Notes on Scotus's Philosophy and Ethics

Chapter L - Scotus-VI: Ethics

Nature of Arguments: While some views suggest arguments for immortality lack persuasion, they are not entirely without value; they merely don't provide demonstrative proof.
Argument from Desire: This argument is weakened because:
- Biological inclination to avoid death is present in animals (brutes) too.
- To use desire for immortality as proof of reality requires first proving that immortality is a possibility, which rests on the condition that the soul can survive beyond physical death.
Suffering vs. Happiness: Although life contains suffering, this alone does not necessitate an afterlife to counterbalance that suffering. Both pleasure and suffering coexist naturally.
Sanctions of Afterlife: Arguments stating that because there are perceived rewards and punishments in an afterlife thus necessitating its existence, lack credibility without demonstrating divine justice.
Intellect's Role: The intellectual independence of the soul from the body may serve as a probable argument for immortality, yet it remains inconclusive.

Good Acts Defined:
- Naturally Good Acts: Possess necessary attributes for their essence, similar to how a beautiful body has qualities like size and shape.
- Morally Good Acts: Must align with right reason (recta ratio) beyond their inherent nature.
- An act must be free to be considered morally praiseworthy or blameworthy.
Conditional Goodness of Acts:
- Act goodness is based on conformity with right reason, but no act is good purely by its object except for the love of God (always good) and hatred of God (always bad).
- The goodness of any act is also contingent on intention and circumstances (e.g., the end of the act).

Indifferent Acts: Defined as acts done without moral intention, such as giving alms without thought of God.
Primary Principle: According to Scotus, the love of God is paramount, but not all acts must explicitly refer to God to be morally neutral.

Moral Law Context:
- God's Role: Divine will establishes moral obligation, but it is not arbitrary; it reflects God's nature of goodness.
- Intellect vs. Will: God’s intellect comprehends natures that align with moral law, but the obligation of such laws arises from divine will.

The moral law is grounded in self-evident truths, particularly the Ten Commandments, which are binding not merely because they are prescribed but because they are rationally discernible.
Dispensation: Scotus allows for divine dispensation in secondary precepts (commands) that may not follow necessarily from primary principles, differing from Thomist positions.

Distinction between paternal authority and political authority; the latter is legitimized by common consent and community choice.
Legitimate Authority: Successful legislators require prudence and must act in the common good, avoiding private advantage.
Human laws must align with both natural moral law and divine law; Scotus's view upholds the virtue of non-despotism in governance, rejecting moral authority as lying solely within the state's grasp.