MORAL THEOLOGY
= God talk / science of God, knowledge of God thru
revelation
St. Anselm said, is “faith seeking understanding”
= “the science which interprets, explains, defends and
unfolds divine revelation” (F. Muñiz, O.P.)
= deals with God and the things that have relationship
with God
= science of what man ought to be (A. Sertillanges)
(man is a project, a becoming), by reason of what he is
(a creature and child of God)
=guide to good will
SPONTANEOUS THEOLOGIAN:
obliged to reflect upon his faith and its demands on the
various situations of life
-Karl Barth-two things: read the newspapers & Sacred
Scriptures daily.
-Magisterium of the Church- interpretation of the
Sacred Scriptures done in community
PROFESSIONAL THEOLOGIANS
twofold reflection of faith: the spontaneous reflection
of every Christian, and deliberate, methodical and
systematic reflection of the theologians
SUMMA THEOLOGIAE
1ST: studies God;
2ND: Man’s Journey to God
3RD: Christ as the Way to God
Dogmatic Theology - contemplation of the truth about
God One and Triune and his Creation: it is orthodoxy
Moral Theology- how to do the truth in love: it is
orthopraxis.
*Dogmatic theology has moral consequences, and
moral theology possesses dogmatic premises
1st element: what we must believe – the Creed.
2nd: what we have to receive to be able to do all good –
the Sacraments.
3rd: what we ought to do – the Commandments.
4th: what we should pray and hope for – the Our Father
immoral - who knows what he should do doesn’t do it.
(has moral sense but not moral strength)
amoral - does not have a moral sense; blind to some
moral values.
Moral- knows what is good and usually does it, and
what is evil doesn’t do it.
General Theology - fundamental moral principles,
values and categories
Special Moral Theology - ethics of the person
Veritatis Splendor- most important encyclical on
fundamental moral theology (John Paul II)
St. Francis says in his life written by Carlo Carreto:
“What counts is not to do, but to love.”
St. Thomas Aquinas, “Moral Theology studies the
human person as the image of God.”
-life is a movement towards personal and
communitarian realization; to happiness, to perfection,
to love.
Albert Camus, “Man is the only creature capable of not
wanting to be what he is”
St. Leo the Great, “Christian, recognize your dignity”
John Paul II: “Faith and reason are like two wings on
which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of
truth”
: writes in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor or the
Splendor of Truth (1993): “Evangelization also involves
the proclamation and presentation of morality”
Sources of MT- Sacred Scriptures and Tradition
Modern context of MT- Timothy O’Connell
Method of MT:
= Moral reflection - to appreciate, understand,
interpret, and solve the moral problems of our times
(mystery, freedom, self-realization, scheme of moral
theory and praxis)
= Moral analysis - various concrete ways or methods:
the analytic method (conceptual), the descriptive
method (experimental), cause-effect method,
evaluative method, comparative method
Goal of MT:
St. Thomas: to help us know and love virtue
-goal of ethics is human happiness through right living
-eternal salvation through a life in Christ, who is the
perfect model of humanity
-ultimate goal of Christian ethics: beatific vision of God
in heaven in the company of Our Lady and the saints
and our relatives and friends
-proximate goal of MT: develop “moral adulthood,
*Responsibility- ability to respond to God, to oneself, to
others and to nature
-immediate goal of MT: continuing conversion, integral
liberation, or holiness
“To put on the new self”
Iris Murdoch: “the enemy is the fat relentless ego.”
Benedict Ashley: “The fundamental principle of moral
theology is: ‘Love God and your neighbor as yourself’.”
Peter Kreeft: purpose of ethics? - To be virtuous.”
Orthopraxis, correct practice: “To know and not to do is
not to know
Saint John of the Cross, in the evening of life, we will be
examined on love. Only on love!
Unit I: CALLED TO SALVATION IN CHRIST
INTRODUCTION
DIGNITY is revealed in mystery of the person of
JESUS CHRIST who is the image of the invisible God, and
the Good Teacher.
LESSON A: CHRIST AS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE
GOD
What is our ultimate life list or what is it that we
consider as absolute in our lives?
Our CORE?
In Latin, COR means heart.
“You’ve got to figure out what you love… and it’s
going to bring you great joy.” -- Jeff Bezos
HIERARCHY OF VALUES
Ranks or orders human needs according to importance,
immediacy; level of difficulty in terms of acquisition: at
the bottom stands the physiological needs, while
perched at the pinnacle is self-actualization.
“The Last Dance,” Michael Jordan
WHAT IS THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF OUR LIFE?
- natural for human beings to desire to be happy.
Human beings, embark on a lifelong search for that
absolute good, which will lead them to the happiness
that never ends.
Domine, Non-Nisi Te.
How do we attain God?
Takeaways:
• By claiming that we are redeemed.
• The road that leads to God is described as:
- “narrow”
- “passing through the eye of a needle.”
1. Jesus Christ, the Ultimate Revelation of the Father It
is only through Christ, the only true mediator between
God and man, that human beings can reach God.
“No mission is activated and no identity is clarified
apart from Christ.” --PCP II
We look up to Christ as the ultimate revelation of the
Father, who calls us to communion, and as the good
teacher who leads us to the Father.
A. GOD AS OUR PERSONAL ABSOLUTE
God- reason for our existence; gives absolute meaning
to our lives; infinitely perfect and blessed in Himself,
share in his own blessed life.
God draws close to man. He calls man to seek Him, to
know Him, to love Him with all his strength.” --CCC
“To be a human being means to come from God and to
go to God.” --YOUCAT
God, as our personal absolute, gave Himself to us
through the incarnation of Christ, His only Son our Lord.
B. CHRIST IS GOD IN A HUMAN WAY
= incarnation of Christ
“In His Son and through Him, He invites men to
become, in Holy Spirit, His adopted children and heirs
of his blessed life.” --CCC, 13.
thru mystery of Christ’s incarnation people actually
live with God, have a special bond or relationship w/
Him; they feel or experience His love
C. CHRIST IS HUMAN IN A DIVINE WAY
God’s coming down to meet His people also means
raising them up and liberating from their sinful
condition.
By becoming human...
• Christ became an example for all people to follow
because He manifested those characteristics that make
man perfect.
• Jesus Christ, through His life, words, and works,
revealed how people should live their lives.
• Jesus corrected the false belief that people are bad or
helplessly sinful.
• Jesus revealed what is true and good about human
beings: that they are all invited by God to be perfect like
Him
When asked how many times we should forgive, his
response was: ALWAYS! (Matthew 18:21).
Christ showed goodness is not give and take. Doing
good is habitual response
When the woman caught in the act of adultery was brought
to Him (John 8:1-11), Jesus did not show condemnation but
only mercy and compassion. When He lovingly told the
 woman to sin no more, Jesus showed that people, by the
grace of God, can change for the better.
In his encounter with Zacchaeus the tax collector (Luke
19:1-10), he exemplified before the crowd that an act of
compassion can move even the most hardened sinner
TO BE TRULY HUMAN IS TO BE LIKE GOD.
man can love, forgive, show compassion, and set aside
prejudices toward others, shows that the divine is truly
shared with the human.
2. Images of Jesus in the Gospels: The Way, The Truth,
The Life
Before performing his mission or public ministry, Jesus was led
by the Spirit to the desert where he was tempted by the devil
(Mark 1:12,13; Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13).
name of Jesus- one who is to save people from their
sins” means that Jesus is the greatest sign of God’s love
for his people.
OUR GOAL: SEQUELA CHRISTI
rise from the temporary setbacks of our lives and we
redirect ourselves back to Christ, “once we give up our
own wealth and very self.”
In the responses of the Disciples whom Jesus invited to follow
Him as fishers of men (Matthew 4:19);
Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus cast out seven demons
(Luke 8:2) and who later became the apostle to the apostles.
In Saint Paul who became the apostle to the Gentiles.
Following Christ entails RADICAL CONVERSION:
forgetting oneself and committing everything to Christ.
• Stripping the old self of that sinful life to take on the
new white garment of Christ.
• It is dying to oneself but rising again as a new person
configured to Christ, no longer living one’s life for one’s
own but for Christ.
• Being immersed in the waters of baptism all over
again and time and time again
As we praise God for the gift of discipleship, we recall in
thanksgiving those inspired moments when we
triumphed over sin.
LESSON B: JESUS CHRIST AS THE GOOD TEACHER
certain currents of thought have gone so far as to exalt
freedom to such an extent that it becomes an absolute, which
would then be the source of values (vs, 32).
a radically subjectivistic conception of moral judgement or
individualist ethic is: where the individual conscience is
accorded the status of a supreme tribunal of moral judgment
which hands down categorical and infallible decisions
John Paul II exhorts people of today to “turn to Christ once
again in order to receive from Him the answer to their
deepest questions” (VS, 8)
1. JESUS OPENS UP THE FAITHFUL TO THE SACRED
SCRIPTURE
“If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
(Matthew 19:17)
DECALOGUE- Jesus brings the question about morally
good action back to its religious foundation (VS, 9)
-way and condition of salvation
“First tablet “- teaches us that God is the beginning and
end of our life.
Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your might. Deuteronomy 6:4-7
“Second Tablet of the Law” commands us:
“You shall not:
murder; commit adultery; bear false witness; Honor
your father and your mother; love your neighbor as
yourself (Matthew 19: 18- 19).
= summarized- “you shall love your neighbor as
yourself” (Matthew 19:19; cf. Mk. 12:31).
*Jesus brings God’s commandments to fulfillment
commandments as a path involving a moral and
spiritual journey towards perfection (VS, 15)
Christian moral vocation is precisely: to commit
ourselves through the power of Christ’s redeeming
grace to the progressive overcoming of the evil of sin in
and around us – a personal human reaching out in
loving service to others – rather than simply avoiding sin
or shrinking from evil.
2. JESUS REVEALS THE FATHER’S WILL
three-fold yeses covering the three dimensions of
human life:
• intra-personal
• inter-personal
• societal must be grounded on the 4th foundational,
integrating…
• Yes, to God
With Jesus Christ him it was always yes; we answer
Amen to the praise of God.
This demands a radical change of heart, a real
conversion, manifested in a triple yes to self, others,
and society, and grounded in the ultimate yes to God,
overcoming the “No” of sin.
3. JESUS TEACHES ABOUT MORAL ACTION
we must carefully inquire into:
• the meaning of the question asked by the rich young
man in the Gospel
• the meaning of Jesus’ reply, allowing ourselves to be
guided by Him.
Jesus as the patient and sensitive teacher, answers the
young man by taking him, as it were by the hand, and
leading him step by step to the full truth
4. JESUS SHEDS LIGHT ON MAN’S LOFTY VOCATION
first and ultimate vocation of man is communion with
God and there is only one way to respond to this calling:
JESUS CHRIST.
basic motivation for following Christ -Blessed Trinity:
eternal Father’s love for us, manifested pre-eminently
in Jesus’ Paschal Mystery, and the Holy Spirit sent into
our hearts who enables us to fulfill Christ’s own
command: Love one another as I have loved you.
5. CHRIST IS ALWAYS PRESENT TO HIS CHURCH
Christ empowered Church to proclaim, without fear of
error, faith and morals.
Church:
- deeply conscious of her duty in every age to examine
the signs of the times and interpret them in the light of
the Gospel.
- People of God among the nations, offers to everyone
the answer which comes from the truth about Jesus and
his Gospel.
LESSON C: JESUS SHEDS LIGHT ON THE MYSTERY AND
DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
CALLED to be children of God (cf. 1 Jn 3:1), destined for
eternal life of blessed communion with the Father, His
Risen-Incarnate Son, and their Holy Spirit
Being in full solidarity with humankind, our Lord
showed us how to be fully human and fully alive.
Christ revealed how the essential dignity of all persons
is grounded directly on their origin, meaning and
destiny.
1.Created in the Image and Likeness of God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, “through whom everything was
made and through whom we live” (1 Cor 8:6)
Man is the only creature on earth that God has willed
for its own sake, and he alone is called to share, by
knowledge and love, in God's own life. It was for this
end that he was created, and this is the fundamental
reason for his dignity.
doctrine that man is created in the image and likeness
of God provides the theological grounding that upholds
the sacredness of the human person and guarantees
the respect to be given him.
a. Able to Know and Love his Creator
- image of God by virtue of his possession of the
distinctive faculties of intellect and freewill; capable of
self-determination.
- spiritual character of his soul, man possesses freedom,
an eminent sign of divine image.
- Man’s reason enables him to know the voice of God
compelling him to do good and avoid evil.
b. Willed by God for His own Sake
- Every human being is an irreplaceable; a kind of good
that cannot be treated as an object of use or as a means
to an end.
- one in charge of his life as he can act according to their
conscience, in freedom and with sufficient knowledge
c. Called to be Stewards of Creation
- The companionship between man and woman is not of
dominance but solidarity, not inferiority but
complementarity, equity and not equality.
- both man and woman were equally ordered to
"subdue" the earth as His stewards.
- sovereignty is not destructive domination. God calls
man and woman, to share in his providence toward
other creatures; hence their responsibility for the world
God has entrusted to them. CCC, 373.
d. Called to Communion
•As images of the self-giving love of God, human beings
are capable of self-giving love as well.
• human beings should respond to God by giving
themselves to others.
• To give oneself to others as much as possible in
imitation of the self-giving of God in the Trinity is the
concrete living out of our being an image of God.
being created in the image and likeness of God is both a gift
and a task. at Jesus Christ and strive to always model our
lives to his, we are raised to the status of being adopted sons
and daughters of God.
2. Redeemed by the Blood of Christ and are sanctified
by the indwelling Holy Spirit
God elevated man to participation in the divine life
and live-in communion and belongingness with the
Trinity.
-with sin, this communion and belongingness was
shattered.
- He held out the means of saving them by gathering
men together to counter the chaos which was the
consequence of sin.
“That all of them maybe one, as You, are in Me, and I am in
You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe
that you sent me. I have given them the glory You gave Me, so
that they may be one as we are one.
Man's sins, following on original sin, are punishable by
death. By sending his own Son in the form of a slave, in
the form of a fallen humanity, on account of sin, God
"made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God
“For in Christ and through Christ, we have acquired full
awareness of our dignity, of the heights to which we are
raised, of the surpassing worth of our humanity and of the
meaning of our existence.” CCC, 602.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual
blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation
of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He
predestined us for adoption to Sonship through Jesus Christ, in
accordance with His pleasure and will—to the praise of his
glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He
loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s
grace.” Ephesians 1:3-7.
Healing the wounds of sin, the Holy Spirit renews us
interiorly through a spiritual transformation. He
enlightens and strengthens us to live as "children of
light" through "all that is good and right and true."
3. Made Holy by the Presence of the Spirit
When God touches man's heart through the illumination of
the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that
inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God's
grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward
justice in God's sight. CCC, 1993.
merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place
to the grace of God, then to the faithful. Man's merit
itself, is due to God, for good actions proceed in Christ,
from the predispositions and assistance given by the
Holy Spirit.
Being a witness of Christ, as in leading a life worthy of
the Gospel of Christ is made capable of doing so by the
gift of his Spirit which we can obtain through prayer,
though the impulse to pray is still permeated with the
promptings of the Holy Spirit.
4.Christ as the One who Sheds Light on the Dignity of
the Human Person
- man is created by God with inviolable dignity.
Human Person in the Aristotelian-Thomistic Hierarchy
of Beings the Aristotelian-Thomistic hierarchy of beings
(scala naturae) - backdrop for the Christian
understanding of man. It gives is a view of human
beings both in relation to God (as creator) and other
created beings
- only human beings possess rationality, (intellect &
freewill) while possessing altogether the excellent traits
of the beings in the lower strata of the hierarchy, to wit:
motion (animals), and life (plants).
- human beings as individual substance of rational
nature (Individua Substantia Naturae Rationalis).
Human Person According to the Catechism for Filipino
Catholics (CFC, 687-692).
Open and Relational- by nature. No one exists by
oneself, but only in relationship with others.
-Human existence does not precede relationship but
born of relationship and is nurtured by it.
Being a person means being by others (our conception,
birth, upbringing), being with others (our family,
friends, neighbors, business associates), and being for
others (love, service).
Trinitarian origin - how we have been created by God
— as social beings; redeemed by Christ — as a people;
how the Holy Spirit works not only within but among us
as the people of God, journeying towards our common
destiny in God. (CFC 687)
Conscious Beings, aware of themselves in their
outgoing acts. We possess this self-awareness through
our knowing and free willing.
By his reason, human beings:
- Know the order of things established by God;
- Understand how and what things should be.
–imbued with the instinctive awareness of the
unwritten decree inscribed in his heart.
- Recognizes this as the voice of God constantly urging
him to do the good and avoid evil.
Embodied Spirits
- unity between our “body and soul.”
- substantial unity of our body and soul is known as
“hylemorphism.”
The
- BODY as “good and honorable since God has created it
and will raise it up on the last day” (GS 14).
- God the Son further dignified the body through his
Incarnation: “the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us” (Jn. 1:14).
St. Paul, “You must know that your body is a temple of
the Holy Spirit, who is within — the Spirit you have received
from God… So, glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:19-20)
The SOUL
- Serves as the form (nature or essence of a thing that
makes it what it is) of the body.
- Functions as the unifying principle that forms the one
unique human being.
- Needs embodiment, assistance of the senses for the
fulfillment of the soul’s vital task.
Historical Realities
As Persons, we are:
- Pilgrims on-the-way, thru time, become our full selves.
- Free to decide for ourselves and form ourselves; in this
sense we are our own cause.
- Developing in discernible stages, described in great
detail by modern psychology. (CFC, 690)
- Integrating our past to our present existence to makes
us move into our future with a sense of integrity and a
coherent sense of direction. (R. M. Gula, S.S.)
Unique yet Fundamentally Equal
- All men are endowed with a rational soul and are
created in God’s image; they have the same nature and
origin and, being redeemed by Christ, they enjoy the
same divine calling and destiny; there is here a basic
equality between all men.” (GS, 29)
- we seriously consider each person’s uniqueness and
originality.
“image” God in a unique way — no one can “take our
place”
LESSON D: THE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS CHRIST IS A
CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP
EMMANUEL LEVINAS: NOTION OF THE OTHER
Egocentrism
- struggle for life or the desire to persevere in being,
heightens egoism; desire for enjoyment or happiness.
- primordial tendency of the ego is to live for itself and
secure any means available and attainable in order to
maintain a happy existence.
- “I” in its inwardness becomes the origin of meaning
and determines whether or not something is valuable,
(usable or consumable)
Alterity
- Other stands at the top of my hierarchy of values, I am
beholden to it before anything else as “the other is
characterized by height or highness.”
- absoluteness with w/c the other’s existence
transcends the claims of my self-centered universe by
more radical demands, is what Levinas calls infinity-
must be the servant of our neighbor.
- our existence is affirmed or validated not by the mere
fact of persevering in being but by our liberation from
our own constricting egotism, we are liberated by our
ethical response when we encounter the Other who
reveals its face to us.
“Other” deposes me and imposes itself upon me as my
priority.
Ethics, for Levinas
- radical interpretation of the formula of etiquette:
apres vous (after you, please!).
- reveals its face to me, puts me under a basic obligation
or command to be at its service before myself, w/c
Levinas underscored: me voici (Here I am!).
“We are all guilty of all and for men before all, and I
more than the others.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1. Christian Discipleship is Countercultural and Radical
Alterity
We turn to Jesus Christ:
• We listen to his words. • We follow his actions.
Following Christ is the essential and primordial
foundation of Christian morality.
Jesus’ ways and words, his deeds and his precepts constitute
the moral rule of Christian life.
Discipleship entail:
- Come follow me and I will send you out to fish for
people. At once, they left their nets and followed him.
Matthew 4:19
- If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions,
come follow me. Matthew 19:21
- If anyone should come after me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24
Who is a disciple?
- lover of Truth:
- Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life
How does one become a disciple?
- imitates Jesus who gives primacy to the will of the
Father.
What is expected of a disciple?
- lives in loving service of others.
BEATITUDES
- set of precepts that utterly demonstrate the moral
standards of our Lord and at the same time resonate his
call to follow him as his disciples.
CHRIST CRUCIFIED: Brutal, Anguish, Terrible Wounds
St. Thomas Aquinas, Christ Crucified is the perfect
exemplification of the Beatitudes.
- A picture of a happy man.
- Freedom and joy: when all our expectations are turned
around.
TO BE HAPPY: Despise what Jesus despised on the
Cross.
4 things that make us happy: Wealth, pleasure, power
and honor
Love what Jesus loved on the Cross.
▪ Doing the will of the Father:
▪ The single-hearted one
▪ Hunger for righteousness
▪ Ultimate peacemaker and
▪ Ultimate bearer of God’s mercy.
2. The Church: Willed by God to Make Possible the
Encounter with Christ
-Church was instituted by Christ to perpetuate His
presence on earth. She signifies in a visible, historical
and tangible form the presence and redeeming activity
of Christ offered to all persons of every age, race and
condition.
- Church have always wished to serve this single end:
that each person may be able to find Christ, in order
that Christ may walk with each person the path of life.
theandric communion without explicit awareness of
Christic foundation,”
- mindful of her task to make present every time, in
every situation the encounter between the spirit and
the flesh, God and mankind
THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF HUMAN LIFE
PURPOSE – is that for which an action is done.
- All our actions, provided they are human acts, have a
purpose or end or objective.
- There is no human act without a purpose.
- Every human act has happiness for a purpose or
objective.
- All men strive to be happy.
- over-all purpose of human life is happiness.
GOOD AND HAPPINESS
Good is “that which all men desire.” – Aristotle
-concepts of good and evil are most fundamental in
ethics for that is what Ethics is all about: to determine
what is morally good or evil for man.
- concept of good and evil, from the moral point of view, is
determined from man’s relationship to his end or purpose, that is to
say, we consider man as man.
Any action:
-that leads an individual to his end as man is morally
good.
- that separates or prevents an individual from his end
as man is morally evil.
Thus, it will be impossible to define the notion of what is
morally good or evil without making reference to man’s end
as MAN
INTELLECT AND FREE WILL
Man is created imperfect; endowed with power and
potencies or faculties through the exercise of which he
grows and develops until he reaches a progressive state
of perfection he did not have when he was born.
= two spiritual faculties of man. Thru his intellect, man
discovers the Truth. Thru his will, man tends towards
that which the intellect presents as Good.
- intellect of man seeks the truth and will not stop until
it possesses truth without error. The will of man is
always inclined towards the good.
*Anything that is good and known as such by man, will
attract his desires
Things attract man differently because they are:
❖ useful - it renders service and facilitates work
❖ pleasant - it makes you feel good
❖ befitting his condition - promotes healthy and
vigorous life
Aristotle, “that for the sake of which everything else is
desired and which is not desired for the sake of
anything else.
: “that which when isolated makes life desirable and
lacking in nothing
Happiness - ultimate purpose or end of man must be
self-sufficient to satisfy man’s aspiration.
- even isolated makes life desirable
- satisfies man’s total needs and aspirations, especially
the needs of his superior qualities: the INTELLECT and
the FREE WILL.
Supreme Good being correlative of Perfect Happiness
must meet:
1. Happiness being the last and Supreme Good must be
desired for its own sake.
2. Happiness being proper to man, the Supreme good
must be something that fits man as man.
3. Supreme Good must be capable of permanent
possessions.
Requirements of Lasting Happiness
satisfy man’s craving for happiness must be total,
permanent, lasting and eternal.
True happiness - no admixture of pain, misery or
unhappiness.
- does not consist in the possession of money, power,
popularity or good looks. What can make man happy
lies in the satisfaction of his capacities as man.
man’s satisfaction lies in knowing the ULTIMATE TRUTH
and doing the SUPREME GOOD
In any theological ethics the ultimate criterion of
morality is true happiness.
An action is morally good because it leads to happiness for persons.
The only authentic happiness is one which satisfies the whole person
in his or her deepest and most ultimate needs.
Worldviews/Trends in Achieving Happiness Hedonism
- To seek the pleasurable is the primary reason of
human behavior.
- Happiness equates with pleasure. Pleasure ranges
from the physical exhilaration to the material things
which the world cunningly offers.
- hedonist chases physical pleasures as gateway to
what will satisfy inner longings.
In the end, after the fleeting feeling has welled up, the
emptiness remains and the same cycle of chasing after
pleasure continues without providing the authentic remedy to
their insatiable yearnings.
Materialism and Consumerism
- Material possession, success, and progress are the
highest values in life. This doctrine highly values the
material realm and is opposed to intellectual and
spiritual values.
- upshot of materialism is Consumerism, which believes
that personal wellbeing and happiness depend, on a
very large extent, on the level of consumption,
particularly on the purchase of material goods.
- Like hedonism, buttressing one’s happiness on
material things, in the end, only throws into a cycle of
dissatisfaction and constant yearning for something that
is temporal and fleeting.
c. Eudaimonism
- highest form of happiness can be acquired through the
practice of virtues. Aristotle, these virtues are actions
turned into good habits which lead a person to
transcend his/her passions.
2. GOD AS THE ULTIMATE HAPPINESS OF THE HUMAN
PERSON
a. St. Thomas Aquinas on Happiness
- Happiness as end. We have the power of reason to
determine what seems good for us; power of free will
to choose what goods we will seek and how they will go
about obtaining them.
- Aquinas, we are masters of our own actions.
--Those goods that we seek are goals or ends, the things we
hope to achieve by our actions.
- angelic doctor adds, although the end be last in the
order of execution, yet it is the first order of the agent’s
intention and it is in this way that it is a cause.”
- St. Thomas, human beings are not so much pawns
who are pushed by the random events of their past as
masters of their fates who are pulled by future goals of
their own making.
- Aquinas - end acts as a final cause, a cause for the
sake of which human beings undertake to do
something.
- Aristotle and Aquinas agree that although each
individual has his/her own personal likes and dislikes,
he/she acts, most of the time, for the very same final,
last end.
- So, what then is that final end
False happiness.
St. Augustine, “all men agree in desiring the last end,
which is happiness
St. Thomas, “to desire happiness is nothing else than to
desire that one’s will be satisfied. And this is what
everyone desires.” And yet, “all do not know Happiness;
because they know not in what the general notion of
happiness is found.”
- by enumerating some common false contenders,
which are as popular and alluring today as they were in
the thirteenth century, namely: wealth, power, honor,
fame and glory.
- These are only means to the end of happiness itself
and none of them ever completely brings satisfaction.
Two Kinds of Happiness:
• imperfect happiness while here on earth. (Felicitas) -
enjoyment
• perfect happiness consisting of the beatific vision of
the Uncreated Good (i.e., God) in heaven. (Beatitudo) –
lasting happiness
Augustine expressed this so beautifully in his writing,
“Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
- refers to God who is the ultimate source of every good
thing and the end towards whom human beings ought
to direct all their actions.
b. Happiness in God as the Ultimate Goal of Human
Beings
- Happiness is associated with the meaning of life
“In the depths of his heart there always remains a yearning
for absolute truth and a thirst to attain full knowledge of it.
This is eloquently proven by man's tireless search for
knowledge in all fields.”
St. Thomas Aquinas, “every agent acts for an end;
otherwise, one thing would not follow more than
another from the action of the agent.”
- clarifies the how rational beings differ from irrational
beings in their pursuit of an end:
= Irrational creatures seek their end by means of natural
inclination.
= rational creatures, inclination is caused by the
deliberation of the intellect, which knows the end as
good, and the free decision of the will.”
As the faculty that chooses, the will empowers the person to choose
which path to take on the way to happiness: whether right or wrong.
Relationship between the Human Person’s Rationality
and the Totality of His Being:
- All human persons are oriented towards the good, in
virtue of their rationality.
- This good is broken down and made up of the basic
goods of the person, which are perfective of him, or
her.
- knowledge, right ordering, and harmonizing of the
human goods by reason, and the moral effort to pursue
them throughout a lifetime, are necessary for human
happiness.
- disorder enters: it upsets the balance of a person’s life
and affects their happiness. (housing and nourishment
and material well-being serve human life and not vice
versa)
“Man seeks his last end in his actions by knowing that last end
(God) and wanting it.” “How is it, then, that I seek you, Lord?
Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life, let me seek
you so that my soul may live, for my body draws life from my
soul and my soul draws life from you. God alone satisfies.”
St. Augustine, Confessions
Jesus brings the question about morally good action back to
its religious foundations, to the acknowledgment of God, who
alone is goodness, fullness of life, the final end of human
activity, and perfect happiness.
“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the
renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of
God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”
c. God’s Commandments: Criteria in Attaining Eternal
Life
• JPII elucidates the connection between eternal life
and obedience to the decalogue in his remark:
• “God's commandments show man the path of life and
they lead to it.”
• the decalogue sheds light on the dignity of the human
person, and consequently our obligation to respect it, to
wit:
10 Commandments are:
- Reflections about the good of the person at the level
of the many different goods which characterize his
identity as a spiritual and bodily being in relationship
with God, with his neighbor and with the material
world.
• Teach us man's true humanity. They shed light on the
essential duties, and so indirectly on the fundamental
rights, inherent in the nature of the human person.
- “You shall not murder; commit adultery; steal; bear
false witness” - express with particular force the ever
urgent need to protect human life, the communion of
persons in marriage, private property, truthfulness and
people’s good name.
d. Beatitudes: Call to Perfection
Beatitudes respond to man’s natural desire for
happiness.
-are more about basic attitudes and dispositions than
about particular rules of behavior.
- desire is of divine origin. God has placed it in the
human heart in order to draw man to the One who
alone can fulfill it.”
- no separation between them and the commandments
since both are oriented to eternal life.
- Suggest commitment to live out the different
suggested attitudes to attain the graces promised by
God.
- true happiness that we should pursue cannot be
totally attained in this world through temporal things
but eternally reside in heaven.
- destiny of man can be achieved through service and
the contemplation of heavenly things
first three beatitudes are dedicated to removing the
obstacles, purely material goods can present to be
genuine happiness.
• Blessed are the poor in spirit, - need for detachment
either from riches or honors, which results from
humility.
next two beatitudes restrain and moderate the
irascible and concupiscible appetites respectively.
• Blessed are the meek, protects man’s irascible nature
from falling into excessive anger and keeps it within the
bounds of reason.
• Blessed are those that mourn, moderates’ man’s
desire for pleasure by keeping it in proportion, which is
the effect on us when we suffer trials, tribulations and
the death of loved ones.
second group explains our duty to serve our neighbor.
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after
righteousness. active life should be devoted principally
to one’s duty and spontaneous inclination to serve
one’s neighbor.
• Blessed are the merciful. But spontaneous inclination
also leads us to go beyond what is strictly due to others
and show them generosity, understanding and
forgiveness, and indeed gratuitously without expecting
anything in return.
third group brings forth the importance of living a
contemplative life.
• Blessed are the pure of heart. We say of men who
triumph over the passions,
• Blessed are the peacemakers. The virtues gifts, which
perfect man in his relations with his neighbor, have
peace as their effect, as we read in Isaiah: “The work of
justice shall be peace” (32:17).
Beatitudes do not suggest certain actions but correct
dispositions and attitudes that remain necessary in
forming our will to choose the Good and turn to God.
-They are reminders that are given to us so that we can
become “morally good persons and attain our integral
human fulfillment (everlasting happiness) in Jesus
Christ.”
-a way of life, a life that finds its full actualization in
God,
only one total and ultimate truth, - God or the
Supreme Being. God where we can find such perfection.
He is the Perfect Truth and Supreme Goodness who
alone can fully satisfy man’s aspirations for knowledge
and goodness.
- search ourselves deeply for the satisfaction of our
deepest human desires, we will find that only the
Creator can satisfy His creatures.
God -ultimate purpose of human life He alone can make
man completely happy. Alpha and the Omega.
- imperative for us to seek and know the TRUTH, we can
strive to do the GOOD will lead us to GOD our ultimate
purpose and end, the source and summit of infinite
HAPPINESS.
Moral Good of Human Acts
a. Consequentialism
- Focuses on the results or consequence of our actions
and treats intentions as irrelevant because good
consequences are equivalent to good actions.
Main Proponents
-18th century, Jeremy Bentham & John Stuart Mill
(341 to 270 B.C.E.)
Epicurus, taught that the merits of actions should be
gauged in terms of the happiness or pleasure that they
produce.
- we want the things that we want because they give us
happiness.
- Utilitarian agree that a moral theory should be
grounded on something intuitive, basically in the primal
desire of humans to seek pleasure and avoid pain.
- utilitarianism is not self-centered as it is other-
regarding by thinking that “we should always act so as
to produce the greatest good for the greatest number
of people even if it means sacrificing your own
pleasure.”
= principle of utility, which implies that choosing the
greatest good for the greatest number of people.
Two Forms of Utilitarianism
Act Utilitarianism. Holds that in any given situation, you
should choose the action that produces the greatest
good for the greatest number of people;
Rule Utilitarianism. we ought to live by rules that, in
general, are likely to lead to the greatest good for the
greatest number. Rule utility differs from Act utility by
allowing us to refrain from acts that might maximize
utility in the short run and instead follow rules that will
maximize utility for the majority of the time.
b. Deontological Ethics
18th century German Philosopher, Immanuel Kant
viewed morality in terms of categorical imperatives,
commands that you must follow, regardless of your
desires.
For Kant, moral obligations are derived from pure
reason and it doesn’t matter whether you want to be
moral or not because the moral law is binding on all of
us.
What is right and wrong is totally knowable just by
using your intellect.
Popular Formulations of Categorical Imperative:
Universalizability Principle.
“Act only according to that maxim which you can at the
same time will that it should become a universal law
without contradiction.”
Formula of Humanity.
“Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own
person or in that of another, always as an end and
never as a mere means.
c. Virtue Ethics
Aristotle - preeminence of the individual’s character
rather than following a set of rules.
- holds that from being good people, right actions could
follow effortlessly
-Human beings who have a fixed nature, can flourish by
adhering to their specific nature.
-Nature has built in human beings the desire to be
virtuous or to have virtues, which entails doing the right
thing, at the right time, in the right way, in the right
amount, toward right people.
Virtue - midpoint between the extremes of deficiency
and excess, --vices.
- character is developed through habituation,
- we should become virtuous persons so that we can
attain the pinnacle of humanity or achieve what is
known as eudemonia, (a life well-lived - human
flourishing).
Christian morals presuppose following and imitating Jesus
Christ, wherein every Christian becomes alter Christus
(another Christ).
supernatural virtues of faith and charity transform the natural
principle of morality into the basic principle of specific
Christian morality: to live for the sake of the Kingdom, in
which all things, including man, will find fulfillment in Jesus.”
UNIT II. CALLED TO HAPPINESS
THE NATURE OF HUMAN ACTS
a. Human acts or actus humani
- acts of the human person, which define as human in
contrast to the actions of other material created agents
more specifically animals.
- done with sufficient knowledge of the agent and full
deliberate consent.
St. Thomas Aquinas, human acts “are therefore those
acts that proceed from a deliberate will.”
• Which we are responsible for.
• Done with knowledge and love.
• Done with intellect and will.
• Freely chosen informed act.
• Worthy of praise or blame.
• Has value for good or for evil.
b. Acts of Man or Actus Hominis
- arise w/o the same amount of knowledge and
freedom as human acts
“Acts of man, as opposed to human acts, are actions that
man perform without being master of them through his
intellect and will. In principle, acts of man are not the concern
of morals, since they are not voluntary.
- natural acts of vegetative and sense faculties:
digestion, beating of the heart, growth, corporal
reactions, and visual or auditive perceptions.
*these acts become human acts when performed under the
direction of the will, as when we look at something, or arouse
ourselves.
Acts of persons:
• who lack the use of reason. Such is the case with
infants or insane persons.
• who are asleep or under the in influence of hypnosis,
alcohol, or other drugs; there may still be some degree
of control by the will. Also, there is indirect
responsibility if the cause of the loss of control is
voluntary.
• Quick, nearly automatic reactions, called primo-primi
acts; reflex and nearly instantaneous reactions
• Acts under violence or threat of violence. This includes
physical or—in some cases—moral violence
CONSTITUENTS OF HUMAN ACTS
3 essential elements that must be present in order for
an action to be considered a human act, these are,
namely:
a. Knowledge
• intellectual constituent of the human acts.
• actions that are desired are fruit of knowledge.
• actions may be judged as moral and immoral.
• A person’s reason
“Cannot will without knowing what object he is concerned
with, without being master and therefore, conscious of the
act he is to perform in order to realize the aim, and without
evaluating the action in its concrete nature as a desirable
good or undesirable evil, which appraisal also includes the
judgment on the moral value of the act.”
• prerequisite of choosing to act is the adequate
awareness of the agent in what he/she intends to
choose- Peschke
b. Voluntariness
- formal quality of human acts whereby any action or
omission results from a principle within the agent and
from some knowledge which the agent possesses of the
end.”
• knows the end of his work to the greatest degree and
moves towards it, the voluntary character of his actions
is present to the greatest degree.”
• not simply chosen but desired or willed.
Having sufficient or full knowledge of the act itself as well as
the end of the act and having full consent of the will in
performing the action qualifies voluntariness.
Therefore, those actions performed without proper
knowledge and acted out with internal and external coercion
(or not deliberate) cannot be considered voluntary.
• All voluntary acts are human acts
If a man is not free to choose what he would like
according to his insight and will but has to act against
his will, his actions is not free and consequently not a
human act.
c. Freedom
St. Augustine: liberum arbitrium, “freedom of choice.”
- sort of freedom that exists where an agent has more
than one alternative: the alternative of doing this or
that, the alternative of doing or not doing a particular
action.
= external personal value that all human persons should
realize; it can also be an intrinsic characteristic or
capacity of the will that governs the human person in
selecting among different options.
two senses:
• freedom depends on the available choices present –
to choose among alternative acts; to choose between
committing or omitting an act;
• from the possible choices, the human person decides
on what choice to take without external influence
forcing him/her to act (or not to act).
KINDS OF VOLUNTARY ACTS
Perfectly Voluntary Act- act which is performed with
full attention and full consent of the will.
Imperfectly Voluntary Act - act which is performed with
imperfect and partial attention or consent.
Directly Voluntary Act - act is intended as an end in
itself or as a means to another end.
Indirectly Voluntary Act -act is not intended but merely
permitted as the inevitable result of an object directly
willed.
Negatively Voluntary Act - will affects something
negatively by the voluntary omission of an act which
could have altered an evil to another person or helped
him secure a good.
PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE OF EFFECT
First- moral object may not be evil in itself.
Second- good and evil effect must proceed at least
equally directly from the act.
Third- intention of agent must be good. The agent may
not approve intend or approve of the evil effect.
Fourth- must be a proportionately grave reason in order
to permit the evil effect
SOURCES OF MORALITY
CCC - 3 sources of morality that help us to determine
the moral character of the human act.
a. Object or action itself (finis operis)
- object chosen is a good toward which the will
deliberately directs itself. It is the matter of a human
act.
- morally specifies the act of the will, in so far as reason
recognizes and judges it to be or not to be in conformity
with the true good.
- Objective norms of morality express the rational order
of good and evil, attested to by conscience.”
- action itself is the material element of the human act
or the “substance of the moral act.”
- object or action is the one to be judged as moral or
good, immoral or evil, or indifferent.
- important to remember that there are actions which
are intrinsically evil
- Judging the morality of an act does not depend on the
act alone; totality of the morality of a certain act also
depends on the intention of the agent and the
circumstances that define the action.
b. Intention (finis operantis)
CCC:
- In contrast to the object, the intention resides in the
acting subject.
- lies at the voluntary source of an action and
determines it by its end, intention is an element
essential to the moral evaluation of an action.
- end is the first goal of the intention and indicates the
purpose pursued in the action.
- intention is a movement of the will toward the end: it
is concerned with the goal of the activity.
-aims at the good anticipated from the action
undertaken.
Intention is not limited to directing individual actions
but can guide several actions toward one and the same
purpose; it can orient one's whole life toward its
ultimate end.
- indifferent act may become morally good or evil;
cannot be judged as neither good nor evil. Their
morality may depend on their intention.
*Talking, per se, is neither moral nor immoral.
If an indifferent act has good intention, the act becomes
good, so if otherwise, it will be considered evil.
- objectively good act may become morally evil. An evil
intention will make a good act evil.
*Donating to show off makes the whole action evil.
*Praying for person to have misfortune-unacceptable.
- objectively good act may receive more goodness; will
become more praiseworthy if it has a good motive.
Panizo made use of the example of giving alms to the
less fortunate for the greater glory of God.
- objectively evil act can never become good in spite of
good motive. The end does not justify the means.
* Robinhood who steals from the rich to give to the
people may sound heroic,
*Passing an examination, but if you cheat in order to
pass will never good
- objectively evil act may become more evil. An evil act
with an evil intention will make the act doubly evil, in
the same manner as, a good act with a good intention
will be judged doubly good.
*You lie just to intentionally cover up your fault.
c. Circumstance
- Circumstances, including the consequences, are
secondary elements of a moral act.
- They contribute to increasing or diminishing the moral
goodness or evilness of the human acts.
- cannot change the moral quality of acts themselves;
they can make neither good nor right an action that is in
itself evil.”
- conditions that affect the morality of the action of an
agent. A certain circumstance may aggravate, mitigate
or even negate the responsibility of an agent toward
his/her actions.
Circumstance of Person (Who)- subject or the person
who does or receives the action
Circumstance of Place (Where)- setting or place where
the agent performs an action.
Circumstance of Time (When)- time of the action
performed.
Circumstance of Manner (How)- way the agent
manages to do his act.
Circumstance of Means (By what means)- “Although
man’s intention may be normally good, if the means of
attainting the end are illicit or unlawful, his acts are
immoral.”
Circumstance of Thing- special quality of the direct
object of the act.
IMPEDIMENTS TO MORALITY
Impediments to human freedom are realities with
which ethics and jurisprudence must reckon concerning
the morality of the human act:
Impairments of required knowledge
• Ignorance
• Error
• Inattention
Impairments to free consent
• Passion
• Fear and Social Pressure
• Violence
• Dispositions and Habits
Ignorance is lack of knowledge about a thing in a being
capable of knowing.
- divided as:
Invincible: not able to dispel by such reasonable
diligence, completely takes away the voluntariness of
the malice and hence its responsibility too.
Vincible: can be dispelled by simple diligence;
Voluntary in cause; provoked by conscious negligence
or even bad will Kinds: Simply vincible, Supine, and
Affected.
Error, False Judgment or conviction.
Arises from deficient education, bad company or
misleading information. One is not responsible for the
consequences of error made in good faith.
Inattention - momentary deprivation of insight. If
attention is completely lacking, there is no human act.
Passion or concupiscence-
Movement of the sensitive appetite:
- that precedes the free decision of the will
- which is moved by the good or evil apprehended by
imagination.
Fear
• Mental trepidation due to an impending evil.
-fear of the senses and not intellectual fear which is one
of the passions, (e.g., threat of torture)
• emotion of fear, which completely darkens the mind
or paralyses the will excuses from imputability.
Violence
• Compulsive influence brought to bear upon a one
against his will by some extrinsic agent.
• There is imputability except in so far as the inner will
may have consented or external resistance have fallen
short of the degree necessary and possible in the
circumstance.
Habits
• Facility and readiness in acting in a certain manner
acquired by repeated acts.
• Deliberately admitted habits, Opposed habits