Quest: Morality of a human act, errors in moral reasoning, principle of the double effect, and cooperation in evil Flashcards
what are the three components of a moral choice
object, intention or end, circumstances
for an act to be morally good all 3
sources have to be good
what is the object
the act itself
what is primary in determining the morality of an act
the object
if the object is evil than the act is
intrinsically evil aka NEVER GOOD
actions can be
good, neuteral, or evil
an evil act can never become good or nuetural, the ends
don’t justify the means
which component of an action refers to the subject or person
the end or intention
what is the intention or end of an act
the motive or reason
if the object and inention are evil than the malice of the act
increases
a good intention can do what to a neutral, good, or evil act
make a neutral act good, greaten goodness of good act, or lessen responsibility for bad act
a bad intention can do what to a neutral, good, or evil act
make a neutral act evil, make a good act evil, or make an evil act worse
cirucmstances comes from the latin
what stands around
circumstances can increase or lessen the malice of an act (T/F)
true
circumstances can remove responsibility for an evil act (T/F)
false
circumstances can make a good/neutral act evil (T/F)
true
circumstances can increase goodness of an act (T/F)
true
what is the STOP method
Search the facts, think of alternatives and consequences, others, pray
moral relativism
morality changes with each situation, good and evil are relative, what is good for you may not be good for me
situational ethics and why its wrong
focus only on the situation and sometimes motive
this is wrong bc it ignores the object
consequentialism and why it is wrong
an act is good if it gets good results, an act is bad if it gets bad results
this is wrong bc one can never do evil to bring about good
proportionalism and why its wrong
if the evil effect is less, it is good. If the good effect is less, then it is evil.
circumstances nor results are criteria for judging a moral act
proportionalism is a variation of
consequentalism
fundamental option and why it is wrong
persons basic commitment for or against God “but I’m a good person I go to church”
YOUR ACTIONS MATTER. SHOW HOW YOU LOVE GOD THROUGH YOUR ACTIONS.
mortal sin is
grave matter (serious, full knowledge, consent of the will
legalism
concentrating only on the object
subjectivism
concentrating only on the motive
absolute
always true and valid, not relative to other things
example: murdering is wrong
relative
depending on the circumstances, people, and motives, changes
example: murdering can be okay if it is in self defense
objective
a fact that is independent of our thoughts, feelings, or knowledge of it.
example: the colors of the rainbow are ROYGBIV
subjective
dependent on the person
Example: chocolate is the best ice cream flavor
universal
in all situations, no exceptions, no change
Example: you should never steal
particular
dependent on the situation, changeable
example: in some situations the government should increase taxes, and sometimes they should not
moral law is universal and applies to particular cases (T/F)
true
what is relativists self contradiction example
if all women in this class fail that would be “unfair”, they appeal to a standard. Fairness = the absolute of justice.
why can we judge an action and not a person?
we are not given the authority to judge people, only God can do that bc only God knows their heart. We have a responsibility to identify and avoid evil acts.
some human acts will bring about bad results even though all 3 criteria are good (t/f)
true
the principle of the double effect can be applied to situations where (hint: look at the name of the principle)
there are two effects, one good, one bad
for the principle of the double effect to apply there has to be 4 criteria met. What are they? (Hint: it is not how many effects there are).
- the act itself must be good or at least neutral
- the good effect must be immideate and not an effect of the bad
- only the good effect can be directly intended, the evil is forseen and permitted but unintended
- the good effect must equal or outweigh the evil permitted
the first principle of the double effect states that the act itself must be
good or neutral
the second principle of the double effect states that the good effect has to be
immdiate and not the result of the bad effect
the third principle of the double effect states that only the good effect can be -, while the bad effect is
directly intended, the bad effect is forseen but unintended, meerly permitted
the fourth and final principle of the double effect states that the good result must
equal or outweigh the bad
chart the principle of the double effect for this scenerio (and then check with model)
John has colon cancer, he has to get surgery that will require lifestyle changes.
chart the principle of the double effect
no scenerio just chart it and check with model
physical evil
unchosen things that cause harm to man
example: sickness, accident, death, natural disasters
physical evil is a result of
adam’s sin
moral evil
freely choosing to do evil (sinning)
Adam’s sin is not the result of moral evil, we all have a choice, but original sin does
darken intellect and weaken will, making it harder for us to avoid sinning
all moral evil is freely chosen and can be
avoided
moral evil hurts both the agent (one who is sinning) and the recipiant, but it hurts the - more
agent, because they are now deserving of hell.
cooperation in evil is never okay (t/f)
true
formal cooperation
cooperation in, agreement, consent with the evil will of the agent.
in formal cooperation the cooperater shares the same -, - in the act, or supplies the
intention, participates in the act, supplies the agent with the means of performing it
formal cooperation in evil is always wrong, so you are always
guilty of sin
material cooperation
when the cooperator does an act that is not evil, but helps another do an evil act (how closely is it connected to the action)
is this scenerio material or formal cooperation and are they guilty?
Mr. Smith owns a family liquor store, he is very dilligent with checking IDs and runs his buissness in accordance with the law, but he knows some of his customers abuse alcohol on a regular basis.
material cooperation and not guilty. It is not immoral to run a liquor store, he does not know who is abusing alcohol, and he cannot turn away someone as a buissness.
Jenny is the 22 year old sibling of Justin. She buys him beer for a party, but does not go to the party.
Formal cooperation and guilty, because she supplied him with the means of having the party and getting drunk.
a taxi driver drops off a man at the white house who had a bomb concealed under his vest. After he is dropped off he explodes himself and kills 5 people. how is the taxi driver cooperating?
material cooperation, not guilty. He does not know that the man has a bomb in his vest. He is trying to do his job of getting people from point A to B.
A retired woman volunteers as a receptionist for an abortion facility three days a week.
formal cooperation, guilty. She is retired so she does not have to work. When people volunteer it means that they agree with the mission.
