MORALITY IN LAW AND ACTION

Chapter 3

WHAT IS LAW? • LAW = An ordinance of reason that exists for the common

good and is affirmed by legitimate authority through an official process.

• All just law finds its origin in the mind of God. • The law SHOULD BE a communication of God’s divine plan.

• A true law is an ordinance of reason: • NOT the whim of someone in authority • Rather the result of reasoned deliberation • To address the needs of the human person and society.

THE COMMON GOOD• Laws exist for the common good. • The common good has 3 essential elements: • 1) Respect for and promotion of the fundamental rights of

the person. • 2) Prosperity, or the development of the spiritual and

temporal goods of society. • 3) The peace and security of the group and its members.

• - from the Youcat 326

ETERNAL LAW

• The plan of divine wisdom as directing all acts and movements. • This idea is developed from the ideas of ancient Greek

philosophers like Plato and Aristotle who reasoned that we must have a Creator who gave order to the world.

• We witness the eternal law at work wherever we see evidence of a divine hand giving order and harmony to what could be chaos. • Every law is derived from God’s eternal law

NATURAL LAW

• The rational creature’s participation in the eternal law. • Written on the heart of every human person is an innate

sense of order, an awareness of right and wrong. • The natural law is universal, and sets mankind apart from all

creation. • Unlike the physical laws of nature (water boils at 212 degrees

F), the natural law involves our personhood. • Following the natural law is a free choice that exercises your

mind and your will.

NEW LAW (REVEALED LAW)• The law as revealed by God, found in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament. • This law is infused by the love of the Holy

Spirit. It gives us the grace to live as Jesus wants us to live.

POSITIVE LAW• Positive law - any law that legitimate authority formulates to govern a society. • Two Types…

• Ecclesiastical Law , or canon law – the law that governs the Church. • These laws apply to hierarchical organization, liturgical practices

– and everything needed to practice the Catholic faith. • Civil Law – the laws enacted by civil governments for the common good of a particular society. • To be true laws, these laws must adhere to the eternal law. We

can see this understanding when the Ten Commandments are posted in a courtroom.

WHAT TYPE OF ?

• Pray for your enemies. • You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. •Give without expecting repayment. • Income tax laws and regulation. • Fast one hour before receiving Holy Communion.

• Register for the draft on your 18th birthday. • Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God. • Speed limits • Alcohol may not be consumed by anyone under 21. •Honor your father and your mother. • Forgive others if we expect forgiveness for ourselves.

• Protect the rights of the widow, the orphan, and the alien. • Regulations regarding the sacrament of Marriage (age, proper minister, etc.) • Love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves. • Priests remain celibate for the sake of the Kingdom.

REQUIREMENTS OF A JUST CIVIL LAW

• 1) Seeks the common good • Promoting the good of all members of society, not just a select group to the detriment of others. • Ex of an unjust law: creating a military draft that exempts

the wealthy • 2) Reflects the “equality of proportion” • One group of society should not be unjustly burdened. • Ex of an unjust law: taxing the poor with an amount

they can’t possibly pay

• 3) Reflect some aspect of the Natural Law, articulated by the 10 Commandments • Human authority comes from God. Therefore, humans

should not use their authority to contradict God’s (eternal) Law.

• An unjust law contradicts the Natural Law, is not valid. • Christians are not bound to cooperate with an unjust law. • Any act of civil disobedience/conscientious objection must be discerned carefully beforehand.

DEGREES • Let’s talk about degrees…

… of morality • 2nd principle of morality? • If the act (object), intention, OR circumstance are evil,

the act is evil. All 3 must be good for a good act. • However, we can introduce some degrees of goodness and evil. • A good circumstance/intention can lessen the gravity

of an evil act, but can never make a bad act good. • Ex: stealing to provide for your family is better than

stealing out of pure hatred, but stealing is still wrong, because it wrongfully takes another’s property.

CIRCUMSTANCE(HOW?, WHO?, WHEN?, IN WHAT WAY?)

Act (Object) Good Circumstance

Example Bad Circumstance

Example

Good Object The act remains good.

I drive my friend to Mass, and I am legally able to drive other people.

The act becomes bad.

Correcting your friend’s behavior in front of others in a way that humiliates him.

Bad Object Could lessen the evil of the act, which remains evil.

Stealing a bottle of water from a well-stocked grocery store.

The act remains bad.

Stealing a bottle of water from a homeless man.

INTENTION(WHY?, IN ORDER TO WHAT?)

Act (Object) Good Intention Example Bad Intention Example Good Object The act remains

good (or becomes even better).

Serving at a soup kitchen in order to help the poor.

The act becomes bad.

Serving at a soup kitchen in order to steal from the workers’ bags.

Bad Object Could lessen the evil of the act, which remains evil.

Borrowing dad’s car without asking, in order to go to youth group.

The act remains bad (or becomes even worse).

Lying to your friend because you want to confuse him and get revenge.

WHAT TO DO??

•What do I do if, no matter what I do, good and bad will result?

• Ex: A woman has life-threatening uterine cancer. She is also pregnant. The doctor says a hysterectomy is the only way to save the mother’s life. It will also kill the child. What is morally permissible to do??

THE PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE EFFECT

• Catholic Morality has a principle to help determine the right course of action to take in tricky situations like these. • If the act, intention, and circumstance are GOOD, but GOOD AND BAD things still result, we can use the principle of double effect.

THE PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE EFFECT

• IN SUM: The decision to carry out an action which, as a consequence, has unintended bad results may be made only when the good effect cannot reasonably be brought about any other way and when certain conditions have been met.

• 4 Conditions

4 CONDITIONS OF THE PDE• 1) The action must be good in itself, or at least indifferent.• You still can never perform an evil act that good may come of it.

• 2) The agent must have the right intention. • The good effect is what is directly aimed for. • The evil effect is foreseen but not intended.

4 CONDITIONS OF THE PDE• 3) Good action must be the means of the good effect. • The evil effect cannot be the means to the good effect.

• 4) The good effect must be proportional to the evil effect. •When there is an evil effect, there must be a proportionate or greater good effect.

• So… • A pregnant woman with uterine cancer needs a hysterectomy in order to live. According to the principle of double effect, what is the morally good action to take?

•Why is a hysterectomy permissible according to the principle of double effect, but an abortion is not?

MORAL SYSTEMS• Virtue-based ethics looks at the goodness of the ACTION itself. • This means that morality is objective and universal. • In this moral system, certain actions can be called intrinsic evils – grave moral wrongs which are always and everywhere wrong. Ie –abortion, murder, genocide, euthanasia, torture. • These actions violate human dignity, are particularly

hostile to human life, and oppose the will of God and proper human fulfillment.

MORAL SYSTEMS• The other option is various forms of moral relativism. • This means that the goodness of the action can change based on the circumstances. • Types of morally relativistic systems of thought include situation ethics, consequentialism, and proportionalism.

SITUATION ETHICS •Definition: The goodness or evil of an action is determined by the particular circumstances of the individual who acts. • The circumstances are the main determining factor of morality.

•While it is true that every act has unique circumstances, S.E. says that because each act has its own unique circumstances, a universal moral law doesn’t apply.

CONSEQUENTIALISM•Definition: An action is judged as good or evil from the consequences that follow. • Aka the end justifies the means. • An otherwise bad act can be the right choice if “it’s not hurting anyone” or “I can get away with it.” • However, consequentialism fails to look at the objective goodness of the act itself. • Ex: cheating on your spouse can be good if it somehow makes the adulterer feel like a better person and has certain fulfillment.

PROPORTIONALISM•Definition: an act is good if the good effects of that action exceed the evil effects, and evil if the evil effects exceed the good effects. • However, the same issues crop up – no acts can be judged as objectively right/wrong.

OTHER MORAL SYSTEMS – IN SUM

• SITUATION ETHICS – judges an action based on the particular situation. • CONSEQUENTIALISM – judges an action from the consequences that follow. • PROPORTIONALISM – judges an action by weighing the good and evil results.