Untitled Flashcards Set

Cardinal virtues = natural virtues that are the source of all other virtues.

What do great athletes do to be great?

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t do hard work.”

Cardinal virtues = natural virtues that are the source of all other virtues. Also called the moral virtues.

From Latin cardo which means hinge (as in “other things hinge/depend on them”). All other virtues depend on them. 

They are natural virtues. These are not infused (poured in) like the theological virtues are. 

JUSTICE = habit of giving God and neighbor what we owe them, what they deserve by right

God – because He is God – deserves our worship (this is the sub-virtue of religion). (Commandments 1-3)

All people – because they have dignity – deserve respect (this is the sub-virtue of honor). (Commandments 4-10)

Example: Paying for the damage you did to someone’s property.

FORTITUDE = strength and courage to do the right thing.

TEMPERANCE = habit of controlling our desires and enjoying goods in moderation.

Self-discipline.

→ sin is misuse/abuse of the good gift

→ Helps us to control the appetites of our senses, rather than letting our appetites control us.

Example: Not allowing yourself to drink to the point of getting drunk

PRUDENCE = habit of wise decision-making

Helps our intellects to know what the good is, and the best way to do it. 

It governs all other virtues because it helps the intellect: before we can use other virtues to do the good, we must know what the good is. Prudence directs them to the good.

Example: Bring a like-minded friend to the party, or don’t go to the party at all, if there will be a temptation/pressure to do drugs.

Virtue & Character

Virtues are the building blocks of good character.

One virtue does not make good character.

The virtues must be collaborating and reinforcing each other. 

Growing in Virtue

They are acquired by education, by deliberate acts and through repeated practice in using them.

How is growth in virtue like athletic training?

Virtues are like moral muscles.

We identify a muscle (virtue) we need to strengthen.

Focused, repeated training - little by little.

Like an icicle - little by little.

Deliberate - use of freedom.

Subjective = dependent on the knower. 

Feelings, opinions, how we experience something, etc. are subjective.

Objective = independent of the knower. 

Mathematical and scientific truths are objectively true (even though they aren’t the ONLY objective truths), independent of my understanding or knowledge or awareness of them. They apply to everyone, everywhere, in every time (universal). Cannot change (immutable).

Only humans can perform moral acts because we have freedom: we have the intellect to know and the will to choose our actions. Thus we can perform actions which are good or evil.

The moral act has three elements:

• Object = action being performed.

• Intention = the motive for performing the act

• Circumstances = secondary factors surrounding an act.

We will dive into the moral act in a couple of weeks. For this unit, our focus is simply on objects (also called “moral objects” because the object is where the objective morality is contained).

I call this the Anatomy of an Action: Object, Intention, Circumstance (or OIC).

There are certain acts which are always objectively evil, no matter what. Assault and slavery seem to be the only ones truly everyone agrees on, but we’ll come back to that later. 

The natural law is a moral law that can be known through reason and experience.

Natural Law is not scientific or mathematical law; it does not include laws like gravity. These are laws of nature. The natural law is a moral law about human nature – it is a law that tells us how to be good human beings. What we are to do and what we are to avoid.  

Example of natural law: Golden Rule

Natural law expresses our dignity. It helps us to live our lives well, so that we can be happy and healthy, and as social beings to live in relationship with others. Examples: honesty, fairness...

Natural law corresponds to three basic human drives and needs:

1. preserving life

2. developing as individuals and communities

3. sharing life with others

= protecting human life, flourishing of persons and communities.

Natural law = also defined as the rule of right conduct or behavior for human beings. It is called natural because it is “in” human nature. It can be known through reason and experience.

Natural Law is

• is inherent = it is in our human nature. It is not external to us.

• is universal = It is accessible to, and is the same for, all people. It applies to every person in every time and place, religion and culture, etc. No one is exempt from its authority.

• is immutable = unchanging.

→ The existence of natural law “proves” the existence of “that which none greater can be thought”/”ipsum esse subsistens”. The moral law is not made by us but is given to us. There must be a giver. = GOD (for Catholics, God is that which none greater can be thought and He is the Sheer Act of To Be, He is Existence and Presence Itself.

NOTE:Even if natural law is inherent and intrinsic to our being, because of Original Sin it is not enough to simply rely on our own instincts or strength. The Person of Christ as our Lord and Savior and Guide in the context of a relationship is ESSENTIAL and INDISPENSABLE to actually live a beautiful life.

Genesis 2:16-17:

Why a Tree of Knowledge? - man’s limit and possibility for his use of freedom (there has to be a choice - God created us for friendship and so we must freely choose obedience to God). 

“To know” in Scripture is experiential. 

Original Sin - the act: They deliberately disobeyed God. They refused the limit God placed on them. Why? Adam and Eve sought to be equal to God. = Pride. Adam wanted to "be like God", but "without God, before God, and not in accordance with God" (CCC 398) - Man wanted to be like God on his own terms - not God’s. They refused to accept their limitations as creatures.

We are not God. We do not determine what is good and what is evil, even with this intuition of Natural Law! God is God and we are not:

• God created us and created everything. What is good leads to the fulfillment of His purpose for us - love, Heaven; our flourishing, our happiness… He has written it in our hearts in the natural law.

• Moral truth is objective, something that we discover, not that we decide for ourselves. God determines it, we discover it. When we try to make the rules, we, like Adam and Eve, are trying to play God.

Genesis 2: The Fall of Man

“The Great Permission” - God wants us to fully enjoy the good things of this world.

What is the prohibition? Making ourselves the criterion of good and evil: my mind, my will, I determine what is good and evil. God is the criterion of good and evil. He wants us to be alive - to fully enjoy the good things of this world! But that means living according to the criterion that He Himself is.

Jesus is tempted in the desert:

• Sensual pleasure, glory, and power are the three temptations of Jesus in the desert.

• These correspond with the lower levels of happiness.

• We say no to these to say yes to God - yes to love.

Darkened Intellect

Moral truth is objective truth that we discover. If the natural law is objective and inherent - why is it so difficult for us to know what is good and evil? (There’s a lot of disagreement about good/evil considering that we all have the same natural law.)

Now we all are born into Original Sin - the state: Even though the natural law is written in our hearts, and Original Sin is forgiven in Baptism, as a consequence of Original Sin we have a fallen human nature. Our intellect is darkened and it is difficult to know what is good and evil.

It is difficult - but not impossible - to discern good and evil. God helps us:

• Grace - divine help

• Divine Revelation - He tells us explicitly what is good and what is evil

• Law is “an (1) ordinance of reason (2) for the common good, (3) promulgated (4) by the one who is in charge of the community.” 

  - St. Thomas Aquinas

1. Ordinance = a piece of legislation. Ordinance of reason = a law that is reasonable. It “makes sense.”

2. For the common good = allow ALL people and communities to reach fulfillment more easily. (Review principles of natural law.)

3. Promulgated = to make known in a way that people can be expected to know it

4. By the one in charge of the community = the competent authority. Not everyone can make a law - only those with the authority to do so.

Eternal (or Divine) Law is rooted in the wisdom of God, who created, orders, and moves all things to their proper ends.

• Divine Wisdom - discovered, not invented. Just like laws which govern chemistry, physics, and biology.

• It is the highest law, and it is the foundation of all other laws. It is perfect.

• We know God’s law through human reason and divine revelation.

• Natural law is the eternal law inscribed in the human heart.This is what is good and evil simply put, it is objective and based on the Eternal Law, it is an instantiation of the Eternal Law in each human soul. It can be known through reason and experience.

•  Revealed Law is eternal law that God has explicitly made known to us. 

  It has two stages: Old Law and New Law.

  
  

  We cannot always correctly discern natural law because of human sin (attack on experience) and our weakened intellects (attack on reason). Therefore God helps us to know His will by explicitly revealing the moral law to us in the Old and New Testaments.

  
  

  Old Law: Ten Commandments. The bare minimum we must do to be good.

  New Law: the Law of Love. Jesus fulfills the Old Law. Think Beatitudes and the Works of Mercy!

• Civil Law is the application of the natural law for the members of a particular society. 

  
  
  
  
  

  Civil law is bad if it contradicts natural law. 

• Church Law (or “canon law”) includes the precepts of the Church, which are minimal obligations that Catholics must follow.

• Is true freedom limited or unlimited?

  
  
  
  
  

  True freedom deliberately limits itself to choosing the good. 

  
  

  It is paradoxical, just like everything else: death brings life, meekness is power, mourning brings joy, giving your life you save your life…

  
  

  When we look at using freedom for the purpose of love v. doing whatever we want, we see that using it for love brings greater happiness, is better for persons and communities. Using it for whatever we want can lead to negative consequences.

  
  

  The fruit indicates its true purpose.

  Freedom = the power rooted in reason and will to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility.

  When we look at using freedom for the purpose of love v. doing whatever we want, we see that using it for love brings greater happiness, is better for persons and communities. “Freedom exists for the sake of love” - JP II

• Does (good) law promote or impede 

  our freedom? What is the relationship between law and freedom?

  
  

  The purpose of freedom is to be able to know and choose the good, to love. 

  
  

  What is good? It is objective. Not what feels good, or what we think is good. It is what is good according to God’s law.

  
  

  Law is an instruction given to man by God, telling him how to live.

  
  

  Laws do not necessarily impede our freedom; they actually help us to become more free! How? → They guide our freedom so that we may know the right thing, so that we may be better able to do the good.