Download An Introduction to the Search of the Good: A Catholic Understanding

An Introduction to the
Search of the Good: A
Catholic Understanding of
Moral living
► Life
is like being out at sea: we live in times
that may seem more fluid than solid, where
the direction we need to travel does not
seem obvious.
 Storms may arise – and must learn to navigate
or be lost to the mercy of the winds and
currents in which we are caught.
► There
are solid points of reference in the
moral life
► By learning to recognize these solid points
of reference for developing our skills in
order to be able to navigate through life
using these reference points, we will
succeed in finding direction
How do you
understand
the search
for the good
in life?
What makes experiences
ethical/moral?
► Activity
#1 –
 Ethics is……………..
 Morality is………………
 Good means….
►All
experiences
can be seen as
having an
ethical/moral
dimension.
► Activity
#2 ~ Ethics or Morality? Which is it?
 i) In your home groups read Ethics or morality?
Which is it? and highlight the difference
between ethics and morality.
 ii) Come up with a metaphor (one that is not
used in the text) to distinguish between ethics
and morality
Ethics or Morality?
►Ethics
= comes from the Greek ta
ethika (having to do with good
character) and is interested in the good
that we humans tend toward –
happiness and freedom
►Morality
= comes from the Latin word
moralitas (customs, habits, and
manners of shaping human life) and is
interested in how humans can attain
this good such as laws, rules,
commandments
► Love
of God is a good starting point for
ethics… as Ethics is not first of all about
obligations and duties, or about rules of
behaviour or laws, but rather understanding
that the driving force of ethics is the good.
► Norms
and duties are not the final word –
the good is.
►Ethics
searches for the infinite – the
impossible first of all, then it returns it
to our day to day actions (obligations,
responsibilities etc…) towards others.
►Ethics
guides morality it gives vision to
our actions
search for the infinite good = ethics;
how we translate this search into our
actions (how we conduct ourselves)=
► The
morality
► Morality
is seen at work through rules or
guidelines of behaviour and good action.
► When
we look at Ethics and Morality we
tend to look at them as a series of do’s and
don’ts imposed onto us by an outside
authority.
► We may feel as these obligations may
infringe our personal freedoms and
responsibilities which we may come to
resent.
► At
times we may even think that ethics and
morality is simply placed upon us to think
about and deal with rather than being
something that is ours….however ethics
plays a large part of what it means to be
human.