ethics semis Flashcards
AProminent Theologian and
Philosopher of the Medieval
Period.
● Oneof thegreat achievements
was being able to bring together
into a formidable synthesis the
insights of classical philosophy of
Aristotle, and the Christian
theology.
● Histwofundamental notions:
the notion of God as the Creator
and the Source of the beingness
of man and the world; and the
.notion of the synderesis
The Life of St. Thomas Aquinas:
TheFive Ways of Proving God’s
existence
● TheNature of God
● TheRelationship of God with His
creatures
The Philosophy and Theology of St.
Thomas Aquinas:
Theidea of First Mover, God is
powerful.
● Theidea of First Cause, God is
eternal
● Theidea of Necessary being, God
is pure actuality
● Theidea of ultimate truth and
goodness, God has the perfect
goodness
● Theidea of Orderer or the
Designer of the universe, God is
the supreme intelligence
The Nature of God:
According to St. Thomas, imperfect
goodness and wisdom of God’s
creatures can be taken to
represent or mirror the perfection
of these qualities in God as their
Creator.
● Maniscreated in the image and
likeness of God.
● Since goodness and wisdom can
be seen from man, then it says that
God is good and wise but in most
perfect way
The Natural Law Ethics
St.Thomas believed that there is
Divine Creation.
● Godisthe first cause of
everything.
● God’spurpose in creation is to
communicate His perfection
● Thereis hierarchy of being in
different degrees of goodness.
● Theuniverse contains both the
corruptible and incorruptible.
(happiness and pain; life and
death).
● Suffering and death occur not
because God wills these evils, but
because of the privations and
unavoidable in creatures of
different grades of goodness.
● St.Thomas believed that God
created the world “ex nihilo” (out of
nothing)
● Hebelieved that the world came
into being instantaneous, not over
some period of time
The Relationship of God with His
creatures:
Thesource and the ultimate end
(final end) of man is God.
● Godisthat of which everything is
but a participation and imitation;
from whom all things proceed and
to whom all things return Thesource and the ultimate end
(final end) of man is God.
● Themoral end of man is the Good
in which a person, in his innermost
being, yearns for and made
manifest to him in synderesis and
conscience.
The Nature of the Human Person:
is the
concrete particular
judgment by which, in a
given situation, a person
knows what he ought to do
Conscience
generally,
the intellectual habit or
disposition. A possession of
the fundamental principles
of morality– do good and
avoid evil.
Synderesis
is the dictation of the
voice of reason: “the good must
be done and the evil must be
avoided.”
Moral law
Ultimate happiness consists in
contemplating God and not in the
goods of the body.
● Maninhis contemplation of God,
must find way to obtain that
ultimate happiness.
● Man’saction is always geared
toward God
The Happiness of the Human Person
The Three Determinants of Moral
Action:
Object or the end of an action
(finis operas)
Circumstances (circumstantiae)
Intention of the agent (finis
operantis)
that to which the
act naturally tends before all else.
❖ Purpose of the act
Object or the end of an action
(finis operas)
when added to the natural of the
moral act will certainly affect its
morality.
Circumstances (circumstantiae
the reason why the
agent acts.
❖ Humanactsare good if
they promote the purposethe reason why the
agent acts.
Intention of the agent (finis
operantis)
The Threefold Natural Inclination of the
Human Person:
Self-preservation
Justdealing with others
Propagation of species
protect his or
her life and health. Putting one’s
life in danger considered immoral.
Self-preservation
all
forms of inhumanity to human
beings are by nature evil.
Justdealing with others
– man
and woman is created for
pro-creation. Any forms of
contraceptive that will defeat the
purpose of reproduction and
destroys reproductive organs is
immoral
Propagation of species
Ultimate happiness consists in
contemplating God and not in the
goods of the body.
● Maninhis contemplation of God,
must find way to obtain that
ultimate happiness.
● Man’saction is always geared
toward God
The Happiness of the Human Person
The Rights of a Human Person
Theright to Life
● Right to Private Property
● Right to Marry
● Right to Physical Freedom or
Personal Liberty
● Right to Worship
The Duties of a Human Person:
Dutyto Keep Healthy and Take
Care of Oneself
● Dutyto Take Care of One’s
Property and Respect the Property
of Others.
● Dutyto Support One’s Family
● Dutyto Respect Private
Boundaries
● Dutyfor Religious Tolerance
● Dutyto Perform at One’s Best
THE DUTYETHICS OFIMMANUEL
KANT “KANTIAN ETHICS”
Kant’s transcendental method
views man as a self-governing,
rational will, conforming to the
peremptory but internal exigencies
immanent in him as rational will.
● Kantheld that the task of moral
philosophy is to discover how we
are able to arrive at principles of
behavior that are binding upon all
humanity.
● Kant’s ethical view is sometimes
called deontologism
● Kantheld the idea that duty is ‘that
which ought to be done’.
● Kantbelieved that morality is
exclusively within the human
personality, i.e., what is morally
right or wrong is solely a matter of
intent, motive, and will.
● Intuition here means the internal
motive or intention; hence, Kantian
morality can also be considered as
a form of intuitionism or a
motivist theory
● Dutycanbeconsidered by Kant as
that which an individual ought to do
despite the inclination to do otherwise. Hence, doing one’s
duty is doing what one is obliged to
do. That is why duty is also known
as obligation
● Kantdistinguished between acts
done in accord with duty from an
act done from a sense of duty.
● Theessence of morality for Kant is
to be found in the motive from
which an act is done.
● Inorder that an action should be
morally good, it is not enough that
it conform to the moral law; it must
also be done for the sake of the
law.
The Kantian Person
Kantian Person:
● Kantconsiders a human person as
an autonomous, self-regulating
will
● Kantdistinguished between two
types of duties: the perfect duty
and the imperfect duty.
Kantian person
that which
a person must always
observe irrespective of
time, place, or
circumstances
Perfect duty
Imperfect duty
is that
which a person must
observe only on some
occasions.
Kantheld that every person is
capable of doing an action based
on his will and decision.
● Thereal point here for Kant is that
a person has worth and dignity
inasmuch as they are ends in
themselves and are capable of
making their own moral decisions.
● Mutual respect for autonomy
between persons in moral relation
is the basis of justice.
kantian person
Utilitarianism sets the general
thesis that pleasure and happiness
are what everyone desires.
● Itupheld the idea that the morally
best act is the one that produces
the greatest amount of happiness
with everyone considered.
● Goodconsists in the achievement
of the principle of happiness, which
is understood as “the greatest
good of the greatest number”.
● Asareaction to deontologism,
utilitarianism focused its ethical
doctrine on the measurement of
the principle of utility .
Utilitarianism actually merely
followed the beliefs of the British
empiricists.
THE UTILITARIAN ETHICS &
PRAGMATISM
They followed the
principle of
Thomas Hobbes who
put an emphasis on the people’s
selfish concern for their own
pleasure.
who
believed that the whole of morality
is focused on the people’s capacity
for sympathy, the tendency to
consider the pleasures of others.
Theutilitarians also became aware
of the idea of David Hume
Ontheother hand, John Locke
said that the aptness in us to
produce pleasure is what we
should consider as good; and
consequently, the desire to
produce pain is to be considered
evil
john locke
Utilitarianism claims that there is
one and only one moral principle
the principle of utility. happiness, bad as they
tend to produce
unhappiness
The Principle of Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is basically an
approach to morality, which treats
pleasure as the sole element in
human good.Theutilitarians’ concern is the
well-being of the others and
consequently the well-being of the
whole societyThemainconcern utilitarianism is
the consequences, the effects,
the results, and the outcomes of
an action.
● Utilitarianism considnsiders the
consequences of an act as the
basis for determining the goodness
of such act
