Download Morality and Action

Morality and Action
Components of Moral Actions
The Human Act
• We have discussed human acts a lot this
semester, it is important to remember that only
humans can make moral choices because we
have an intellect and a will.
• As we saw last week in the introductory
worksheet to human acts, there are three key
components to every human act:
– First, the object of the act itself
– Second, the end in view or intention for the act
– Third, the circumstances of the act
(1) The Object
• The object of moral choices are the actions
done.
• The object carries the most weight when
determining the morality of an action.
• Thus, a sinful object (act) can never be
justified, even if the intention or “exceptional
circumstances” are good.
• Another way of saying this is that an
intrinsically evil act is always evil.
(2) The Intention (End)
• The intention refers to the motive for which
an act is done. It should not be confused with
the result of the action (which does not
always turn out as planned).
• Bad intentions turn good acts into sinful
actions.
• Good intentions can diminish the gravity of
sinful action, but can never turn a sinful object
into a good one.
(3) The Circumstances
• The circumstances describe each individual
moral choice by asking about the who, what,
when, where, why, how, and when.
• Some circumstances lessen the gravity of a
sin, while others increase it. However, no
circumstance can make a wrong action good.
• Let’s look at examples of circumstances to get
a better idea of what they are…
Examples of Circumstances
• Who?
– The person acting. A lie said by a child and one said by
a president carry different moral weight.
• What?
– The thing done. It is more serious to steal a sacred
object than an ordinary one.
• Where?
– The place where the act occurs. A sin in public is
different from a sin in private.
Examples of Circumstances
• Why?
– The immediate situation of a particular action or some
additional reason that a sinner may have for
committing a sin. This should not be confused with
the intention.
• How?
– The manner in which the act is done.
• When?
– The timing of an act. For example, it is not serious to
miss Mass on a weekday, but it is serious to miss Mass
on a Sunday or Holy Day of Obligation.
The Principle of Double Effect
• Not every human action simply results in
having only good or bad effects. Sometimes
an action may bring about a bad result even
though all three components of the moral act
are good.
• The “principle of double effect” determines
whether or not actions that have both good
and evil effects are permissible.
The Principle of Double Effect
• (1) The action must be good in itself
• (2) The agent must have the right intention
• (3) Good action must be the means of good
effect
• (4) The good effect must be proportional to
the evil effect.
Errors in Moral Theology
• We have just finished discussing moral
relativism, which is an anti-Christian morality
that believes each individual determines what
is right or wrong.
• There are three major errors that spring from
moral relativism:
– Situation ethics
– Consequentialism
– Proportionalism
Situation Ethics
• Situation ethics maintains that the goodness
or evil of a given action is determined by the
particular situation.
• The circumstances form the prevailing criteria
concerning the morality of an action.
Consequentialism
• Consequentialism judges an action to be good
or evil from the consequences that follow.
• This is essentially an “ends justifies the
means” philosophy.
Proportionalism
• Proportionalism measures the moral goodness
of an action according to a comparison
between its good and evil effects.
• In other words, if the positive effects of an
action outweigh the negative effects, it is a
good action. You are choosing “a lesser of two
evils.”
Why are these relativist moralities
wrong?
• Although they seem rational, these three
moralities are flawed.
– They lead to immediate and complete
subjectivism because the person acting decides
for himself what is moral.
– They deny objective moral truth.
– They are based on human emotion, which is far
too volatile to be the basis for moral decisions.