Key concepts of Christian ethics

freedom

the power rooted in reason and will to act or not to act, to do or not to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility, makes our actions worthy of praise or blame

determinism

the idea that human actions are dictated by law and can be predicted from the rules of nature, opposition to freedom

conditioning

Pavlov-classic conditioning

Skinner-operant conditioning

catholic response to conditioning

-say both have some truth: biology and environment play a role in our decision making

-Christians argue that freedom still exists

conscience

the intellectual judgement, using faith and reason, of actions as moral or immoral

functions of conscience

1. motivates us to know good and to do what is good

2. seeks reliable guidance

3. questions what god wants us to do

conscience vs superego

superego-refers to the influence that society and our elders have had on our behavior

-conscience is different because it always points us in the right direction

parts of a moral action

-can be broken down into three parts that allows for us to analyze each action using the same criteria

object-what the actor is actually doing

intention-why the actor does what they do

circumstances-answers the question “what else matters?'“

mortal sin

completely destroys our relationship with God

venial

brings you further away from God