for the love of dan dileo please study this

spirituality

what we believe gives life ultimate meaning and value; the sum of all of our loves that guides who we are and what we do

morality

embodied response to spirituality;efforts to flourish as persons and communities in response to our ultimate value

christian spirituality

the good is our relationship with god

christian morality

response to and pursues relationship with god, as a result of an encounter. i must love because i am in relationship with the one who is love

schema of christian life

1. god is love

2. god loves us

3. we love god (or not)

4. we are transformed (love changes us and we become more like the object of our love - god)

5. we respond in/through/with love

two feet of love in action

social justice and charitable works

must work together to respond to the injustices in our world and can’t have one without the other

pastoral circle

method of analyzing our experiences and the injustices in the world to move toward action and love more fully

experience → social analysis → ethical reflection → action steps and vocational discernment

theological anthropology

1. we are sacred - inherent dignity made in likeness of god

2. we are social - we shape and are shaped by our communities

3. we are spiritual

4. we are physical

5. we are rational

6. we have free will

common good

the sum of the conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively through and ready access to their own fulfillment

purpose of state in catholic social teaching

to protect and promote the common good

subsidiarity

lowest possible but highest necessary level of society to protect and promote the common good

solidarity

we are all responsible for all and must uphold one another’s rights, because my humanity is bound up in yours

foundation of rights in catholic anthropology

our sacredness and inherent dignity as humans

catholic definition of rights

Claims on the basic [material and metaphysical] goods that every human needs to live and thrive

Distinction between positive/negative rights

Positive: The right to something, or to be

Negative: The right from something, or to not be

Ex. We have the right to live, and we have the right not to be killed.

Distinction between natural and legal rights

Natural rights are what we have just because we are humans (See Catholic Definition of Rights).

Foundation of responsibilities in Catholic anthropology

We have duties because we are social; what we do impacts the ability of others to realize their rights.

Catholic definition of responsibilities

Duties owed in order to realize rights.

Positive/negative duties

Negative duties require we do not violate rights. Positive duties require we help one another realize their rights. Often, negative duties are what are codified in law, but in Catholic Social Teaching, only fulfilling negative duties is not enough to promote the common good.

Natural vs. legal duties

Legal: Fulfilling contracts, following laws.
Natural: Go deeper because natural rights say that people are owed at minimum everything to flourish at a base level.

ex. Legal: Paying the wage on the signed contract. Natural: Paying a living wage

Negative and Positive Freedom

Negative: Freedom from
Positive: Freedom for/to

Biblical justice

Synonymous with the fullness of Love=Agape=God's Kingdom. Niebuhr says: this is the ideal, but we will be held back because of sin. So, we strive to move toward this within our context.

Aquinas's definition of basic/general justice

A virtue that habitually of gives what's due

Difference between equality and equity

Equality- giving everyone same resources regardless of circumstance
Equity- distributing resources appropriately to ensure equal opportunity for everyone (they get what they need).

Equity of process can realize equality of results.

Telos of Utilitarianism

Happiness is maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain.

Utilitarian definition of justice

Those rules that protect claims considered essential to the well-being of society, as measured by utility.

No natural/intrinsic justice, only legal/procedural justice to maximize utility.

Types of positive and negative rights and duties in utilitarianism

Because utilitarianism doesn't have a robust anthropology, rights and duties are only instrumental/procedural/means to increase utility/flourishing. These aren't natural, but come up at different priority levels in order to flourish.

Rights/duties are important as a matter of utility, not because we are humans.
Duties of perfect obligation come in response to realizing the most important (but not intrinsic) rights.

No natural rights, only moral rights.
No natural duties, only duties of perfect/imperfect obligation. Perfect: A specific person has a specific right to something specific from me. Imperfect: No specificity of personal good, quantity, etc. Realm of general utility.

Definition of happiness in utilitarianism

Maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain

Act and Rule utilitarianism

Act: Calculating the consequences of every act
Rule: Applying rules of thumb that generally maximize utility (more widely accepted)

Utilitarianism

idea that the goal of society should be to bring about the greatest happiness/utility for the greatest number of people

Rawls and Fairness

Generation of just principles and rational decisions behind a veil of ignorance where fairness is impartiality without favoritism or discrimination.

Telos of Rawls and Fairness

Create a stable society where people from various backgrounds and with different worldviews can live peaceably together

Rawls's Definition of Justice

Fairness. Impartiality without favoritism of discrimination.

Types of positive and negative rights and duties according to Rawls

Rights come from necessity, not sui generis. These rights are just practically what people would affirm as needed to act freely. Ex: Speech, assembly, participation. Liberties are not absolute; people have freedom until that freedom is harming the freedom of others.

Rawls's Principles of Justice (1, 2a, 2b)

1. Greatest Equal Liberty Principle - everyone should be as free as possible. But, freedom isn't absolute. Equal liberty means that we have maximum freedom until that freedom is violating the freedom of others. The liberty of my fist ends where your nose begins.

2. Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are:
a) to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged members of society
b) attached to offices and positions that are open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity (opportunity for social mobility).

Original Position

A hypothetical starting point where people need to design the rules, laws, and basic structure of a brand-new society. Everyone is treated as free, equal, and rational. Everyone must agree on how society would be fairly structured and what the rules would be before society exists.

Veil of Ignorance

Everyone is imagined to be ignorant of all his or her particular characteristics, socioeconomic status, etc. to make rules as fair as possible.

Nozick and Entitlement

Leads to libertarianism, based on radical individualism, with no shared Good.

Telos of Nozick's Entitlement

Realize Lockean natural (not just legal) rights: "Individuals have rights, and there are things no person or group may do to them."

Nozick's Entitlement definition of justice

Entitlement to holdings based on laws of the minimal state. "Whatever arises from a just situation by just stpes is just."

Types of positive and negative rights and duties according to Nozick

Absolute positive and negative rights of life, health, liberty, and property. Violation of any of these for any reason is immoral.
No positive duties, only negative duties to not violate the rights. (Contrast to CST principle of solidarity)

Three criteria for just holdings

1. "A person who acquires a holding in accordance with the principle of justice in
acquisition is entitled to that holding" [Lockean labor theory of value; natives' rights?]
2. "A person who acquires a holding in accordance with the principle of justice in transfer,
from someone else entitled to the holding, is entitled to the holding
3. "No one is entitled to a holding except by (repeated) applications of 1 and 2" (A, S, U)
(4.) Rectification of injustice (e.g., payments through taxation—maybe via pattern)

Four natural positive rights (Nozick)

Life, Health, Liberty, Property

Sandel and Communitarianism

Based on the anthropology that everyone is connected and we can share values to build a good society for everyone.

Telos of Sandel's Communitarianism

Achieve Eudaimonia (happiness) (Fulfillment of a life well-lived) within the context of the community. This is a robust, shared teleology (assumes that all people will share this telos, with some room for differing visions).

Sandel's Communitarian definition of justice

Treating people the way they deserve [in context] (allows for equality and equity).

Types of positive and negative rights and duties according to Sandel

Communitarianism does not recognize fixed individual, natural, sui gneris rights and duties that exist prior to society. Instead, they emerge as part of a flourishing society (a key distinction from CST/Heims+Heims Fullness of faith). This necessitates frequent, active participation in public/political life.

Public Philosophy (Sandel)

Shared values, principles, and norms, and their expression in public life

Civil religion (Sandel)

The spirituality of a community, as expressed by commitments to certain persons, texts, and rituals.

Niebuhr and Christian Realism

Responds to the optimism of the social gospel of the 1920s, saying we need to be more serious about the reality of sin, especially social sin as it impacts society.

Telos of Niebuhr's Christian Realism

Create a society that continues to strive for perfection (toward agape, away from eros), while recognizing and reckoning with physical and sinful human limitations.

Niebuhr's Christian Realism Definition of Justice

Perfect Justice would be love ("fidelity to the demands of a relationship"), but since we live in a broken world, Imperfect Justice is striving for this.

“Biblical justice is the goal we strive for. This rich biblical understanding portrays a just society as one marked by the fullness of love, compassion, holiness, and peace."

Eros vs. Agape

Eros: Self-love
Agape: Self-giving love

Types of positive and negative rights and duties according to Niebuhr

Perfect justice is grounded in both positive and negative rights and duties. But since we are in an imperfect world, we have to at least protect minimum rights by law.

Definition of Sin (Niebuhr)

Failure to love

Definition of Social Sin (Niebuhr)

Groups are often more immoral than individuals, so social situations and institutions that are contrary to the divine
goodness arise. 'Structures of sin' are the expression and effect of personal sins.

Two rules of justice (Niebuhr)

1. Negative and Positive freedom as the essence of human nature
2. Equality: Process (impartiality in the calculation of needs), and equality as a future goal requires equity now.

Two "centers" of power (Niebuhr)

1. Government - Seen as both necessary and oppressive
2. Economics - "Modern capitalism breeds injustice because of the disproportions of economic power that it tolerates and upon which it is based."

Gutierrez, Cone, and Liberation

Begin from an experience of oppression, with foundations in the spirit of Vatican II and in response to poverty in Latin America and oppression of Black people in the U.S.

Telos of Liberation Theology

Full Humanity. Move from oppression to liberty to realize God's Kingdom on earth by breaking down and remaking systems

Liberation definition of justice

Nothing short of liberation from all forms of oppression

Types of Positive and Negative Rights and Duties according to Niebuhr

Implicit natural rights and natural duties

Method in Liberation Theology

Inductive. Praxis (lived experience, reflection), then theology. To understand what 'justice' is and what it demands, one begins with a review of those injustices experienced by the oppressed. Liberation theology presents in the first place therefore, a theory of injustice..."

Bias in Liberation Theology

Explicitly biased in favor of the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized.

Biblical Interpretations of God (Liberation)

God is a God of Liberation. Exodus Story, Luke 4:16-21. Salvation is not simply a spiritual phenomenon; it's a unitary concept that includes social justice.

Transformation of the world is foundational for the Church. "Fitness" for eternity with God, who is Love, is a function of how a person responded to God's Love by loving self, neighbor, and creation.

Power and Conflict (Liberation)

Conflict is a transfer of power. Given the necessity of conflict, violence may be justified in order for revolutions to happen and justice to be fulfilled.

Love

Willing and acting for the good of another (Aquinas)

Telos of Womanism

Expand conversations and methods of justice to account for and prioritize the experiences of Black women so that liberation includes everyone.

Womanist definition of justice

To understand justice, deconstruct real lives and see the injustice

Intersection of three injustices according to Womanism

Racism, Sexism, Classism