BEING MORAL: A DIMENSION OF HUMAN EXISTENCE

In a narrower and stricter sense, ethics or morality refers to "that dimension of human existence whereby man confronts or finds himself, an ideal vision or an ideal state or goal of his existence" (Reyes, 1989).  Being moral is part and parcel of our human existence.  It is one of the dimensions of being human.  In Understanding the Self, we've learned that human existence, or each one of us, is multi-dimensional or multi-faceted.  Our human existence is marked by different aspects/dimensions/facets, namely: physical, emotional, mental, social, political, moral & spiritual.  This facet of human existence is manifest because of our moral sense.  What is moral sense?  It is our sense (knowledge) of goodness and badness of action.  As physical beings, we have the external senses.  With sense of sight, we distinguish what is beautiful from ugly.  With sense of hearing, we distinguish good music from noise.  With sense of taste, we distinguish delicious food from spoiled one.  In the same way, with moral sense, we distinguish good from bad actions, proper from improper, right from wrong.  Because of our moral sense, we will what is good.  Medieval philosophers also propounded the same: our human will (pagbuot) --at the very least, the free will, is always for the good.  In Visayan language, ang atong pagbuot para gyud sa unsay maayo; walay bisag usa nga mobuot og dautan.  

Why we ought to do good?  The answer is clear.  That's our ideal vision, our state, or our goal in life: to become good.  No one envisions himself as one like Satan, or his cohorts.  From a Christian perspective, the ideal vision of life is to become a "little less than God."  With this ideal vision in life, our moral sense dictates us to do what is good (in some sense of "ought") because we want to achieve our vision: to become good.  In the final analysis, being moral is to become good.  Becoming good is the realization of who we are as moral beings, which is one constitution of becoming human.  However, becoming good is easier said than done because there are hindrances to will what is good to be done, namely: (1) concupiscence or passion and (2) the evils of society.

1. Concupiscence - passion or desire.  It comes in different types: sexual desire, love for power, love for riches, etc.  Our passion hinders us to will what is good to be done in certain situations.  Because of sexual desire, a married man sleeps with another woman and another woman ... and another.  Because of love for power, a politician kills his political rival.  Because of love for riches, a businessman increases the prices of his goods in order to gain more profits.  Our passion, most often than not, blinds us from seeing our ideal vision: to become good.  In consequence, our passion becomes stronger than our willing to do what is good.  In the process, we choose bad actions rather than the good ones.
2. Evils of society - Human society is intended for the good of its member since no one can live on his own.  Yet, on its flipside, there are evils in society.  Mencius, an ancient Chinese philosopher, notes that "human society corrupts the natural goodness in man."  He gives a metaphor: "every single man is like a virgin forest but when human civilization encroaches this forest, it will lose its virginity."  At times, society corrupts the natural goodness of man.  As a result, he loses the purity of his will to do what is good.  Our modern society (this bourgeois society) is marked by individualism and consumerism.  With individualism, our society seems to teach us that each of us can live by himself/herself.  So, we strive to work harder for us to find and define our individual selves.  With consumerism, our society seems to teach us that we are because of what we consume.  Thus, we buy and buy things --even those things unnecessary. 

The different ethical theories to be discussed in the proceeding chapter will help us clarify some of those ideas initially discussed above.