Rights-based Approach to Teaching Ethics

(Conference Paper, Implementing Business Ethics, Ateneo de Manila University, 2012)

The rights-based paradigm can be paired with the capability approach to advance a broader perspective in the teaching of moral philosophy. For students to realize the importance of moral choice in truly democratizing human development, they must have a clear-cut understanding of their most basic or foundational human rights. For instance, the tension between economic growth and climate justice must be seen beyond mere abstraction. The rights-based approach intends to enhance ethical reflection as it links moral issues to crucial aspects of human well-being, enabling students to recognize their indispensable role and stake on important social issues and problems.

Reflections Social Justice: Human Poverty and the Problem of Child Labor

Domination is not a necessary fact of human life. Most analysis on human injustice focus on causal links or the empirical without due regard for systemic wrong. This undermines the human being who is the moral locus of attention in a philosophical investigation. No human being has a pre-ordained destiny, and for this reason it is truly important to examine the rootedness of oppression and other forms of exploitation in modern society. Enrique Dussel points to the egocentric logic of the Western mind.  History, for him, is “the space of a world within the ontological horizon is the space of a world center, of the organic, self-conscious state that brooks no contradictions because it is an imperialist state.” (Dussel 1985, 2)

What is Human Development?

(Conference Paper, PHAVISMINDA Conference, Ilo-ilo City, 2011)

In this paper, I will argue that while the democratic rights and entitlements of people are important, it matters how people are really able to fully use them, and how they use them depends on their sense of self-worth. The basic point is that to make democracy work, it must be stressed that democratic procedures alone do not guarantee the creation of a just or well-ordered society. In this sense, I will explain the important distinction between procedural and substantive democracy. If democracy is meant to serve the moral ends of society, then it must benefit ordinary people. Human development begins with the kind of choices people make and these choices are a reflection of the substantive freedoms people have and enjoy. Democratic institutions need to be repaired and strengthened, but this requires more than the improvement of constitutional provisions. The value of true democracy then depends on how people value their dignity as human beings.

Positive and Negative Democracy

(Public Lecture, Ateneo Jubilee Lecture Series, Ateneo de Davao University, 2009)

Starvation, says 1998 Nobel Laureate for Economics Amartya Sen, “is the characteristic of some people not having enough food to eat”, not the fact of “there being not enough food to eat” . Consequently, he says that poverty is not the case of people’s “lack of income”, but rather, is “a matter of capabilities deprivation” . Income and other social primary goods are only suggestive of what people have or do not have – not of who they really are or of what they are capable of doing. Income, therefore, should not be suggestive of the kind of life a person is to live.

What is Liberal Equality?

(Public Lecture, Philosophy Day, Notre Dame University, Cotabato City, 2010)

Classical utilitarianism argues that the basic moral value is utility or welfare. The basic moral good in this sense is that which is most beneficial. As such, the moral act is one that is aimed at the achievement of material satisfaction or gain. The human person, in this regard, is only secondary. The right act is always the achievement of the optimum benefit. This undermines the moral worth of the person, for ultimately, the person can be used in order to achieve maximum utility.