Part 3 Morality

How Aristotle and Aquinas describe what it means to live a “good life”

Aristotle: The good life is eudaimonia, meaning a life well lived, human flourishing, and happiness. It means constantly striving to become better and being the most virtuous version of yourself.

St. Thomas Aquinas: True happiness is being with God “face to face” in the Beatific Vision, which is heaven(beatitudo). On earth, we can have imperfect happiness (felicitas) by living a life of virtue that draws us closer to God.

What is morality really about? (rules or something else?)

Morality is not something we study in a “void”. It is the science of what humans ought to do based on who they are. It involves understanding the human person and discerning right behavior.

Humans are made for where? How do we know?

made for heaven, Full communion with God and full communion with others., We know through the Genesis creation story that Humans are made in the image and likeness of God. Humans are called to communion with God and others. Humans are called to holiness.

What do we learn about humans in the Genesis creation story?

Imago Dei > Made in the image of God Intellect → Ability to reason Free Will → The ability to choose the good Free Will → The ability to choose the good Called to Love and Communion → Made for Relationship Made with human dignity Inherent → Comes from God and is within each person because they exist Inviolable → Always wrong to act against it, even ourselves Inalienable → Nothing can be done by a person to a person to remove it Creation is GOOD. Humans are VERY GOOD. Humans are made in the image and likeness of God. Humans are called to communion with God and others. Humans are called to holiness.

The sources of Catholic Morality

Human Reason (Intellect) Human Experience (Collective wisdom of others) Divine Revelation (Scripture & Tradition)

What does it mean to say that living a moral life is about responsibility?

Living a moral life is about responsibility. Response/Ability > ability to respond! Respond to God’s love, Made BY Love, for love, to love. Respond to God’s call to be fully alive and live in true happiness.

What do we learn about the Commandments and Jesus’ calling on our lives from the story of the Rich Young Man?

The Commandments teach us how we ought to live and provide a framework for living the moral life. Jesus calls us to follow God’s teaching by choice and reason, not by force. Following God’s teaching brings us closer to Jesus and therefore closer to true happiness.