when we are thinking of the standards which the individual has internalized rather than control of behavior in relation to consequences. Here, the intention and the motive of the person/actor is being considered, in which case, actions carried out or not carried out because of consequences are not moral.
However, those ones that are carried out or not carried out because of prescriptions or prohibitions an individual has internalized or accepted are moral.
Another reference to moral is that it consists of behavior that is carried out by reference to rules, regulations or principles, which are notionally accepted. In this case, any behavior that is inconsistent with these rules or principles is an immoral one. In this sense, we think of the paradigm between moral and immoral, between laws and legality. A good example of this last aspect of moral is what happened to Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart, as a consequence of his breaking of the law of his land when he beat his wife during the “week of peace”.
The ability of an individual to break the law is important. Imbeciles cannot be considered moral or immoral as a result of their very low I.Q. Sometimes behavior is regarded as moral or immoral, that is moral used as adjective to qualify behavior. Moral here refers to acceptability of behavior and immoral as unacceptability of behaviour. Social criteria is considered and brought in when the word acceptability is used; that is, with reference to a society that provides the norms or standards against which behavior could be measured. So we can
think about a society establishing norms about behavior that is good and norms about behavior that is bad. This is what is known as criteria – a Greek word meaning standards – standards against which something can be pitched or measured.
Criteria imply value judgement, that is, saying that some forms of behavior are socially acceptable, meaning that majority of people accept them. Using promiscuity as an example, if the society upholds it as immoral, any promiscuous person is also immoral because the society sees it as immoral.
Sexual promiscuity is measured against chastity (the value), which is the opposite.
The value which a society upholds and in the light on which it makes its value judgement results in moral rules or moral codes. For any rule or code to qualify as a moral it must have a value upon which it is made. Moral rules are prescriptive and prescriptive statements are ‘ought’ statements or imperative of which the Ten Commandments are good examples. Ought statements can lead to moral rules, laws and legality. Laws are prescriptive rules which determine what is a legally accepted behaviour in a society. Legality of behaviour is therefore determined by reference to legal rules. In the same way, the morality of our behaviour is determined by reference to moral rules.
What is Moral?
Moral is an abstract term and its development is closely linked with that of social development, since it is connected with one’s personal relationship
with others. Moral is concerned with events with rules of right or wrong, good or evil. Moral considerations focus on character considered as good or bad, right or wrong. Moral consideration is relative in nature among cultures, implying that what is moral in one culture may be considered immoral in another culture. Moral standards set by any particular society must have to be accepted, internalized and then there must be the urge or desire to live up to those standards.
There are three types of moral events. These are moral judgement, moral behaviour, moral feelings. Moral judgement takes rules of right or wrong, good or evil into consideration. When a child is said to do something bad, a moral judgement is passed on that child. There are certain criteria involved in moral judgement. The first one is that one who should judge ought to be conversant with the norms and standard of behaviour of the particular society. He has to apply the rule in the correct sense, that is appraising the situation well before judgement is given and lastly, it is necessary to understand why it is important to be moral. This understanding develops as one grows and one’s action is judged morally or immorally according to the level of understanding, age and one’s state of normality.
Moral behaviour pertains to the actions or reactions or activities in terms of rules of right or wrong, good or evil. It is good to be conversant with the rules, understand them, but it is more important to set the rules that is putting the rules into action.
At times one may understand the rules but may not be able to resist the temptation to break them. Again the resistance may depend on the age and the person’s mental state.
Individuals must be taught to resist temptation starting from infancy. Moral feelings, the third moral event have to do with feeling guilty, ashamed of violating the rules of right or wrong, good or evil.
This has to do with how far one’s conscience is developed and this will in turn determine whether an individual will act in like manner again. It is important to note that for these moral events, age of the person, understanding and accepting of the moral rules, internalising them and the ability to act them out are seriously considered.
There are five primary moral traits which are necessary for moral maturity; moral judgement which must be present before any moral decision is made; deferred gratification which requires that at times personal gratification may be shelved in order to put the moral decision into action; moral personalism which depends on the moral quality of the person (has to take into consideration other people involved in a moral situation) moral flexibility which takes care of moral personalism and moral judgement (both altruistic and rational elements) that are involved in reaching a moral decision must be based on moral principles. Therefore there should be flexibility and this is evidently characterised by the ease with which the facts of moral principles are sieved from a lot of other legal fiats intended to control people’s behaviour. This
sieving of moral principles must be creatively done to accommodate the circumstances of every day life.
Therefore, moral dynamism and moral creativity must be applied. This implies that the person who abstracts or sieves must be competent to make moral decisions and also apply moral principles to specific situations (Nwachukwu, 1995). A morally mature man must be autonomous, rational, altruistic and responsible.
Punishment for Breaking Moral Rules (Cultural) When an individual breaks moral rules, he is punished. There are many ways of doing this.
1. Through Ostracism – the individual who breaks moral rules is ostracised. He cannot communicate with anybody in the community. Nobody buys from or sells anything to him and vice versa. Infact, nobody would approach him for anything under any condition and vice versa too.
2. Social Disapproval – the individual may have some kind of fines imposed on him;
he may be asked to tender open apology, or people may go to his house to remove valuable property. There are other forms of sanctions in the area of social disapproval.
3. Ridicule – for instance if a man is caught stealing yam, he would be made to carry the yam on his head, most of the time naked and go round the entire town. If a spinster gets pregnant without getting
married, the young girls in the community will disgrace her by calling her names and making derogatory statements about her. Sometimes adults join the girls in applying ridicule. These may be possible particularly in rural settings but it can prove rather very difficult in urban centres because of the cosmopolitan nature of these urban centres.
Dimensions of Moral Consideration
1. Cognitive Dimension: This involves perceiving, reasoning, thinking, judging. In terms of moral concept, thought is given to knowledge of moral rules or principles and the way for them, as well as the capacity for deciding on right or wrong. This involves the capacity for self-criticism.
2. Affective Dimension: refers to the kind of feelings people have in relation to actions which are considered right or wrong. To Freud, this feeling may result to one manifesting anxiety. This may happen when ego ignores superego and allies with id and environmental reality, then superego punishes ego with anxiety. This anxiety is called moral anxiety. The manifestation of such anxiety is seen in the feelings of remorse, shame and guilt feeling. The opposite feeling of satisfaction manifests too
when a person does something morally good.
3. Behavioural Dimension: This is seen in overt action or behaviour. This aspect involves resistance to temptation. An individual must have the ‘will’ and go all out to resist temptation, otherwise he is seen as an immoral person. He must confess and apologise when he does something wrong.
THEORIES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
(A) Pre-Moral Or Pre-Conventional Stages:
Behaviour is motivated by anticipation of pleasure or pain. This is typical of children up to nine years. Preconvention suggests that young children do not really understand the conventions or rules of the society.