MAJORSHIP: VALUES EDUCATON

FOCUS: PHILOSOPHICAL AND MORAL FOUNDATION OF VALUES FORMATION

COMPETENCIES:
1. Explain the philosophical and moral foundation of values formation.
2. Recognize the distinction between subjective cultural values and objective moral values.
3. Describe the nature of human beings
4. Explain the formation of the intellect and will

Prepared by: PROF. MA. ELVIRA A. ASUAN

A. Definition of Terms
1. PHILOSOPHY – is a science whose essence is founded on reason, experience, reflection, intuition,
meditation, imagination, and speculation that leads to CRITICAL THINKING which embraces questioning,
analyzing, criticizing, synthesizing, evaluating, and judging a given phenomenon of reality
2. PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON - is an endeavor, which is not an end in itself but means to an end
- is one’s desire to know who and what man is
- deals with the origin of human life, the nature of the human life and the reality of human existence

B. Certain Philosophies of Man

GREEK PHILOSOPHERS believes that the stuff that constitutes the world is also the same stuff that constitutes
human

For THALES, water is the world-stuff. In the somatic level of human nature, it is a scientific
knowledge that the human brain contains 80% water and 70% in the human body.
For ANAXIMENES, the air is the world-stuff. Human is air. He believes that the human person is
composed of body and soul. Body is a condensed air and the soul is rarefied air. When the human
person died, the soul separates from the body; the cadaver is necessarily cold since the heat principle
that animates it is gone. For him, air is the principle of life since soul is composed of air.
For PYTHAGORAS depicted that soul is immortal, divine, and is subjected to metempsychosis.
As immortal and divine, the soul has fallen and is incarnated in the body until it gets purified and finally
assures reunification with the divine. This reunification is possible only through constant reincarnation.
For PROTAGORAS (representative of the Sophists), human is the ultimate criterion of truth.
According to him, “man is the measure of all things, of all things that are that they are, and of things that
are not that they are not”. Therefore, human is the absolute possessor of truth.
For SOCRATES human is a being who thinks and wills. Human soul is more important than the body. Human’s
responsibility is to discover the truth; truth about good life, for it is in knowing the good life that human
can act correctly.
For PLATO, the nature of the human person is seen in the metaphysical dichotomy between body and soul.
These dualistic entities have distinctive qualities, which are contradictory to each other. For him, the
body is material, it cannot live and move apart from the soul; it is mutable and destructible. On the
contrary, the soul is immaterial; it can exist apart from the body; it is immutable and indestructible.
Plato’s philosophy was based on his theory of a soul divided into three components: reason, will, and
appetite. He contended that one could identify the parts of the soul because they sometimes clash with
 each other. A person may crave or have an appetite for something, yet resist the craving with willpower.
A correctly operating soul requires the highest part (reason), to control the lowest part (appetite), with
assistance from the will.
THREE COMPONENTS OF THE SOUL:
1. RATIONAL SOUL (mind or intellect) is the thinking portion within each of us, which discerns what is real and not
merely apparent, judges what is true and what is false, and wisely makes the rational decisions in accordance
with which human life is most properly lived.
2. SPIRITED SOUL (will or volition) is the active person; its function is to carry out the dictates of reason in practical
life, courageously doing whatever the intellect has determined to be best
3. (APPETITIVE SOUL (emotion or desire) is the portion of each of us that wants and feels many things, most of
which must be deferred in the face of rational pursuits if we are to achieve a salutary degree of self-control.

Another important characteristics of the speculation of Plato is that philosophy is conceived of in its
practical order. The human person must seek the truth; and once the truth is discovered in the purely
speculative field, it must serve to find the solution of practical problems: Philosophy must render human person
morally better.

According to Plato, values are chosen. Choice is volitional. It means that the human person has free will
that solely our environment, our nurturing, or our genes do not denote or determine our fate. It means that the
development of character and intelligence, like the body, is open to an individual’s choice. And that if he/she
wishes to become better, effort must be expected. Your life is determined by the choices you make. And your
choices are determined by your ability to think. In general, the phrases that capture your relationship to value is
choose wisely.

For ARISTOTLE, there is no dichotomy between human’s body and soul. Body and soul are in state of
unity. In this unity the soul acts as the full realization of the body, while the body is a material entity, which has
a potentiality for life. The body is matter to the soul and the soul form to the body. Therefore, body and soul are
inseparable.
For STOICS, the soul is matter and has seven parts. These parts are the five senses, the power of speech,
and the power of reproduction. For them, speech is tantamount to reasoning so that it is considered as the
ruling part of the soul. Another stoic view is that; human nature is part of determined universe. With this, they
emphasize that human should conform himself to the course of nature. Man must be the subject of the will of
God and to the law of nature. it is man’s submission to the law of nature that makes man seek value. Only in
doing this that the human person conform himself/herself to the will of God. Therefore, human’s submission to
the will of God is man’s conformity with nature.

MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHERS – (Medieval Philosophy) - is the philosophical science of God. All Philosophers under
this period views on the existence of God)

1. For ST. AUGUSTINE, God created human with a mortal body with an immortal soul and gave him/her free
will. For him, the source of evil is free will. God created human good, but the good in him/her ceases to be
good when he/she turns himself away from God. The human person is responsible for the existence of evil,
not God because God cannot will it; He is absolute Goodness. For these, St. Augustine believes that human’s
nature, his/her free will that makes human imperfect but human is also capable of reaching perfection only
if he/she keeps himself/herself good.
2. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS understands the human person as a whole. He claims that the human person is
substantially united body and soul. The soul is united with the human body and it is the principle of life.
However, the soul requires the body as the material medium for its operation particularly perception. But
the soul has operative functions, which do not need a material medium; they are human’s intellect and will.
Thus, at death, the intellect and will remain in the soul as it is immortal, simple, and incorruptible.

MODERN PHILOSOPHERS
1. RENE DESCARTES view of human is founded on his idea of substance. As a substance, human is both a
thinking substance and an extended substance. As thinking substance, human can know and think apart
from the body. As an extended substance, human assumes life and move through the animal spirits, not
through the soul. For him, man is a machine and a thinking being, a thing that thinks.
2. KARL MARX view on human nature is derived from labor since nature is the totality of human activity,
and considering that labor is in itself a human activity, in fact, the highest form of activity, then human
nature derives its existence from labor. For him, human nature rests on labor, therefore, the human
person should be productive, if not, he/she loses his/her nature.
3. THOMAS HOBBES human beings are physical objects, sophisticated machines all of whose functions and
activities can be described and explained in purely mechanistic terms. Sensation, for example, involves a
series of mechanical processes operating within the human nervous system, by means of which the
sensible features of material things produce ideas in the brains of the human beings who perceive them.
Specific desires and appetites arise in the human boy and are experienced as discomfort or pains that
must be overcome. Thus, each of us is motivated to act in such ways as we believe likely to relieve our
discomfort, to reserve and promote our whole being. Everything we choose to do is strictly determined
by this natural inclination to relieve the physical pressures that impinge upon our bodies. Human volition
is nothing but the determination of the will by the strongest present desire.

As Hobbes acknowledged, this account of human nature emphasizes our animal nature, leaving
each of us to live independently of everyone else, acting only in his or her own self-interest, without
regard for others. This produces what Hobbes called the “state of war” a way of life that is certain to
prove “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” The only escape is by entering into contracts with each
other-mutually beneficial agreements to surrender our individual interests in order to achieve the
advantages of security that only a social existence can provide.
4. For MARTIN BUBER, the human person is not only an individual being but also a social being. He applied
the principle of personalism in his theory of human’s interrelatedness to others. He believes that the
human person establishes a relationship with his/her fellowmen in three levels. I-it (I-He/She), and I-
Thou (I-You). The highest level of the human person’s relatedness is the I-Thou relationship. This
relationship happens when the “I” and the “Thou” are bound together in the context of love.
5. For JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU human is born well and evil arise from developing “civilized” societies. In
a state of nature people are basically good and they tend to compassionate to each other. But these
condition do not last, and indeed people need to live in society that to become fully. His political theory
aimed at creating an environment in which what is right dictates how might be employed rather than
letting the desire to maintain the power prescribe what was done. Instead of being bound together,
people should be linked by a social contract, a pact resulting in a political order to which reasonable
persons would freely give their allegiance. He believed that God is the source of all justice. He also
believed that it is in the nature of the human consciousness itself to be free from all others. Human is
unique in the world. . . one’s being, one’s existence, is different from all others.
EXISTENTIALIST PHILOSOPHERS

1. For JEAN-PAUL SARTRE, the meaning of human existence is found in human’s exercise of freedom
and responsibility in the scope of human’s individual and social undertakings.
2. For MARTIN HEIDEGGER, human existence can only be attained when the human person lives
his/her life authentically.
Authentic existence requires human to do the following:
1.1 Human has to free himself/herself from his/her inauthentic existence with the
“they” so that human can own his/her existence;
1.2 As human own his/her existence, he/she has to project his/her possibilities; human has
to make himself/herself;
1.3 As a human person, he/she has to experience dread, care, concern, guilt. Besides, man
has to listen to the voice of conscience, so that he/she can resolve to live authentically;
and
1.4 With human’s resolute decision to live authentically, human has to accept death as
his/her own most inevitable possibility.
3. For SOREN KEIRKEGAARD, human can achieve a meaningful existence when human liberates
himself/herself from his/her “crowd-existence”. This liberation is possible if human lives not only in
his/her aesthetic mode of existence but also in the ethical and religious modes.
4. For KARL JASPERS, the attainment of human existence is possible if human when he/she is seen as a
whole or as the “Encompassing”. Seen this way, human can be encompassing when he/she sees
himself/herself as an existent being, as a conscious being, as a spirit, and as existenz.
5. For VIKTOR FRANKL, human find meaning in his/her existence being, in a three-fold manner, namely:
a. By doing a life-project
b. By experiencing value, particularly in the context of love; and
c. By finding meaning in suffering
6. JOHN STUART MILL (utilitarianism) fully accepted Bentham’s devotion to greatest happiness
principle as the basic statement of utilitarian value: “. . .actions are right in proportion as they tend
to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce pain. By happiness are intended pleasure, and
the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure.” But Mill did not agree that
all differences among pleasure could be quantified. To him, some kinds of pleasure experience by
human beings also differ from each other in qualitative ways, and only those who have experienced
pleasure of both sorts are competent judges of their relative quality. This establishes the moral
worth of promoting higher (largely intellectual) pleasures among sentient beings even their
momentary intensity maybe less than that of alternative lower (largely bodily) pleasures. Even so,
Mill granted that the positive achievement of happiness is often difficult, so that we are often
justified morally in seeking primarily to reduce the total amount of pain experienced by sentient
beings affected by our actions. Pain or even the sacrifice of pleasure-is warranted on Mill’s view only
when it results directly in the greater good of all.
Mill supposed that behavior as well as thought often deserves protection against social
encroachment. Human action should arise freely from the character of individual human beings, not
from the despotic influence of public opinion, custom, or expectation. No matter what patterns of
behavior may constitute the way we ought to be, he argued, each person must choose her or his
own path in life, even if it differs significantly from what other people would recommend.
7. JEREMY BENTHAM. His moral theory was founded on the assumption that it is the consequences of
human actions that count in evaluating their merit and that the kind of consequence that matters for
 human happiness is just the achievement of pleasure and avoidance of pain. he argued that the
hedonistic value of any human action is easily calculated by considering how intensely its pleasure is
felt, how long that pleasure lasts, how certainly and how quickly it follows upon the performance of
the action and how likely it is produce collateral benefits and avoid collateral harms. All that remains,
Bentham supposed, is to consider the extent of this pleasure, since the happiness of the community
as a whole is nothing other than the sum of individual human interest. The principle of utility, defines
the meaning of moral obligation by reference to the greatest happiness of the greatest number of
people who are affected by performance of an action.
8. DAVID HUME, (naturalism) believed that our beliefs and actions are the products of custom or habit.
Since all our scientific beliefs have exactly the same foundation. This account preserves the natural
dignity of moral judgements. According to him, it is our feelings or sentiments that exert practical
influence over human volition and action. He also claimed that a constant conjunction between
having a motive (not reason) for acting and performing the action in question. Hence, with the same
reliability that characterizes our belief in any casual relation, therefore, feelings have the power to
result in actions.
So a proper science of human nature will account for human actions as well as for human beliefs,
be reference to the natural formation of habitual associations with human feelings.
Clearly, rationality had no place in this account of morality. All human actions flow naturally from
human feelings, without any interference from human reason.
He view that judgments and recommendations of traditional morality arise not from reason, but
from moral sense. Virtue is always accompanied by a feeling of pleasure, and vice by a feeling of
pain. Thus, we praise an instance of virtuous action precisely because it arouses in us, a pleasant
feeling, and we avoid committing a vicious action because we anticipate that doing so would
produce pain. Our feelings provide a natural guide for moral conduct.
9. FREIDRICH NIETZCHE insists that there are no rules for human life, no absolute values, no certainties
on which to rely. If truth can be achieved at all, it can come only from an individual who purposefully
disregards everything that is traditionally taken to be important. He also rejects traditional values
including religion. Nietzche’s declaration of “the death of god” draws attention to our culture’s
general abandonment of any genuine commitment to the Christian faith. A noble taste for heroic
styles of life can only be corrupted and undermined by the interminable debates of dialectical
reason. Traditional Western moral philosophy-and the Christian religion in particular-therefore
opposes a healthy life, trying vainly to escape unfortunate circumstances by destroying native
human desires. Only perverse tenacity and cowardice, he believed, encourages us to cling to this
servile morality. It would be braver, more honest, and much more noble to cut ourselves loose and
dare to live in a world without God. In such a world, death is not to be feared, since it represents
nothing more significant than the fitting conclusion of a life devoted to personal gain.

C. NATURE OF THE HUMAN

HUMAN NATURE – refers to anything exclusively human which the human person intrinsically possesses right at
his/her birth. It is universal and static. It is one and immutable. It is one because it is one because it is absolutely
present to all human; it is static because it remains as it is in every man from birth to death

THREE-FOLD LEVEL OF HUMAN NATURE

1. SOMATIC LEVEL – refers to the body, substance, constitution, or stuff and secondarily to the bodily
structure and color of the human person, which are conditioned by human’s culture and environment.
2. BEHAVIORAL LEVEL – refers to the modes of acting of every human person
3. ATTITUDINAL LEVEL – refers to the mental reaction of every human to a given stimulus or the position of
every individual concerning his/her opinion, feeling, or mood. It manifests the purposive drive of every
human to live in a kind of life according to his/her own discretion.

a. Human being is the substantial union of body and soul. The soul even as it is a source of vital
functions, needs the support of the body. Thus, while the soul has its own peculiar functions, certain
acts are showed by the soul (psyche) and the body (soma). Thus, these actions are called
psychosomatic. Human is both material and spiritual.
b. Man is a social being. Human is a person who always exist with others in the world. Human’s social
nature is ontological because human is always a being-with-others even if there is no actual presence
of “others”. Human need not experience being social in order for him/her to be social since human’s
social nature is inherent in every individual. The quality of human’s relatedness to his/her fellowmen
requires a learning process, in view of the fact that human relation is not given but made.
c. Man is a historical being. Human’s being-in-the-world that makes a human being-in-history. As
human transcends from his/her present to the past, he/she is enrneshed into an awareness of his
simple origin; and as man transcends from his present to the future, human is put into a reflection
on how can he developed and give progress to the world and his/her existence, which is rooted in it
d. Man is an acting being. Animals do not act they only move. Human is an acting being since; he/she is
the only creature that possesses spiritual powers (intellect and will) rooted in his/her spirituality. As
rational and free, he/she is capable to know that there are actions that are right and wrong, and
good or bad; knows that he is responsible for his/her action. It enables human to think and know of
actions, which are pertinent to truth; and enables him/her to know truth-pertaining actions in a way
that he/she can achieve wisdom, which is the ultimate goal of his knowledge. The will of human
enables him/her to choose options relative to the performance or non-performance of an act. It
enables him/her to perform good acts that can practice virtue, which is the ultimate goal of the will.
THE INTEGRAL NATURE OF THE HUMAN PERSON
NATURE OF KNOWING FACULTIES APPETITIVE FACULTIES
MAN

Material External Senses Basic Emotions

(Body) Function
Animal Love-Hatred
Smell Nutrition Desire-Aversion
Taste Nutrition Joy-Sorrow
Touch Nutrition Hope-Despair
Hearing Cognition Courage-Fear, Anger
Sight Cognition
Internal Senses
Consciousness – awareness of sensation,
synthesis of external sense: Perception
Imagination – construction and reproduction of
images
Memory – recognition of objects in the past
Instinct – tending to do good and well-being
aversion to evil and danger

Spiritual Intellect Will

(Soul) (conscience)
Rational Function – to think Function – to do/act
Purpose – to know Purpose – to choose/love
Goal – truth Goal – goodness
Highest Human Fulfillment - Wisdom
Highest Human Fulfillment - Virtue

Training of the Intellect

 To seek the purpose and time end of life
 To grasp universal truths
 To understand and reason out truths and moral precepts and relate them to life
 To make judgments based on an objective standard of morality
 To analyze the cause and effect of decision and behavior
 To solve problem rationally

Motivation/Formation of the Will

 To love God and neighbor
 To choose the higher good/universal truth and moral values
 To act upon a decision
 To take the rational and logical consequences of a decision and act
 To make responsible use of freedom
 To exercise self-discipline and control the emotions
  To persevere, sustain, and commit
 To charge and improve
 To practice virtues and good moral habits

D. Meaning of Values

Values Education – emphasizes the interrelatedness of personal and interpersonal nature of the person. Its goal is
the development of a fully functioning individual.
Values – come from the Latin word “valere” which means to have vigor, a power to do a specific thing in order to
realize a certain urgent demand for something important

- Refers to interest, pleasure, likes preferences, duties, moral obligations, desires, wants, goals,
needs, aversions, and attractions and many other kinds of selective orientations which serve as
criteria for the action
- Are the bases of judging what attitudes, behaviors are correct, desirable and what are not (DECSIVE
Program Framework)
- Refers to those which make something desirable, attractive, worthy of approval, admiration; which
inspire feelings, judgments or attitudes of esteem, commendation; which are useful in view of
certain ends (Hall, 1973)
- Refer to the totality of objective, universal truths and standards that ought to govern man’s
decisions, motivations, conduct and aspirations.

TWO KINDS OF VALUES (Esteban, 1990)

1. Absolute Moral Values - those which are ethically and socially binding to all men at all times and all places.

Characteristics:
Objective - because they are truths which are derived ultimately from truth itself, GOD
Universal – for they are encompasses all persons, actions and conditions
External – because they have always existed and will always exist

Moral Values – refers to the qualities of an act, which are performed by an individual freely and knowingly. It is
founded on human person, love and freedom. It serves as the ultimate guide of an individual towards goodness.

Characteristics of Moral Values

 Moral Values are basic values
 Moral values are more important that all other values
 Moral Values are permanent
 Moral Values re universal
 Moral Values are absolute
 Moral Values are objective; and
 Moral Values are freely chosen by human beings

2. Behavioral and Cultural Values are inner personal responses or incentive, which prompt a person to a certain
way.
 Characteristics:
Subjective for they are personal to the individual
Societal/Situational because they are the concepts and standards which are applied
during a given occasion or set of circumstances

E. Meaning, Nature, Purpose and Norms of Morality

MORALITY
 Is the rightness and wrongness of an act
 Consist in the conformity and non-conformity of an act with the norm
 Is the equality of human acts by which they are constituted as good, bad or indifferent
 Plays an essential role in human existence and life would be basically in human without it
 Guides an individual to achieve fullness of humanity
Human Acts are actions performed by human being with conscious knowledge and are subject to the control of the
will.

Acts of Man are actions which are instinctive and involuntary and are not within the control of the will.

Characteristics of Human Acts

1. It must be performed by conscious agent who is aware of what he/she is doing and of its consequence.
2. It must be performed by conscious agent who is acting freely, that is, by his/her own volition and powers.
3. It must be performed by conscious agent who decides willfully to perform the act.
Classification of Human Acts
1. Moral Actions – are those actions, which are in conformity with the norms of morality. They are good
actions and are permissible.
2. Immoral Actions – are those actions which are not conformity with the norms of morality. They are bad
or evil and are not permissible.
3. Amoral Actions – are actions which stand neutral in relation with the norms of morality. They are either good
or bad in themselves. But certain amoral actions may become good or bad because of the circumstances
attendant to them.

Alfred Panizo sites these important principles

 A person is held morally responsible for any evil effect, which flows from action itself directly, and necessary as
natural consequences, though the evil effect is not directly willed or intended.
 A human act from which two effects may result, one good and one evil is morally permissible under the
following conditions:
a. The action which produces double effects must be good in itself or at least morally indifferent.
b. The good effect must not come from the evil effect. To do evil in order to achieve something good is
not justified
c. The motive of doer must be towards the attainment of the good. The evil effects are permitted only
as an incidental act.
d. The good effect must outweigh the evil result in its importance.
If any of these conditions is violated, then the action is not justifiable and should not be done.
Definitions of Law
 Law is an ordinance of something put into order by reason, for the sake of the common good
 Made by someone who has the authority to govern that community and promulgated
 Is a rule of conduct or action, establish by custom or laid down and force by the governing authority.
 Is a rule or principle stating something that always works in the same way under the same condition.
Definitions of Norms of Morality
 Are the standards that indicate the rightfulness or wrongfulness, the goodness or evilness, the value or disvalue
of a thing (R. Agapay)
 The criteria of judgment about the kind of the person we ought to be kind of actions we ought to perform (R.M
Gula, 1981)

Norms of Morality
1. Natural Law
- is recognized by all men regardless of creed, race, culture, or historical circumstance (Agapay, 1991)
- is a moral obligation that arises from human nature, compelling an individual to be true to his/her natural as
tao.
- is necessary because the difference between human beings and other creatures. Natural laws are rules derived
from the nature that guide the human life

Natural Law theory holds that morality is based on human nature. For example, John Locke claims “because
people are as a matter of fact all equally human, they ought to be treated equally. Sometimes when people
refer to the basic dignity of humanity or human beings, they have in mind the idea that there is something
fundamental about human beings that is worthy of moral regard. It may be difficult at times to determine
whether such a perspective is based on Kantian analysis or some other natural consideration. When someone
refers to a higher “law” governing human behavior, this may suggest that they are appealing to natural law.

PROPERTIES OF THE NATURAL LAW

a. It is universal, Natural law is constitutive element of human nature. Therefore, it is true wherever human nature
manifest itself. All humans are equal because of shared human nature.
b. It is obligatory, Natural law is human nature, calling for itself to be actualized, to “lived” according to its basic
and essential demands.
c. It is recognizable, it is imprinted in the human nature and human has the light of reasons to know it.
d. It is immutable or unchangeable, Natural law is human nature. It is immutable because human’s essential
nature can never be lost as long as human is human
2. Divine Law
- is derived from the eternal law that appears historically to humans, especially through revelations. Divine law
is divided into the Old Law and New Law. The Old and New Law roughly corresponding to the Old and New
Testaments of the bible. When he speaks of the Old Law, Thomas is thinking mainly of the Ten Commandments.
When he speaks of the New Law, the teaching of Jesus.
3. External Law
- is a plan of God in creating the universe and assigning to each creature therein-specific nature
(Agapay, 1991)
- reveals the will of God, it contains the divine blueprints, which brings order into the universe because they
direct all of creation and creatures to their respective end goals.
4. Moral Law
 - the law which directs human behavior in human acts
- contain universal truths and ethical principles that ought to guide the individual conduct in matters
of right and wrong.
- tells human being how to act in his/her relationship with God and others
5. Human Law
- laws made by human beings, and are valid only because human made them. These laws are for the most part
necessary because Natural Law and Divine Law are often not specific enough to guide the human behavior

Determinants of Morality

1. The Objective of Human Act is the natural purpose accomplished by the act. Human reason can see that some
acts are good because their natural purpose is good, what they accomplish is good and that other acts are evil
because their natural purpose is evil, what they accomplish is evil. For example, giving alms to the poor is always
a good object, to steal is always a bad object for a human act.
2. The Motive of Human Act. The motive of an act is the purpose which the doer wishes to achieve by such action.
It is what gives direction and motivation to an act. It comes first in the mind as intention and occur last in the
action as its culmination or fulfillment. Without a motive, an act is meaningless, an accident.
3. Circumstances of Human Act can help determine its moral character. An act is an event, it happens in a definite
time and place. It is accompanied by certain elements that contribute to the nature and accountability of such
act. Morality takes into account the circumstances surrounding an act. These circumstances are:
a. Who, refers primarily to the doer of an act. At time, it also refers to the receiver of the act. This
circumstances includes the age, status, relations, family background, educational attainment, health and
socio-economic situation of the person involved in the act
b. What, refers to the act itself to the quality and quantity of the results of such act.
c. Where, refers to the circumstances of place where the act is committed.
d. With Whom, refers to the companion or accomplishes in an act performed. These includes the status and
number of the persons involved.
e. Why, refers to the motive of the doer
f. How, refers to the manner how the act is made possible
g. When, refers to the time when the act was performed

F. Dignity of Human Life

1. The Human Person Created in the Image of God

Each person is created in the image of God. Unique in creation, humans are first charged with the task of
representing God in the world. Second, because they are created in the image of God, humans are
differentiated from all other created living beings. Humans differ not only in degree but also in kind from
animals. Three implications are central to the meaning of the image, first, each human has the capacity to know
and to love God, to live in relationship with him; second each human is given the responsibility to care for and
to nurture the created order which is his/her home; third each human is a social being meant to live and to love
in community. Therefore, each person must accept responsibility for his/her actions directed to God, to the rest
of creation, and to human society. It is also follows that each individual possesses dignity and value at all times
during his/her life because of the divine origin of the image, cannot be measured in human terms.
2. Humans as Whole Beings
The understanding of humanity found in the Hebrew Scriptures and affirmed in the New Testament is
centered on the idea that each person is a total being. Jewish thought was incapable of rigid
compartmentalization of the individual into strict categories such as body, soul, and spirit, which was
characteristic of other systems of thought. Since, the individual cannot be reduced to components which could
be of unequal value we affirm that the whole person has dignity and value. Accordingly care and concern must
be expressed for all aspects of each individual’s life. Further, given the complexity of human life, response to
individuals in need should be multi-dimensional including family, government services, special interest groups,
churches, and care from individuals to individuals.

3. The Dignity of Conscience

Since all persons are in the image of God. Each individual has been given the gift of conscience whereby
attitudes and values are present which stem from this image and are consonant with it. In other words, through
conscience each individual has a “law written on his/her heart”. This law enables each individual to hear the
voice of God urging him or her to do good and to reject evil. Through conscience humans are enjoined to all
others who seek truth and justice and who work to solve difficult problems in our society. Since conscience of
divine origin, social and governmental structures should regard the exercise of person’s conscience with great
respect.
4. The Gift of Freedom
We affirm that the ability to choose and the desire to express that ability are God-given attributes of
human nature. Through the agency of the will, each person is able to make choices in many realms of human
life, not the least of which is the realm of morality. The dignity of human life is emphasized when individuals, in
spite of powerful influences to the contrary, freely choose courses of action, which demonstrate love and
compassion for others. Social structures and law should always be designed to allow to greatest display of
freedom possible by individuals in society. Any attempts to suppress or to restrict freedom unjustly should not
be allowed. Since freedom is essential to human nature, the expression of human freedom should be protected
and encouraged.
5. The Reality of Evil
While each individual has worth and dignity, experience in the world quickly confirms that evil has
entered the human condition. Humans can and have vowed to the temptation to use their creative abilities for
selfish ends. Freedom has been used to hurt and to oppress others through many different means in many
different contexts. We believe that every human is tainted with the prosperity to think and to act in evil or sinful
ways. This tendency is so powerful that humans have become enslaved to it.
6. The Problem of Death
The immediate consequence of the reality of evil in the world is that torn between mandate to
represent and manifest God and the inner compulsion to do evil, all humans, both in their individual lives and
corporate relationships, have become engaged in a struggle between good and evil. As a result of the struggle,
humans experience suffering.
7. The Source of Hope
As we observe the suffering around us and the fear of death present in each life, our ultimate
contribution to discussion concerning the nature and value of human life must be to offer hope. We affirm that
our hope is grounded in the person of Jesus Christ who we believe is God and who came to the world taking on
the nature of humanity.
The dignity of the person is manifested in all its radiance when the person’s origin and destiny are
considered: created by God in his image and likeness. The dignity of the human person is a transcendent value,
always recognized as such by those who sincerely search for the truth. Indeed, the whole of human history
 should be interpreted in the light of the certainty. Every human person, created in the image and likeness of
God, is therefore radically oriented towards the Creator, and is constantly in relationship with those possessed
of the same dignity. To promote the good of the individual is thus to serve the common good, which is the point
where rights and duties converged and reinforce one another.
8. The Social Nature of Man
The Creator, who has concerned for everyone, has willed that all human beings should constitute one
family and treat one another in a spirit of brotherhood. For having been created in the image of God. Who from
one man has created the whole human race and made them live all over the face of the earth, all men are called
to one and the same goal, namely God Himself. For this reason, love for God and neighbor is the first and
greatest commandment. To all human beings growing daily more dependent on one another, and to a world
becoming more unified every day, this truth proves to be of paramount importance. Each individual is a
member of the society. He/she is part of the whole mankind. It is not just certain individuals, but also all
humans who are called to his/her fullness of development.
9. Human Rights
All individuals have the right to life, to bodily integrity, and to the means suitable for the proper
development of life: these are primarily food, clothing, shelter, rest, medical care, and finally, the necessary
social services. Therefore, a human being also has the right to security in cases of sickness, inability to work, old
age, unemployment, or any other case in which he/she is deprive of the means of subsistence through fault of
his/her own. Any human society, if it is to be well ordered and productive, must lie down as a foundation of this
principle, namely, that every human being is a person, that is, his/her nature is endowed with intelligence and
free will. Indeed, precisely because he/she is a person, he/she has rights and obligations flowing directly and
simultaneously from his/her nature. And as these rights and obligations are universal and inviolable, so they
cannot in any way be surrendered. Respect for the human person entails respect for the right that flows from
his/her dignity as a creature. These rights are prior to society and must be recognized by it.