Individuals that Create the Filipino Culture | #2

4:08 AM Eunnah 0 Comments

Among the first few adjectives that young children learn are the words good and bad. Naturally, these words are what adults use to describe particular actions and situations around children.

“If you obey me, you’re good!”

“If you don’t follow this, you’re bad!”

As children grow up, however, the concept of what’s good or bad becomes increasingly complex. Take the word behave as an example. Adults usually shout this word to children as if they would automatically know what to do. But, really, what does behave exactly mean?

If you try to unravel this word, it can mean a lot of things: stay put, keep quiet, be good, sit still, obey, etc. The list can go on forever. The same thing applies to the words good and bad. But what does that really mean?

Lawrence Kohlberg, a proponent of Moral Development, once made a story called the “Heinz Dilemma” which perfectly portrays how baffling and fuzzy the line between what is good or what is bad really is.