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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Be A Moral Judge of Your Action


Introduction


The purpose of this simple article is to guide the readers, particularly those who are not studying ethics and those who are interested in it on what to do in certain situation in which one cannot decide what to do. Reading this article will guide you on how to solve your moral dilemma. Mostly of the ideas are influenced by the lectures in the seminary and the book of Articulo (2005) on Moral Philosophy and Agapay (2008) on Ethics.
When we discuss ethics, we need to set aside the concept of ethics that are originated from religion. Ethics that we discuss here is not referring to any religion. The origin of ethics was not from religion but it was originated from philosophers, Greek philosophers who struggled to regulate human behavior of their time. Thus, ethics from the beginning was about human conduct. Since it is about human conduct, then ethics is all about daily life in relation with others, the animals and the environment.      
Since morality is about our daily life, about what we do, about what we think, either it is seen or not seen, however, we need to understand what are the things or what are the acts that are under the scrutiny of morality. The concern here is that not everything we do is subjected to moral evaluation. There are acts that instinctively committed without the participation of reason and there acts that are calculated by reason with certain motives, means and ends.   Therefore we need to identify those acts that are subjected to moral evaluation.
Assumption of Ethics
Assumptions are the things that we take for granted as correct without any further investigation. Now what are the things that we need to accept as correct in order to discuss morality?  This is important for us or reader to know the main qualifiers if we want to evaluate certain act to be moral or not moral. It is the basis for our evaluation. There are the two main important assumptions of ethics:
a. That man is a rational being. It means that man is a thinking being. As a thinking being, man acts with purpose and reasons behind it. He is aware of his intentions as well as the consequences of his actions. He knows whether his actions are right or wrong/good or bad and and if such act will lead to good end or not. In this case, when he/she pursues such act and thus it is intentional. This makes a difference between human and animal and human act and act of man.  
b. That man is a free being. This indicates that man is a free being who acts according to his will and volitions. He has the capacity to exercise his choices and to choose and do what is good.  He acts in a certain way because he wills it, not because of external forces that influence him to act certain way.  
These two assumptions are important to determine the morality of a certain act. To judge an act whether it is immoral or not, the act must be performed by person who is aware of his moral wrongness of his act and freely decide to perform the act even if he knew that it was immoral. If we remove these two elements, it is no longer possible to judge an act to determine its morality.
Human Person and Human Act: Object of Moral Philosophy
Since the object of moral philosophy is the person or moral agent and the act, thus it is important for us to understand who human person is, before we understand or analyze his action. This part will explain human person and what human act.
Human Person
Human Person is a Rational Being.
      Human person is an organism composed of material and spiritual or body and soul. Thus,  he/she is made of biological, psychological and rational power or intellect. His actions are directed by reason. This is important element to be included in the assessment of morality of a certain act. A certain act can be evaluated moral or immoral if the act is based on his/her knowledge. It is only within such requirement we can evaluate the act of a child or a crazy individual to be moral or immoral.   
 Human Person is a Moral Being.
Natural law theory will tell us that any rational adult persons are capable of knowing what is good and bad, right and wrong. It has been built in our mind and heart to know what is good and bad, right and wrong.   As a moral being, a man is able to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, moral and immoral. By his natural insight, a person has an understanding of what is right and wrong, of what is permitted and prohibited behaviour. He/she knows what is good “ought” to be done and what is evil “ought” to be avoided. This theory is contrary to the theory of human nature as a blank sheet (tabula raza) on which cultures writes its text, so that man is merely a product of social interaction and his behaviour is nothing more than a “reflex of social conditioning”.    
Human Person is a Person.
He/she is born as an individual or person. He is unique. One is not the copy of the other. Thus, as a person, he/she exists separately and independently from others, not only in physical terms but also in terms of psychological character, which is capable of knowing in intellectual way and of deciding for himself the purpose or end of his actions. His act is influenced by his own decision, not by the influence of others.  
 Human Act and Act of Man
Not all act can be judged morally. Thus it is important for us know the difference between human act and act of man.
Human acts are actions that are conscious, deliberate, intentional and voluntary. These are products of rationality and freedom of choice like helping the sick, keeping promises, telling the truth, killing, stealing, lying, etc. These are the acts that are subject to moral analysis. They can be either ethical or unethical. These act cannot be done by an animal.   
While Acts of man is a certain type of actions that are exhibited naturally by man such as talking, hearing, eating, snoring, walking, etc. These acts are morally indifferent or neutral because we cannot judge them to be ethical or unethical. Such acts are not really influenced by the intellect but by instinct which can be the same with animal.  These act do not only belong to man but also to animals. They are natural acts that we perform by virtue of our nature as animal beings.
Attributes of Human Acts
An act is done knowingly. The person is conscious and aware of the reason and the consequences of his actions. The person knows all the information about the act if it is good or bad, right or wrong. He knows the consequence of his act. He knows that the consequence of certain act is bad but knowingly he pursue it. 
The Act is done freely. The person acts by his own initiative and choice without being forced to do so by other people. The person knows the consequence and he freely decided to pursue it.
The act is done wilfully. The doer consent to the act, accepting it as his own and assume accountability for its consent. 
Forms of Human Act
When we judge the morality of certain act, judgment may also include the act that cannot be seen.  Human acts are not only acts that we observe everyday but we can observe them by our eyes such as a guy who is stealing fried chicken, or kissing under the mango tree. But there are also acts that we cannot observe by our naked eyes. For instance the bad desires to steal fried chicken or adulterous thought of a person who is looking at a beautiful lady cannot be seen but they deserve to be judge morally. Thus, there are two forms of human acts and these are external and internal acts.
a. External Acts. External acts are acts that are externalized or manifested. (Agapay, as cited by Articulo, 2004). They also called elicited acts. These acts are overt and thus physically are observable by others.
b. Internal Acts.
Internal acts are acts that are not bodily manifested. These acts are hidden, within a person and very subjective or personal. It is impossible for other person to know them, unless the person reveals his adulterous thought to his drinking mates. As a consequence of internal acts, then we have internal acts and personal ethics.  This is due to the fact that not all acts are to be judged by simply looking at them from the outside. What the eyes cannot see is also worthy of moral praise or blame. But this is the domain of a very subjective moral assessment. We alone can judge the content of our thoughts as either ethically appropriate or not because alone know what we are thinking
Classification of Human Acts
Human acts are usually judged based on their moral worth. If these acts are to be moral, they should conform to standards of morality. Thus, acts are classified into three categories:
Ethical or moral acts. There are human acts that may be in conformity to norm of morality such as helping others in need, telling the truth, keeping a promise, etc.
Unethical or immoral acts. These acts are in violation of norms of morality. These may include spreading gossip about other people, cheating in examination, telling lies and stealing, etc.    
Amoral Acts. These acts are without moral content. These acts are also called neutral acts because they are neither moral nor immoral. These acts may either be moral or immoral depending the circumstances. These acts include sleeping, walking, smiling, laughing, etc. Sleeping may be immoral act if it is done during office hour or in violation of duty.  But basically sleeping alone is amoral act
 Elements of Human Acts
There are four elements of human acts and they are the intention of the act, the means of the act, the end of the act and the consequence of the act.
a. The intention of the act. It is the reason or motive why the act is done. Intention is the end of the act. A moral agent acts for a particular end or result. Ex: telling the truth is to set us free.
b. The means of the act. The object employed or the medium used to carry out the intention of the act. Ex: the act of exercise daily is a means to stay fit.
c. The end of the act. The intention of the act is directed toward a desired end or a perceived good such as living a healthy life. The end of the act is the inspiration behind the intention of the act.
d. The consequences of the act. It is about the result or the outcome of the act. This is to determine whether the intention of the act was carried out or the end of the act was successfully realized.
Human Acts and Human Will.
Human acts stem from the human will. It is the will than influence the internal and external action of man. The will stirs a person to act or to refrain from acting.  Articulo (2004) as cited from Glenn (1965) cited the following motivations that proceed from the will:
Wish: the tendency of the will toward something whether this is attainable or not. Example: A teacher wishes to be an international writer.  
Intention is the tendency of the will toward something attainable but without necessarily committing oneself to attain it. Ex:  a student who intends to become international writer.
Consent is the acceptance of the will of what is needed to carry out the intention. It is the determination of the alternative means necessary to realize the intentions. Consent of the teacher is to devote her life in research or just copy the research of other researchers.
Election is the selection of the will of those effective means to carry out the intention. This includes reading a lot of books and not to copy the research of others.  
 Use is the command of the will to make use of those means selected to carry out the intention.  Thus spending time to read books and conducting a research are the means to be used to carry out the intention.  
 Fruition is the enjoyment of the will derived from the attainment of the thing desired. The joy of the teacher after publishing her/his research in international journal.   
Thus the will is a potential force for both good and bad. The strength and the weakness of the will determine the strength and the weakness of the human character and it determines the outcome of the act. 
Conclusion
From the discussion, we can conclude that not all acts are subjected to moral judgment. It is only human act and not acts of man that can be assessed morally. Definitely the main characteristics of human act are reason and free will. From such requirement, an act can be evaluated based on the intention, the means, the ends and its consequences.  Thus when one evaluates certain act, the first question to be raised is: Does reason involve in the act? This question points out that when the act is committed by irrational person, crazy person or a child, such act cannot be solved morally.  Second question is: Is free will present in the act? This question makes it clear that for certain act to be considered immoral or moral, such act has to be acted out of free will, not because of force or intimidation.  

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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The Role of ethics in our daily life


Introduction
The reason why I am writing blog on Ethics is because of this important reason, that ethics and daily life are inseparable. By knowing ethics, knowing what is right and wrong, what is good and bad, a person can direct his life in a right and good manner. The purpose of behaving ethically is happiness. In this case, a person who conducts himself ethically is a happy person, though some may deny it. Beyond that, behaving ethically can create harmonious relationship and consequently peaceful community.
Based on such reason, we cannot dismiss ethics from our daily life but we have to be guided by it. We have to subscribe to it.    By knowing ethics, we are guided in decision making and our behavior.  When we are encountering many problems, at least, we know how to deal with the problems and how to behave in a certain situation. It is a fact that in some circumstances, we often do not know how to solve some ethical problems and even we do not know how to behave in ethical manner. Thus ethics will guide us on how to deal with a problem in a particular time and particular situation.
The Reason Why We Need Ethics
The First reason is that we may get more light for our daily problems. We often encounter moral dilemma in our life. We some time reach a point that as if we are at a cross road, either going to the right or to the left, there is no better choice. Going to the right is wrong and going to the left is also wrong. Within such situation, one has to decide because not deciding would mean avoiding responsibility and it would be morally wrong. Thus the concern is how are we going to decide in dealing with those problems? On what ground are we going to decide? Ethics will guide us in those situations. Thus ethics play an important role to guide our decision in our daily problems.  Second reason is that it makes clearer to us why one act is better than another. It is only through ethics we can compare two acts or persons why one is good and is bad.  Third reason is that Morality is the best way of living. Fourth reason is that morality helps us to see what are the prevalent sins and moral dangers of our day and thus arouse us to put the weight of our blame and praise where they are needed.
The purpose of ethic was clear at the beginning. The goal of a theory of ethics was to determine what is good, both for the individual and for the society as a whole. For the Greeks, Ethics was to develop virtuous and moral character. They believe that such character would make one know the right thing to do and live the right way of life. Later, philosophers have taken different positions in defining what is good, on how to deal with conflicting priorities of individuals versus the whole, over the universality of ethical principles versus “situation ethics” in which what is right depends upon the circumstances rather than on some general law and over whether goodness is determined by the results of the action or the means by results are achieved (relativism, universalism, Kantianism).     
What Is Morality


In line with what we have discussed above, we get a clearer view of what morality is. Morality is originated from Latin word: “moralitas” which means “manner, character, and proper behaviour. Thus morality refers to a code of conduct, by which human beings regulate their lives. While ethics is  derived from the Greek word: “ethos” which means “ characteristic way of acting”, “habit”, “custom”.Thus, ethics studies the characteristics of behavior of man as endowed reason and free will.  From the root word of ethics and morality, it can be concluded that both are referring to the same thing or the same meaning.   
In other words, ethics is the science of the morality of human acts. It is the study of the behaviour of man as moral being, who is able to distinguish between right and wrong, good and bad. 
Different Kinds of Morality
a. Descriptive Morality.
Descriptive morality is a code of conduct endorsed and adhered to by society, group and individuals. Moral codes in this sense differ from society to society, within society, and among individuals. So, in its descriptive sense, morality is whatever a society, group or individual say it is. It is not consistent in their application. Such morality leads to relativism. Relativists argue that morality is applied to a certain context, not universal.
The danger of such morality is division. How can people be united in one society if each one moral value is recognised by the society? Each will practice his/her own value which may lead to a conflict of values in one society. Harmony may be sacrificed, conflict may arise.
b. Normative Morality
Normative morality is a code of conduct that would be accepted by all rational people under certain idealized conditions. In other words, morality is the set of correct moral principles which ought to be adopted by all rational agents.
This is the concern of moral philosophy which seeks, firstly, to formulate a set of principles with which all rational agents ought to comply. Second, to explain why the system is ought to be adopted. It involves the question of validity of the code of conducts by which people adhere to. 
Scope of Ethics
1.      Man and fellow man. It deals with the “oughts” or “shoulds” of human existence in relation to others. The questions like: “how should I treat other people? Is helping other people in need something I ought to do? So it investigates how a person should live his life with others because he does not live in absolute freedom. His desires and action, how he treats himself and others is necessarily regulated by generally accepted principles of morality that consider the welfare of others.
2.      Man and his society.
Ethics is also a study of man, as a member of moral community. It investigates how man should relate to his community and vice versa. It prescribes how man should best contribute to the welfare of his community and how the community should best foster his personal growth and improvement. “The question like: does my action benefit the society in general? Is it right to prioritize the interest of society over the interest of the individuals? Does society respect my rights and dignity?     
3.       Man and other Sentient Being.
Ethics also deals with the relationship between human beings and other sentient creatures (lower forms of animals). The main concern here is about proper attitude toward the sentient being that are capable of feeling the pain. How do we see this sentient being around us? Do we see them as object or subject? Do we see them in their instrumental value or intrinsic value? Is it ethical to use other sentient beings which are also capable of experiencing pains, for the advancement of human knowledge?
4.      Man and his natural environment.
It deals with how man treats his natural environment. It tries to provide rational basis for environmental protection in view of the duty to respect the right of the future members of the community. Is it ethical to sacrifice the environment for the sake of progress and development? Basis for our respect to the environment is not purely based on their instrumental value but their intrinsic values in which we respect the environment because they have value in themselves despite of their use.      
 Conclusion
From the points we have discussed, definitely ethics is a code of conduct of all rational being in relation to other rational beings, non-rational beings and environment. Ethics regulate human behavior on how to relate properly with the environment around him. The main purpose of living ethically is for human happiness. The assumption is that when a person has a good relationship with others and with the environment, definitely he should be happy.
      
     

 
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Saturday, December 14, 2013

Moral Relativism, Universalism/absolutism and the Teaching of the Church on Catholic Morality


Fr. Damianus Abun, SVD, MBA, PhD.

Divine Word College of Vigan, Divine Word College of Laoag

International Academy of management and Economics
 
Abstract: ethical relativism is the thesis that moral judgements are relative to the culture and individual preferences. It claims that there is no universal morality as pointed out by moral universalism/absolutism.  Moral universalism is the meta-ethical position that ethics or morality applies universally, that is for all similarly situated individuals, regardless of culture, race, sex, religion, nationality, sexuality or other distinguishing features. Catholic Church teaches that moral law is universal across people in varying cultures and in fact is rooted in natural human condition. All adult persons are capable of knowing the truth. John Paul II insisted that no matter how separated someone is from God, in the depth of his heart, there always remains a yearning for absolute truth and a thirst to attain full knowledge of it.  
 
Key Words: Relativism,  Universalism,  Absolutism,  Catholic, Ethics.
Introduction
I remember a discussion four years ago in our doctoral class at the International Academy of Management and Economics, (IAME) Makati. The topic of discussion was about moral philosophy. During the discussion we got into conflict of ideas. My mind, my ideas were influenced by Moral theology, the teaching of church which I uphold. My opponents, though they were Catholics, based their opinion on moral relativism. They insist that morality is relative but I stand my ground that morality is universal and absolute. I understand their stand on ethical relativism but they do not understand my stand on universality of morality. Finally we ended the discussion with no reconciliation. They told me, “we should not bring religion into discussion on morality and I told them, we should not become relativist and become moral indifference”. That represents majority Catholics today?    
 This discussion reminds me that people, particularly Catholics, are very much influenced by popular concepts on morality which is ethical relativism. Personal freedom and independence are their moral rule; it is no longer their religion, the teaching of the Church, the teaching of Christ. Such view approves the opinion of Nietze, a supporter of relativism, that God is dead so we can rule our own life; no outside force takes control of our life. Within this crisis, the power of the church to teach morality has become a challenge and a demand. The crisis should not discourage the church but it should encourage the church to talk more about morality. It is not to control but to guide its people to the right path according to the teaching of Jesus Christ and to lead them to eternal salvation. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (Jhn: 14:6). Thus those who believe in Jesus Christ must have a common moral concept of what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is a wrong. Thus universal morality is required to be applied to all. Thus, it is the role of the Church to interpret moral laws for all people beyond cultural boundaries and personal preferences.   
This article will present three arguments, the ethical relativism, universalism/absolutism and the teaching of the Church on Christian morality as an answer to relativism. We should know the difference. This is to guide moral agents particularly Catholics to know the kind of morality they follow and to live in their life. After having a clear stand on what morality is to be followed, and then other morality needs to be set aside. They can choose only one kind of morality. It can not be both or we can not be moral indifference. We can not use two roads to travel at the same time; we can choose only one at a time. But before going into these three arguments, we define first what morality is.
 
Morality Defined. 
 
Morality can be classified as descriptive and normative morality. Descriptive morality refers to a code of conduct put forward by a society, group, or individual for her/his own behaviour. While normative morality refers to a code of conduct that would be put forward by all rational persons.
When morality is taken in its descriptive sense, it refers to an existing code of conduct put forward by a society, group or individual to provide a guide for behaviour of that particular group or society. Such definition leads to a denial that there is a universal morality, one that applies to all human beings across culture (Kurt, 1958). Since morality is put forward by a society, thus many anthropologists claim that morality, like law, applies only within a society and thus it is different from society to society or even from group to group, individual to individual. What is considered “good” or “bad” in one society may not be considered “good or bad” in other society.  Many philosophers refuse to adopt morality in its descriptive sense; however some philosophers do such as Protagoras, Baruch Spinoza, and David Hume. These philosophers are interested moral relativism and claim that it is the only kind of morality there is (Westermarck, 1960). They deny the universal morality or absolutism. 
On the other hand, when morality is taken in its normative sense, it means that there is a universal code of conduct that all rational being put forward for governing the behaviour of all rational moral agents. They deny that every society has a code of moral conduct; there is only one moral standard. Universal morality bases its claim on the natural law theory (Hauser, 2006). The natural law theories of morality claim that it is possible for any normal adult in any society to know the general kinds of actions that morality prohibits, requires, discourages, encourages and allows. They also claim that morality applies to all persons and known to all rational persons (Gert, 2004). Rational persons refer to those persons to whom morality applies. This include all normal adults with sufficient knowledge and intelligence to understand what kinds of actions of morality prohibits, requires, discourages, encourages, and allows and with sufficient volitional ability to use morality as guides for their behaviour.
Following the normative sense of morality, it becomes clearer that morality is an informal public system applying to all rational persons, governing behaviour that affects others and the lessening of evil or harm as its goals. Consequently, public system guarantees that it is never irrational to act morally and since it is an informal system, it has no authoritative judges and decision procedures that provide a unique guide to action in all moral situations. When there is disagreement needed to be settled, societies use political and legal systems to supplement morality. However, it does not mean that everyone always agrees on all of their moral judgments but only that all disagreements occur within the framework of agreement. For informal public system such as morality, fully informed moral agents can, within limit, disagree in their moral judgements. But when disagreement is recognized, those who understand that morality is a public system regard how one should act as morally irresolvable, and the problem is transferred to the political or legal system (Wren, 1990).                              
Moral Relativism
Relativism is a concept that all points of view are equally valid. No one can force or impose opinion on others as correct one to be accepted. Points of views are relative. The message is that we need to respect other’s opinions. In morality, this refers to the concept that all moralities are equally good. In epistemology, it implies that all belief systems are equally true. Thus, no one should impose his beliefs on others.
            There are three kinds of relativism namely descriptive, meta-ethical and normative relativism. Descriptive relativism is a descriptive position that there exist fundamental disagreements about the right course of action even when the same facts obtain and the same consequences seem likely arises.  This implies that different cultures have different ways of doing things to achieve the same ends. On the other hand, meta-ethical relativism holds that truth or falsity of moral judgement is not objective or universal but relative to tradition, convictions, or practices of a group of people. Meta-ethical relativism believes that people in one society /group do not hold the same moral standards and the term “right” or “wrong”, “good or bad” do not stand to universal truth but they are societal and personal preference. While normative relativism argues that there is no universal moral standards applied to all people and to all cultures. It implies that there are no universal moral standards to judge behaviours of people as to whether they are good or bad, right or wrong. Thus, we need to tolerate the behaviours of others; even they are against my own moral values and cultural moral values. Such view leads to the idea that morality is a product of personal opinion and thus people have their own moral rule and society or cultures can not overrule individual supremacy. Nietze (1900) acknowledged that morality is not bad, it is good for the masses, however, it should be left to them. People should follow their own “inner law”, as he said “become what you are’. Nietze further argued that the death of God would eventually lead to the loss of any universal perspectives on things and along with it any coherent sense of objective truth. Instead, we would only retain our own multiple, diverse and fluid perspectives.    
            The above opinions are originated in the argument of a Greek Philosopher such as Protagoras who provides an early precursor to modern Moral Relativism. Protgoras claims that man is the measure of all things (Plato, 1591). The idea of Protgoras was somehow supported by the Greek historian, Herodotus (484-420, B.C) as cited by Isaac Littlebury (1912). Herodotus argued that each society typically regards its own belief system and way of doing things as better than others. Herodotus also pointed out that much of what is believed to be “fact’ is actually “opinion”. Such opinions had influenced David Hume (1985) in the early modern era. Hume denied that morality has any objective standards and suggested that the universe remains indifferent to our preferences and our troubles. Latest anthropologist, Edward Westermarck (1862-1939) claimed that all moral ideas are subjective judgement that reflects one’s upbringing. He pointed to the obvious difference in beliefs among societies, which he said provided evidence of the lack of any innate, intuitive power and of any universal of absolute beliefs.           
Points to Learn and to review from Relativism  
          The views of moral relativism have influenced the views of many people of modern generation on they look at others, their cultures and how they deal with each others. Relativism teaches us to understand and respect one another despite differences including moral issues. One can not judge the act of other people as immoral because there is no common moral standard as basis for such judgement. Morality is diverse. A person or society can not claim to be better than others. We can not pass judgement on practices in other cultures when we do not understand them. We have to tolerate one another even you can not understand what they are doing. Thus, if we can not judge them, neither can they judge us. So mind your own business, not others Reasonable people sometimes may differ on what is morally acceptable. Therefore morality become individual or group business, not society as a whole.
Ideas mentioned above may mislead and convince us that moral relativism is a right moral standard to be applied by individual persons. Thus, the humanists and relativists are happy to embrace moral relativism. However, we need to examine critically their argument and ponder whether moral relativism can be applied to everybody.
            Despite those positive points, we also examine their flaws. First, the source of moral relativism is subjective personal motive. The question is what their motive of preferring moral relativism is. It is their deepest desire for happiness. In their mind, moral absolutism would make them unhappy by making them feel guilty. They call absolutism as unloving and uncompassionate. They are not aware that the absolute moral law exist not to minimize but to maximize happiness and therefore it is compassionate. Relativism assumes that feelings/sentiments are the standards for judging morality. But the claim in traditional morality is the opposite: that morality is the standard for judging feelings (Kreef, 2010).
Second, another argument given by relativists is that moral relativism is empirical fact. Morality is based on the fact, experience. Fact and experience are varied. This means that different cultures and societies have very different moral values. They claim that moral rightness is a matter of obedience to cultural values. However, the absolutists/universalists deny that it is always right to obey your culture’s values. Absolutism has trans-cultural standards by which he can criticize a whole culture’s values. That is why he could be progressive and radical while the relativists can only maintain status-quo having no higher standards than his own culture. It is only the believer in the old fashion-natural moral law who could be a social radical and progressive. It is only the absolutists can condemn the 9/11 attacks as immoral act. The relativists could only say let them examine what they are doing (Kreef, 2010).
Third, related to argument on freedom, moral relativism claim that they alone guarantees freedom and moral absolutism threatens freedom. People often wonder how they can be truly free if they are not truly free to create their own values.   Experience will teach us that we are free to create some alternative rules or codes such as dress code, hair code, etc. But we are not free to create alternative moral values. We can not make murder, rape, killing right or making justice, charity, and love wrong. We can not find moral obligation to rape or to kill.      
Fourth, finally, the challenge of relativism morality is how we live together harmoniously with differing and conflicting values? What would bind us together if we do not recognize one truth? How can a leader lead a society in one direction if all members do not agree each other? There will be no peace and unity if we recognize different truth and moral values. No ideas can be met in discussions and no common agreement will be followed. Thus, consequently, United Nation will never declare human rights as universal moral values if all nations will not agree and the Catholic Church will never pronounce its morality on certain actions. That kind of life is an illusion. It denies our inner desire of harmony which can be gained through common understanding that we find in universalism or absolutism.     
Universal Morality/Absolutism
            If the relativism morality claims that morality is individual and cultural dependence but universal morality is individual and cultural independent, it applies to all rational human beings and beyond culture. Moral universalism is the meta-ethical position that ethics or morality applies universally, that is for all similarly situated individuals, regardless of culture, race, sex, religion, nationality, sexuality or other distinguishing features.  
            The application of the universal morality would be: if an action is right or wrong for others, it is also right or wrong for us” “If something is rights for you and if it is wrong for you, then it is right or wrong for me”.  Within this concept, all rational being has the same concept of what is good and bad, right and wrong and thus it is easier to judge other people’s behaviour and other culture.
            Universal morality is taken from its normative sense of morality When morality is taken from its normative sense, then it does not need to have two features that are essential to morality as defined by descriptive sense, that it be a code of conduct that is put forward by a society and that it accepted as a guide to behaviour by the members of that society. It is possible that morality in its normative sense has never been put forward by any particular society or group or individuals. It claims that it is possible for any normal adult to know what is good and bad, what is right and wrong. It further argues that morality is known to all. But how do people know whether it is right or wrong, good or bad? There is no written existing law to determine or to judge behaviour but it comes from reason. Each individual possesses reasons, each has a conscience. Thus judging behaviour is based on natural law.
            Natural law is as strong as and binding as physical law such as gravity and energy. Natural law does not depend on our interpretation or feelings but they exist independently. Rape is wrong regardless the intention and outcome behind it. It does not matter how angry we are, it is inherently wrong. Rape can not be argued as right and wrong depend on certain circumstances or cultural aspects. The truth is that rape is wrong. The truth can not have it both ways, truth can only be one. Truth has and never will change. Our opinion is not the truth; our status does not give us the truth, truth is the truth and exist independently. Morality must be based on absolute truth, not relative truth. Relative truth will tell us that an act is relative to the context, situation, culture and the person. It comes down to two opinions. A person may judge rape as wrong or immoral but others may judge it as moral and a person can not impose a moral judgement on others. Thus, how are they going to reconcile? It is only when they admit that there is a natural law, one which is above personal opinion and beliefs, one which is unchanging, can they claim that an action morally right or wrong.
According to universalists, morals are inherent in the law of nature, the nature of humanity. They regard actions as inherently or inarguably moral or immoral. It does not need other person to tell someone that certain act is immoral or moral because from the act alone can be judged whether it is immoral or moral and all adult rational moral agent know whether it is moral or immoral. Moral universalists might be, for example, judge slavery, death penalty or rape to be absolutely and inarguably immoral regardless of the beliefs and goals of a culture that engage in this practices. Thus, an action can be judged either good or bad, right or wrong, it can not be both ways, regardless of the circumstances in which they occur.
 
Points to Learn and to Review from Universalism/Absolutism
Universalism morality assures us of certainty, security and protection. We are not living under the shadow of clouds. What we think, it is right, good or bad, then we can be assure that the same opinion is upheld everywhere. There is only one truth. The position of one or a group embodies that truth. Within these moral standards, all persons, society beyond boundaries of culture can be one and judge actions against humanity as immoral. Thus, all people across culture can condemn the act of Hitler as a crime against humanity. Such act can not be considered moral in one place and immoral in other place, but the world had condemned it as crime against humanity, no mater the reason behind it.      There is always common agreement when it comes to issues on morality. We can use the slogan like: “everything for everyone” and nothing for our self”, “what we defend, we defend for everyone”, “your struggle is our struggle” under universal morality.  Consequently, society can live harmoniously without conflicting moral values. No society is considered better than the others in term of moral values.
However, it has been always criticized that universalism morality is not giving moral agents a freedom to exercise moral judgement. It disregards the cultural values that have been existing long time. Some have argued that without free will, the universe is deterministic and therefore morally uninteresting. Thus, if all moral choices and moral behaviour are determined by outside forces, there can be no need for any person to ponder morality (LaFollette, 1991).   The main question is that how we come to know what absolute morals are. The authorities who are quoted as source of absolute morality are all subject to human interpretations. And for them, for moral to be truly absolute, they would have to have a universally unquestioned source, interpretation and authority. Thus, the critics say, there is no conceivable source of such morals; there will never be universal agreement on what those morals are. However, Catholic Church has the answer. It has the authority to pronounce and interpret moral issues affecting human life through its magisterium.       
 
Veritatis Splendor: An Answer to Moral Relativism and Catholic Morality
Personal freedom has become the rule of life today. People are becoming independent and try to see everything from their own perspective, not according to the common perspective. No common moral standards being followed. Gone are the days when the old folks were so strict in educating their children to follow what is right and avoid what is wrong, do what is good and avoid what is bad. In those days, people were clear with their values and lived accordingly. They were guided only by one truth. Time has passed and now people become relative, and even becoming morally indifferent. Everything is relative, no absolute truth. Truth is not only one but many, according to personal preferences, cultural values and situation in which an act occurs. People define an act whether it is moral or immoral not on common moral standard but based on their own personal preferences and cultural perspective. This kind of perspective has influenced the life of Catholic post war in Europe. The European replaced the absolute moral values with moral relativism.
Pope Benedict XVI pointed out that  after about 1960, Europeans massively abandoned many traditional norms rooted in Christianity and have replaced them with continuously evolving relative moral rules. People play with their own rules according to their own perception. What they think is good for them, it is their moral rule. In their view, sexual activity is separated from procreation, which led to a decline in the importance of the families and to de population. Currently the population vacuum in Europe is filled by immigrants, by Muslims from Islamic countries who attempt to establish absolute value which stands at odds with moral relativism. What had happened in Europe long time ago, now is being practiced by many all over the world including Asians particularly Filipinos. The situation causes concern for the Catholic Church which pushes Catholic Church to respond. And the most authoritative response to moral relativism from Roman Catholic perspective can be found in Veritatis Splendor or the Splendor of Truth. (John Paul II, 1993).
The duty of the magisterium to answer moral question was emphasized by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical letter, Humane Vitae. Pope Paul VI (1969) emphasized that no member of the faithful could deny that the Church is competent in her magisterium to interpret the natural moral law. It is in fact indisputable that Jesus Christ when He communicated His Divine power to Peter and other apostles and sent them to teach all nations His commandments and constituted them as the authentic guardians and interpreters of the whole moral, not only law of the gospel but also natural moral law. For natural law, too, declares the will of God and its faithful observance are necessary for men’s eternal salvation. Thus, it is within the role of the Church, John Paul II wrote his Veritatis Splendor.             
The Encyclical  answers the questions around man’s ability to discern good, the existence of evil, the role of human freedom, human conscience, mortal sin and the role of the magisterium of the Catholic Church. In response to the claim of relativism morality that there is no universal moral truth, Pope John Paul II argued that moral truth is knowable to all persons. The moral law is universal across people in varying cultures and in fact is rooted in human condition. John Paul II insisted that no matter how separated someone is from God, in the depth of his heart, there always remains a yearning for absolute truth and a thirst to attain full knowledge of it. He continues to say that the splendor of truth “shines deep within the human spirit”. 
John Paul II argued that to ask about the “good” simply means to turn toward God, the fullness of goodness. He emphasized that the magisterium of the Catholic Church has authority to pronounce definitely on moral questions. Even more, John Paul taught that the Church is Christ’s particular response to help answer everyone questions of what is right and what is wrong. Consequently, what is pronounced “good”, evil, by the Church, that is moral absolute for all Catholic and that is binding to all the follower of Christ? One catholic can not proclaim his own version of the “good” and the “evil”. Catholics have only one truth.
Against the criticism of humanists and relativist group that the Catholic Church is deterministic and does not allow human freedom to exercise moral judgment, John Paul reiterated that there is no true conflict between human freedom and God’s law. He pointed out that the true end of human freedom is growth as a mature person into how each is created by God. God’s law governing human behaviour is not opposed to human freedom but rather it protects and promotes that freedom. Such idea lead us to conclusion that exercising human freedom is to lead us to perfection as God is perfect. So long freedom is for human perfection is moral. However, Pope John Paul II cautions us that freedom is not absolute. Merely deciding for oneself that one may do something is not all true substitutes for determining whether something is good or bad.
John Paul II, welcomes the role of human reason in discovering and applying the natural law, however, he reminds us that God still remains the true author of moral law. Human reason will not supersede the elements of the moral law that are of divine origin and that would be the death of freedom if reasons overtake divine law.  In relation to human act, the encyclical argues that certain acts are intrinsically evil. This means that certain acts are always wrong and that there are never circumstances in which they must permitted if done knowingly and intentionally. The ends do not justify the means. There are certain acts so destructive to the human person that there are no extenuating circumstances that would allow them. John Paul based his opinion on the teaching of Pope Paul VI in the encyclical Humanae Vitae concerning contraception that there are no circumstances in which the practice is elicit.
 
Conclusion
       The different theories of morality are caused by different perception of morality. Such theories have caused division in human society and so we have moral relativists who claim that morality is relative to the person, situation, culture and moral universalists /absolutists who claim that there is a common or universal moral standards for everybody and culture. Moral values are beyond the boundary of culture and individual preferences. What is moral in one society, the same is applied to all rational moral agents everywhere.   
The effect of these moral perceptions upon the life of people is great. It influences the moral behaviour of each individual. Thus, we have problems of double moral standards in society and conflict of moralities. People have no idea of what kind of morality they have to follow, either moral relativism or absolutism. Amid such situation, there is a need to have an authority to interpret morality and impose it to everybody. The Catholic Church has answered to such problem through its Veritatis Splendor or the Splendor of Truth. It is answer to moral relativism and confirmation of moral universalism or absolutism. Veritatis Splendor emphasizes that moral truth is knowable to all rational person, it is universal to all people in varying cultures and that there is no true conflict between human freedom and God’s law. Human freedom must lead the person to perfection as God is perfect. And that God is still the author of moral law and God’s law are beyond culture or universal. If the motive of moral relativism is their deepest desire for happiness, thus the motive of Christian morality is their deepest desire for ultimate happiness, eternal salvation.
Finally our life should not be guided only by our feelings and pure reason but beyond that it should be guided by God’s law. The fulfilment of God’s law is in Jesus Christ, as our way, truth and the life. Living the life of Jesus Christ in our life is a way of living moral life and living moral life will lead us to eternal salvation, ultimate happiness, not temporary happiness as claimed by relative morality.  
 References:
 
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Hume, David. 1985. A Treatise of Human Nature. London: Penguin.
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LaFollette, Hugh. 1991. The Truth of Ethical Relativism: Journal of Social Philosophy: New York University.
Nietze, Frederich, Wilhem. 1900. Beyond Good and Evil. Project Gutenberg. http://informations.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/etex03/bygdv10.htm
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