Norms of Morality Flashcards
Two norms of Morality:
- The eternal law of God
- The human reason in the context of conscience.
ultimate norm of morality
Eternal Law
the proximate norm of morality
conscience
is an ordinance of something put into order by reason, for the sake of the common good
Law
Made by someone who has the authority to govern that community and promulgated
Law
Is a rule of conduct or action established by custom or laid down and forced by the governing authority
Law
Is recognized by all men regardless of creed, race, culture, or historical circumstance
Natural Law
are rules derived from the nature that guides the human life
Natural Law
It is a moral obligation that arises from human nature, compelling an individual to be true to his/her nature as tao.
Natural Law
Is necessary because it indicates the difference between human beings and other creatures.
Natural Law
Are the standards that indicate the rightfulness or wrongfulness, the goodness or evilness, the value or disvalue of a thing
Norms of Morality
Contribution of Moral Laws
- They provide the objective criteria for our own conscience to judge what is morally good or evil.
- They help our moral development, especially in the formation of our conscience.
- They offer the needed moral stability in our lives
- They challenge us to stretch for an ideal beyond our limited experience, and correct our moral misconceptions in the process.
Classification of Laws
- According to immediate author (Divine laws ; Human laws)
- According to duration (Temporal laws: Eternal laws)
- According to manner of promulgation (Natural law ; Positive law)
- According as they prescribe or forbid an act (Affirmative laws: Negative laws)
- According to effect of violation (Moral ; Penal; Mixed) Classes of Law
God’s eternal plan and providence for creation
Eternal Law
applies to all creatures and directs them in harmony with their nature
Eternal Law
The universal law whereby God directs and governs the universe and the ways of the human community according to His plan of wisdom and love.
Eternal Law
Properties of Eternal Law
Eternal and unchangeable
Absolutely universal
existed from all eternity
Eternal and unchangeable
rules all things and actions. There is no limit to the breadth of its application to corporeal and spiritual, to rational and irrational creatures.
Absolutely universal
Man acts in accordance with physical laws
As a bodily being
In matters that lie under man’s free control
As a bodily being
Man may refuse the direction of eternal law
As a bodily being
That moral order
Natural Law
Which arises from the nature of man and creation and which can be recognized by man’s reason.
Natural Law
The rational creature’s participation in the eternal law.
Natural Law
It is the Eternal Law as known to man by his reason
Natural Law
There is a way human life should be lived and this “should-ness” is grasped by reason
Natural Law
It refers to the human participation in God’s Eternal Law. Man knows naturally, by the light of his understanding, that there are some things evil in themselves, and some things which are necessarily good.
Natural Law
involves a recognition of the objective nature of the moral order, grounded in God’s providence, and which is accessible to human understanding and obedience through the use of reason
Natural Law
Properties of Natural Law
a. It is universal
b. It is immutable or unchangeable
c. It is Obligatory and Indispensable
d. It is Recognizable
Natural law is constitutive element of human nature. Therefore, it is true wherever human nature manifests itself. All humans are equal because of shared human nature. It binds every man at all times and in all places
It is universal
Natural law is human nature. It is immutable because human’s essential nature can never be lost as long as human is human. There is a constant in human nature which remains throughout all historical and cultural change.
It is immutable or unchangeable
. Natural law is human nature, calling for itself to be actualized, to “live” according to its basic and essential demands. Natural law is identical to God’s will.
It is Obligatory and Indispensable
It is imprinted in the human nature and human has the light of reason to know it. It is knowable by all persons using their critical reason.
It is Recognizable.
Laws created by human beings which can enjoin specific obligations upon individuals.
Positive Law
Positive Law
Divine Positive Law | Ecclesiastical Positive Law | Civil Positive Law
laws legislated by God found in the Bible
Divine positive law
laws emanating from the legislative power of the Church.
Ecclesiastical Positive law
They are principally found in the Code of Canon law
Ecclesiastical Positive law
laws legislated by a legitimate government
Civil Positive law
Human law
Laws enacted by church or state
Ecclesiastical law
Civil law
A human law derives its binding force
Civil law
From natural law and ultimately from eternal law
Civil law
A concrete and determinate application of natural law
Civil law
Properties of Human Law
- Enforceable
- Concerned with external conduct only
- Limited to particular groups
- Historically conditioned
- Has presumptive obligatory force
Has the coercive power of the law
Enforceable
External compliance with the law suffices to secure the social order and the common good.
Concerned with external conduct only
Human laws oblige only those who are members of the community for which the laws are enacted.
Limited to particular groups
Human laws change as societies and civilizations change
Historically conditioned
Presumption favors the duty to obey the law.
Has presumptive obligatory force
Conscience is derived from the Latin phrase ______________________________ which means the
cum alia scientia; individual man’s application of knowledge or “acting with knowledge.”
The connecting link between law and individual acts
Conscience
An act of the practical judgment of reason deciding upon an individuals actions as good and to be performed or as evil and to be avoided
Conscience
is present at the heart of the person, enjoins him at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil
Conscience
is a judgment of reason whereby the person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that:
* he is going to perform
* is in the process of performing
* has already completed
Conscience
Practical judgment of reason upon an individual act
Conscience
As good to be performed or evil to be avoided
Conscience
Acquired equipment of moral principles
Synderesis
Intuitive knowledge of right and wrong (dictate of one’s conscience)
Synderesis
The starting point of the reasoning process which ends in the judgment of conscience
Synderesis
When we are confronted with possible course of action we compare it mentally with moral rinciples and arrive at a conclusion whether the act is good or bad
Synderesis
Basic concept of conscience
- Moral judgment that discerns what is right and wrong.
- Moral obligation or command to do good and avoid evil
