Law, Freedom, and Moral Acts Flashcards
why is quarreling specifically a human quality
because it means trying to prove that someone else is wrong. This means that we have an agreed upon sense of right and wrong, and a standard of behavior which we hold each other to.
What is quarreling trying to do
prove the other wrong, expect other to know standard of right and wrong
what is the law of human nature
the law of right and wrong
what is the difference between the law of nature for people and things
things cannot choose to obey laws, they just do. It is a description of how they always behave. For humans we have a choice and it describes what we should do, but do not always do.
why does lewis say we are forced to believe in real right and wrong
because we all adhere to it and have throughout history.
how does lewis say our use of excuses show that all men believe in the law of nature
we know that we have fallen short of the understood standard of behavior and we want to shift the blame. There would be no point in shifting the blame if we did not feel guilty.
what are the two points he wants to make in this chapter
humans believe they should behave in a certain way and cannot get rid of this belief, yet they do not behave in this way. They know the law and break it.
why cant we say that following moral law is useful to us
a war prisoner can be useful to us, but being a nazi is very bad. Cheating can be useful, but it is not morally correct. Good behvior like telling the truth is not always convinient or helpful. If this was man made we would make it useful and convinient.
ESSAY QUESTION
How is Lewis able to conclude that the law of nature is not manmade
- we feel natural law pressing in on us by quarelling (trying to show other is in the wrong, and expecting other to know right and wrong and follow a standard of behavior) and making excuses (we know that we have fallen short of standard and are trying to shift the blame)
- it is not a matter of taste or preference it is universal (applies to all people at all times. There has never been a society that praises selfishness)
- it is not useful or convinient (many times bad behavior is useful and good behavior is not)
natural law does not come from man, it is written on his heart urging him to do good and avoid evil. This proves the existence of a law which implies the existence of a
law giver/maker
The law helps bring us to our ultimate end in heaven, meaning that it does not keep us from happiness but
brings happiness
what is law
An obligatory, resonable, and useful rule given to benefit the community (lead them towards God) which is made known to the people by someone with legitiment authority over them.
Eternal law
plan of divine wisdom directing all acts and movements
cosmos means -, while chaos means
order, confusion
properties of eternal law
primordial and universal
primordial
foundational, the starting point for all laws
universal
applies to every creature
natural law
rational creature’s participation in eternal law; written on the heart of every human being
natural law states that we can understand right and wrong through
reason
natural law recognizes order both
within the universe and within the individual
natural law properties
immutable, universal
immutible
unchanging
laws of nature
descriptions of behavior of the material universe; describes how things work
since man has -, he can chose to follow natural law or reject it
free will
positive law
a law which has been formally laid down or imposed; made known to us by external sign
divine positive law
legistlated by god (decaloug or 10 commandments)
ecclesiastical law
legistlated by church
what is a positivist
someone who claims we must just follow written law without thinking abt if it is unjust
civil positive law
legistlated by the government
evangelical law
from the gospel, to shape your life according to christ, beautittudes and sacraments
human laws should correspond to
god’s will
moral good and evil procede from the
nature of things; things are not good or evil because you want them to be or anyone says they are
foundation of good and evil is
truth
just laws correspond to
natural law
because just laws correspond to natural law, they have the power to bind us in conciounse making disobeying them
a sin
laws which do not correspond to natural law are
unresonable, unjust, and need not be obeyed
popular view of freedom to do whatever I want is actually not freedom but
license
freedom is
power rooted in the will to perform deliberate actions on own responsibility
to be truly free means to
use ones freedom to choose good
true freedom
the ability to do good to achieve happiness
how is moral law like a map
it leads us to the end goal of god, and shows us where we could go wrong. If you want to get to god the map will be helpful but if you just want to step where you want the map will be annoying.
the human person can achieve his goal/fail to achieve it through
his actions
we make ourseleves the person we are through our (our actions -)
actions, (define us)
because man is a moral being we are
morally responsible for our actions
man acts with
intellegence and free will
a human act is one that is performed with
knowledge and free will, meaning that man has control over his action. He is responsible for it.
acts of man
act accomplished without knowledge/freedom, not responsible
what people are unable of comitting human acts
under the age of reason, insane
moral act
any action that results from a delieberate choice between good and evil or different degrees of goodness
impediments to knowledge
ignorance
invincible ignorance
ignorance which cannot be overcome by ordinary dilligence, not responsible
vincible ignorance
ignorance that can be overcome by ordinary diligence, one is negligent in finding the truth. still responsible.
willful ignorance
deliberetly keeping self from knowledge. responsible.
the more good you do
the freer you become
sinful people are - by their passions
enslaved
human freedom is limited because man is limited, thus we cannot
do whatever we want (fly like a bird)
freedom has a dependence on
truth
truth corresponds to
objective reality
human freedom is ordered to -, doing evil is not freedom but _
do good, an abuse of freedom
because God respects our human freedom we cannot blame him for war/hunger
true
we can grow in freedom by recieving
grace
violence
movement exerted by an external source contrary to the will of the person it is exerted on. Impediment to freedom.
violence can change what actions someone takes but they cannot change
their desires
impediments to freedom
violence, fear
fear
emotion caused by evil or danger, felt in the soul
if fear is so intense that it deprives you of your reason it can destroy the
voluntariness of an act
normally fear only lessens the
voluntariness of an act
concupisence
unruly desires of the body
antecedent concupisence
it is not willed in itself. (example: you did not wish to see someone naked, but you still thought lustfully about them instead of looking away) lessens responsibility slightly, but mortal sins are still mortal sins.
consequent concupisence
follows the act of the will. completely deliberate actions, increases the voluntarinesss.
concupisence does not destroy your
responsibility for doing evil actions
god’s grace does not diminish our freedom but rather enlightens out minds and strengthens our will
true
conscience is not
a feeling, theoretical judgement
conscience is a
practical judgement that judges a particular act as right or wrong
conscience comes from cum scienta which means
with knowledge
conscience is a wittness because it
confronts man with the law and becomes a wittness to his faithfulness to God’s law
we have an obligation to form a sound conscience which is - to make correct moral judgements
necessary
how do we form a conscience
acceptance of moral teachings of the church as our mother and teacher, knowledge of christian life and doctrine seek out truth, prayer and meditation conversation with god, personal examination, spiritual direction (meeting with priest)
divisions of conscience
antecedent (preceeds actions, is what I am doing good or evil), concomitant (during action), consequent (after)
a true or correct conscience will
deduce from true principals if something is lawful
erroneous conscience
decides from false principles considered as true that something is lawful which is actually unlawful
doubtful conscience
doubt the moral good of every action, cannot make a choice
evil means never justify
good ends
love for god and neighbor
overrides any other consideration
golden rule
treat others how you want to be treated
scrupulous conscience
judges an action to be morally wrong when in fact it is not
lax conscience
judges mortal sins to be venial and venial to be no sin at all
conscience is not without error so we must always
seek to know true good
culpability is
weakened intellect
we can become blind to the truth through
habitual sin or refusing to seek what is good
