happiness and moral visions

happiness

implies an active or passive feeling of what one considers good

Happiness

ultimate, complete, and total fulfillment

moral dilemma

assumption: everyone desires happiness.

1. Happiness must be attainable

2. Happiness is seemingly impossible to find

tenets of the catholic moral vision

happiness, love, freedom, conscience and virtue, sin and conversion, dignity of the human person

moral vision

a way of seeing the world and human actions

utilitarianism

moral vision; the moral worth of an action is determined by its utility, or its ability to lead to happiness for the greatest number of people or the individual (the outcome of the action)

natural law

moral vision; the whole universe is governed by reason or rational principle

absurdism/nihilism

moral vision; holds that happiness is not attainable and there is no inherent meaning in life beyond sense perception

epicureanism

moral vision; the highest good is pleasure, but don’t believe in diving into every pleasure you find (moderation), avoidance of pain and the anxiety of losing pleasure = happiness

hedonism

moral vision; the pursuit of pleasure and self-indulgence is chief or only goal of life, seeks to maximize pleasure and avoid pain in all areas of life (especially in present moment)

escapism

moral vision; belief that happiness cannot be found in this world

moral relativism

moral vision; there are no absolute moral truths, so happiness can be defined as whatever an individual feels like

material cause

the composition of a thing

formal cause

the shape or arrangement of a thing

efficient cause

how a thing was formed

final cause

the purpose of a thing/what it was made to do

metaphysics

the study of the fundamental structure of all reality (branch of philosophy)

thomistic hylomorphism

the idea that the body and soul are unified as a single entity

intellect

faculty of the soul; power of cognition, knowing reality in a nonmaterial way;  the faculty of thinking in a way essentially higher than with the senses and the imagination

will

faculty of the soul; choice and the ability to choose one thing over another

passions and emotions

faculty of the soul; emotions or movements of the sensitive appetite that incline us to act or not to act

senses

faculty of the soul; medium of knowledge