PHILO Lesson 5

+ the obvious terms + includes people + some concepts

moral acts

it is in our power and we are responsible for them

Aristotle

“A human being is rational; reason is a divine characteristic”

St. Thomas Aquinas

“We are moral agents—we have a conscience, to be ‘good’ or ‘evil’ becomes an exercise of moral responsibility”

eternal law, natural law, human law, divine law

Aquinas gives a fourfold classification of law, what are these?

natural law

applies only to human beings; good is to be sought after and evil avoided; conceived primarily with external acts and not with interior dispositiond

divine law (or revelation)

it deals with interior disposition as well as external acts and it ensures the final punishment of all evildoings, neither of which is possible for human law

eternal law

the decree of God that governs all creation

Jean Paul Sartre

“The human person is the desire to be God: the desire to exist as a being which has its sufficient ground in itself (en sui causa)”

Law of Nature

a precept or general rule established by reason; a person is forbidden to do that which is destructive of his or her life or that which takes away the means of preserving the same

seek peace

first law of nature

mutually divest certain rights

second law of nature

perform covenant made

third law of nature

mutual transferring of these rights

this is called a contract and is the basis of the notion of moral obligation and duty

commonwealth by institution

when a leader has been established through the covenant of every member of a multitude with every other member

commonwealth by acquisition

when the sovereign power has been acquired by force

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

one of the most famous and influential philosophers of the French Enlightenment in the 18th century; responsible for “Theory of Human Nature”

1986 EDSA Revolution

people gathered to voice their disenchantment peacefully and, through mutual effort, ousted Ferdinand Marcos; an (imperfect) example of the theory of Social Contract

kasarinlan (self-sufficiency)

recognizes human worth and dignity

B.F. Skinner

“The environment selects which is similar with natural selection”

pride and respectability

amor propio

sakop (or harmony)

can help be of a helping value to the full development of the Filipino if it opens up to embrace the whole Philippine society