Unit 2

YOU AND OTHERSUNIT 2

Lesson 1. Nobody is and island Our behaviour, apart from the factors

we are born with, is conditioned by our environment.

1.1. We are made for social life Human beings are not islands; we need

other human beings for our bare necessities, to have a satisfactory emotional life and to become a better person.

Just weaving a net of close relationships with other human beings –members of our family, friends, colleagues or acquaintances- we can achieve a mature and stable personality. To get this net of relations is crucial for our wellbeing.

Apart from not achieving a happy life, without a satisfactory relationship with other people, we wouldn`t be able to open up to the world, to learn from what surrounds us in the emotional and intellectual ground.

1.2. How to socialize Human beings, to become people, need

to maintain from birth a close and profound relationship with certain adults –firstly our parents- that provide us with affection , physical care and training needed for behaviours and the required for social life.

The socialization process is the training that converts a child into a qualified person who can interact properly with other people.

Humans need many years to develop and learn to be able to value themselves and to develop in a more effective way for our social environment.

The result of this process of socialization is our transformation into adults ready to live in society.

1.3. Social and individual values Values, rules and beliefs that we have as

individuals do not only come from ourselves, rather we learn and identify with the ones prevailing in the society in which we live and which we internalize in the socialization process.

This internalization is creative: each individual and each generation modifies the content received from the adult world, providing innovations to social life.

Lesson 2. Interpersonal relationships

2.1. How do you want to be treated? To learn how to guide your relationship

with other people, it may be enlightening to think first about how you would like to be treated, in order to get the best guide to know how you would treat others.

In your life you relate to very different types of people, who you treat in a different way depending on the nature of the relationship you maintain with them. You do not want to treat or to be treated in the same way by people (for example, for the bus driver, a close friend, your parents or your school principal).

However, there is always something you demand in all dealings with others: respect, that is, accept that you are a person in the full sense of the word and, therefore, you have ideas, feelings and purposes of your own, to be considered.

2.2. How do you treat others? Consequently, how do you treat different

classes of people you relate to? With your parents, apart from showing

you love, you should try to understand their points of view; normally they are right, although sometimes you do not think so.

With your friends, you should act reciprocally, that is to say, you have to give back what you receive from them.

With teachers and other adults with authority, you must recognize their right to educate and correct you; they represent not only your parents, but also the society you have to integrate in.

With all the people you interact with, you must always maintain an attitude of respect and consideration.

2.3. Conflicts among people

Although we learn to treat others in the best way possible, we will always have conflicts in our interpersonal relationships. Rather than attempting to eliminate them, we must learn to manage these conflicts, in order to avoid violent and destructive forms.

To deal with these conflicts: You have to treat them in a positive way,

learning every time. You must give up personal feelings of conflict,

and try to convert them into mutual interests: passion often confronts people, interest may become united.

You have to understand others; you should put yourself in their place and try to see things from their point of view.

We should recommend possible agreements. Should take advice of mediators in order to

better judge the situation.

Lesson 3. Why do we need morals?

3.1. Morality, compass of life

Life is an open journey whose route we can not predict with accuracy, and is full of problems that we can not avoid –for example, what will I do when I finish ESO? -. Morality is like a compass that indicates the fundamental direction in which we must move to walk steadily through life.

Morality is a set of standards and values that allows us to respond effectively, consistently and successfully against challenges that life brings.

Therefore, if you do not have clear and correct moral, your way through life will be hesitant and full of risks.

3.2. The relationship between morality and ethics

The meaning of Ethics and morals are, in many cases, the same, and they are used even interchangeably. But in a more precise sense:

Ethics reflects on the different moral ways human beings can assume, and judges the validity of each. Ethics is a reflection of morality.

When you have a problem –for example, Should I pay back a loan?- , you have to resolve it applying a rule of conduct –yes, I have to- in this case, you are living your morality. But when you reflect on the validity of that rule, or every rule you assume, you are entering the field of ethics.

Ethical reflection allows us to become aware of our morality, and requires us to compare it to others to judge in terms of validity and consistency, to justify and, if possible, to improve it.