptable because they have already been experienced and
practiced for so long ago?
Without a doubt, culture is integral to the development of the morality of every human
person. But it is not absolute to cultivate the holistic formation of a human or group of humans.
This does not mean that culture or what is in culture is generally wrong. Rather, it must be noted
that there may be cultural ways or behaviors influenced from morally inadequate system
of beliefs or principles that may go against the objectivity and universality of ethical
principles. Thus, it is indeed the task of this segment (lesson) to lucidly set distinctions
between culture and morality so that to give us a clearer perspective on how culture renders
meaning to people, but on the other side, how it is inadequate to form an authentic moral human
being.

Online Activity:

1. Please open this YouTube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S258bwp0sJY and watch

attentively a video that illustrates clearly the meaning and characteristics of culture.

The Meaning of Culture

The term “culture” was an imitative from the original French language. In turn, it denotes
closely similar connotation to the Latin colere which means to tend to the earth and grow, or
cultivation and nurture in English. In relation to this, Cristina De Rossi’s elucidates that culture
even “shares its etymology with a number of other words related to actively fostering growth."
Accordingly, culture is everything that people have engaged in. Based from this notion of
culture, it is really difficult to draw a specific definition. In fact, motivated by this description,
Samuel Butler asserts that “A man should be just cultured enough to be able to look with
suspicion upon culture.” This is to mean that the broadness of the implication of the term culture
cannot be fathomed by everyone who has naturally limited cultural experiences. That no
human being can attain all human experiences, as well as no particular individual can obtain all
diversified culture.
Though wide-ranging, however, culture is presupposed by Edward B. Tylor into a more
concrete view. According to him, culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge,
belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society." Taking the definition closely, we could say that culture indeed holds a quite
broad implication. It even captures all things which had/have been acquired by any individuals.
For instance, going to church and pray is always one’s cultural expression that has been
learned and developed from the other(s) in the previous times. And so with other beliefs and
ways of a particular group of people such as language, social habits, cuisine, music and arts,
and others are part of culture.
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This broadness of meaning of culture also indicates shared patterns of behaviors and
interactions, cognitive constructs and understanding that are learned by socialization. Thus, it
can be seen as the growth of a group identity fostered by social patterns unique to the group.
"Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage,
music, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at the table, how we greet visitors, how we
behave with loved ones, and a million other things," Cristina De Rossi, an anthropologist at
Barnet and Southgate College in London, told Live Science.

Culture and Human Behavior

Sociologists define culture as the values, beliefs, behavior, and material objects that,
together, form a people’s way of life (Macionis, 2001/2002). It includes what we think, how we
act, and what we own. Culture is considered a link to the past and a guide to the future, since it
is the product of human influences throughout history and a field studied and forecasted upon
by those studying humans. It shapes what we do and forms our personalities. The world
includes different and varied cultures. There are ethnic groups in the Brazilian rainforest who
consider aggression as natural in human beings. The Semai people of Malaysia, however, live
in peace and cooperation. People in the United States praise achievements, individuality, and
hard work, people in Japan stress group-orientation, and tradition.
Human behavior pertains to the actions, ideas, feelings and sentiments that have a
symbolic form. A symbol is a thing, an action, a sound, a color whose meaning is determined by
those who use it (White, 1947). Humans give symbols meanings, thus creating their
particular culture. Human behavior is a central aspect of culture because of this. Behavior
defines culture and culture, in turn defines behavior. There are different approaches to the
study of culture. We categorized culture based on race, ethics, religion, or social groups. As
people adapt to their changing environment, so does their culture.
Two factors are necessary for culture to emerge. These are the learning potentials and
sociality of humans (Glenn, 2004). Glenn states that culture begins with the transmission of
behavioral content, learned by one during his lifetime. The idea that one’s behavior comes
before the formulation of one’s culture is already confusing in itself. Take into account one is an
aspect of the other and vice versa. Glenn calls this a “superorganismic phenomenon.” Culture is
based on people’s behaviors, among other aspects. Human behavior is also loosely based on
their cultures.
Hence, people then create their own culture. Subsequently, their culture creates them.
People, however, cannot singularly create or change their culture because it is a group concept
and requires all if not most members of a culture to adhere to it.

Culture in Human Behavior

Peter Richerson and Robert Boyd’s dual-inheritance theory states that culture has
become a major factor in human evolution for its relatively fast adaptation to changing
environment by imitation (Irons, 2009). According to them, culture is learned through
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imitation of anyone from high-status individuals to the most common practices to the
human primal instinct of surviving, creating our behaviors in the process. However, learned
culture varies in different groups of people. The act of kissing, for example, differs throughout
different cultures. For Western societies, kissing in public is acceptable. For the Chinese,
kissing is only done in private. Showing affection in public for Americans can mean kissing the
other person on the lips. The French kiss each other on both cheeks, while in New Zealand’s
Maoris, they rub their noses together (Macionis, 2001/2002).
Another example of behavior creating culture and vice versa is the culture of
competition. Children in most societies learn to compete with other children at an early age.
They compete in intelligence in school; they compete in physical appearance when they enter
beauty pageants or when mothers praise them by belittling other children. Children go on to
grow up with the behavior to compete and be better than the next person. The culture of
competition grows and prevails as a result. Society accepts this because our culture, our
society, our media and our laws allow these behaviors to surface. Acceptance of behavior then
creates a culture that tests time. Only when people accept the opposite of the established that
culture may shift.
Transmission of culture is also a key to understanding human behavior (Smith,
Kalish, Griffiths, & Lewandowsky, 2008). Many aspects of human behavior are influenced by
social learning, as described earlier and in the examples above. Once the majority accepts a
particular behavior, it can influence and leave a mark in one’s culture and in the society’s
culture.
To sum up, culture is a known concept to the general and academic world. It has played
a significant role in shaping people’s behaviors and ultimately, in human evolution. Culture is a
mound that shapes people, influencing all individuals under it, whether consciously or
subconsciously. The relationship of culture and human behavior is complex if viewed from
different standpoints. The diversity of culture and the study of it bring to light the complexities of
human beings, especially in our behaviors. Generally, culture affects an individual’s behavior
and an individual’s behavior affects the culture he is part of. Thus, it evolves when people
incite change on an aspect of their culture, resulting in a change throughout time. Changes in
culture are usually minimal because of several limiting factors, such as geographical reach and
acknowledgement of the majority in the same culture.

Culture and Morality

Culture and morality are unquestionably interconnected with each other. These two are
closely entwined. As we notice most often, morality is determined by culture. The standards
or the kind of morals people practiced in a certain community demonstrates cultural influences.
As mentioned in Lesson 1, culture greatly affects the formation of moral standards and
values into an individual or society. And it is in the unconscious adoption of culture that values
are embedded within the individual that unavoidably stimulate her moral choice or the choice
what right and good action to be taken regardless of any objective principles.
Culture significantly plays a quasi role in shaping moral behavior. This role even extends
further to social norms. That is why, as we are consistently exposed to culture, our definitions of
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what ought to be deemed morally acceptable becomes fixed and immutable with respect to or
regardless of objective moral principles. Hunt & Vittel even asserts that cultural norms and
values affect both perceived ethical situation, alternatives, results and possibilities of these
results (Hunt & Vittel, 1986). Thus, in this context, morality may be in some respect dependent
to culture. In contrast, if morality is independent to culture it becomes implicit that the former
(along with its moral standards) is inherent to us and is not necessarily attributable to exposure
to the latter.
Though culture has a significant impact to morality, it is not enough to reason or explain
that morality at all times abide culture-based norms or standards. While culture implies diversity
of moral behaviors exhibited by the individuals of different societies, morality should also have a
reserve that remains to hold a certain norms or standards (a normative ethics-based) which
oblige all these people in all societies to act in unison with the objective good. In fact, ethics can
directly and indirectly affect every culture. The evolution of laws and culture-based moral
standards is a clear indication to this. That these laws are ratified based from the committee’s
critical analysis of any practical cases and applied moral principles.
Lastly, the closing contention lays on the obvious distinction of culture and morality.
Culture is definitely subjective and at the same time relative, while morality can only be
subjective when determined by culture as in the case of the descriptive sense of ethics. Here,
morality has no universal moral standards. Meaning, a society or an organization (e.g. religion)
adheres to specific rules of conduct set as their standards which differ from other societies’ or
organizations’ standards. This is otherwise known as restricted because moral standards are
kept only within a certain group or groups of people but not to all social groups. However, the
other aspect of morality connotes a normative sense because it considers universal standards
anchored from universal moral principles. It presupposes an obligatory calling of an individual
agent to be morally upright guided with universal moral standards. Since this is an obligation for
every person, freedom and authentic reason are certainly required. In this sense, therefore,
moral standards are justified by reason and not by certain value-judgments rooted only from a
group of people.

Cultural Relativism, Descriptive and Normative Ethical relativism

Cultural relativism describes the simple fact that there are different cultures and each
has different ways of behaving, thinking and feeling as its members learn such from the
previous generation. It is well known by just about every human on the planet that people do
things differently around the globe. People dress differently, eat differently, speak different
languages, sing different songs, have different music and dances and have many different
customs. In short, people in the different corners of the world demonstrate disparate likes and
dislikes. Descriptive ethical relativism, moreover, describes the fact that in different cultures one
of the variants is the sense of morality: the mores, customs and ethical principles may all vary
from one culture to another. This is the view that different cultures have different moral codes.
The moral codes of traditional Eskimos, of feudal Japanese, of modern Western Europeans, of
ancient Greeks, of New Guinea headhunters, etc. differ in some fairly significant ways. The
ancient Greeks had thought that infanticide was permissible but other nations during this period
did not have this kind of practice. 18 th century Hindu villagers in India supported the practice of
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suttee, while it did not exist in the Philippines. And finally, normative ethical relativism is a theory
which claims that there are no universally valid moral principles. In this type of ethical relativism,
the moral rightness and wrongness of actions varies from society to society and that there are
no absolute universal moral standards binding on all men at all times. The theory claims that all
thinking about the basic principles of morality (ethics) is always relative. Each culture
establishes the basic values and principles that serve as the foundation for morality.

Fig. 3: The table shows the example of Descriptive and Normative Ethical Relativism
Labeled Countries
Acts or Conducts Morally Acceptable Morally Unacceptable

Eating Beef Philippines India

Drinking alcohol, Gambling Philippines Middle Eastern Islamic
Countries
Women in school or business Philippines Afghanistan under the
Taliban
Women wearing shorts, face uncovered Philippines Iran, Saudi Arabia,
Sudan
Killing newborn babies China, India Philippines
Female genital mutilation Many African nations Philippines
Family kills a woman family member who is Somalia, Sudan Philippines
raped

QUIZ 3

(To be submitted at Google Classroom)

Quiz #3 (Written)

INSTRUCTION: Discuss your answer in a minimum of 20 or in a maximum of 30

sentences. Please answer every question sensibly and, most of all, genuinely (meaning,
in your own originality). Therefore, avoid rewriting words/texts from the modules and
copying from your classmate(s) or from the internet.

1. How do you explain the difference between morality and culture? Is morality
affected by culture or is it the other way around? Explain why? Is there really
cultural and ethical relativism? If YES or NO, explain why each of them
becomes a relativism or why they are not? Then, explain further in what sense
cultural relativism is related to ethical relativism.