THE DETERMINANTS OF MORALITY

MORALITY CONSIST IN THE CONFORMITY AND

NON-CONFORMITY OF AN ACT WITH THE NORM.

THREE ASPECTS:
A. THE ACT IN ITSELF
B. THE MOTIVE OF THE ACTION
C. CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE ACT
“Bonum ex integra causa, malum ex quocumque
defectu.”
I. THE ACT IN ITSELF
TO CONSIDER AN ACT IN ITSELF IS TO REGARD ITS
NATURE. AN ACT IS A PHYSICAL TENDENCY TOWARDS A
DEFINITE RESULT. THIS RESULT IS IDENTIFIED AS THE
END OF THE ACT (FINIS OPERIS) AS DISTINGUISHED
FROM THE END OF THE AGENT (FINIS OPERANTIS) WHICH
IS SYNONYMOUS WITH THE MOTIVE OF THE DOER.

INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC EVIL

“INTRINSIC” IMPLIES A QUALITY INHERENT IN A THING.
THUS, AN INTRINSIC EVIL ACT IS AN ACT WHICH IS EVIL
BY ITS NATURE.
EXTRINSIC EVIL ACT ACCORDING TO FR. PANIZO IS THAT
WHICH, ALTHOUGH GOOD OR INDIFFERENT IN ITSELF, IS
HOWEVER PROHIBITED BY A HUMAN LAW.
II. THE MOTIVE OF THE ACT
 is the purpose which the doer wishes to achieve by such action. It is what gives
direction and motivation to an act. It comes first in the mind as intention and occurs
last in the action as its culmination or fulfillment.

WHAT IS A GOOD MOTIVE?

 is one which is consistent with the dignity of the human person.
 is one which is in accordance with truth, justice, prudence, and temperance.

“THE END DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS”

It means that the worthiness of purpose does not make an evil act good.
PAUL GLENN GIVES US THE FOLLOWING INSIGHTS ON THE EFFECT OF THE MOTIVE ON THE
ACTION:

1. AN EVIL ACT WHICH IS DONE ON ACCOUNT OF AN EVIL MOTIVE IS GRIEVOUSLY WRONG

2. A GOOD ACTION DONE ON ACCOUNT OF AN EVIL MOTIVE BECOMES EVIL ITSELF
3. A GOOD ACTION DONE ON ACCOUNT OF A GOOD PURPOSE ACQUIRES AN ADDITIONAL
MERIT
4. AN INDIFFERENT ACT MAY EITHER BECOME GOOD OR BAD DEPENDING ON THE MOTIVE

III. CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE ACT

MORALITY ALSO TAKES INTO ACCOUNT THE CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING AN ACT.
THESE CIRCUMSTANCES ARE WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WITH WHOM, WHY, HOW, AND WHEN.

1. WHO- REFERS PRIMARILY TO THE DOER AND RECEIVER OF THE ACT.

2. WHAT- REFERS TO THE ACT ITSELF AND TO THE QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF THE RESULT
OF SUCH ACT.
3. WHERE- REFERS TO THE CIRCUMSTANCE OF PLACE WHERE THE ACT IS COMMITTED.
4. With whom- refers to the companion or accomplices in an act performed. This includes the
number and status of the person involved.
5. Why- refers to the motive of the doer.
6. How- refers to the manner how the act is made possible.
7. When- refers to the time of the act.
LAW: ITS MEANING AND RELEVANCE
 According to St. Thomas Aquinas, law is an ordinance of reason, promulgated for the common
good by one who has charge of society.
 “ordinance of reason” because they are rational deliberation intended to guide men towards
what is good for them and for the society.
 “promulgated” they are made known to the people who are bound to observe them.
 “one who has charge of society” because they can be valid if they are the legitimate exercise of
authority.
 KINDS OF LAW
1. DIVINE POSITIVE LAW- are those promulgated, or made known to us, by special command
of God.
EX: The Decalogue of Moses

2. HUMAN POSITIVE LAWS- are those promulgated by a legitimate human authority. This
authority resides either in the state or in the church

Divine or Human Laws are either moral or penal.

Moral Law binds in conscience, that is, it is enforced by our personal conviction about what ought to
be done as good or to be avoided as wrong.
Penal Law binds by virtue of the penalty imposed, that is, enforced by our fear of being caught and
punished.
 MORAL AND POLITICS LAWS

Moral Laws are those derived from the natural law. They direct man towards the higher values of
its development as a human being. Therefore, moral laws are universal laws binding all men alike.
It regulates the mind, heart, and body of man insofar as he is a man.

Political Laws, both civil and criminal laws, are those enacted by men to guide their actuations in
society and relation to one another. They regulates man’s external actions. Its objective is to
provide peace and material prosperity. Political laws presuppose moral laws.
 PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LAWS

1. Human Laws must conform with divine laws.

2. Human Laws must promote the common good.
3. Human Laws must be just and not discriminatory of certain
individuals or groups.
4. Human Laws must be practicable.
5. Human Laws regulates external actions only.
6. Human Laws are fallible, because human legislators are liable
to commit errors.
 THE NORMS OF MORALITY
Richard M. Gula defines the norms of morality as “the criteria of
judgment about the sorts of person we ought to be and the sorts of
actions we ought to perform”

Eternal Law
Is the plan of God in creating the universe and in assigning to each
creature therein a specific nature.
PARTICIPATION OF CREATURE IN ETERNAL LAW
NATURAL LAW SHOULD BE TAKEN AS A BODY OF CODIFIED LEGAL
PRONOUNCEMENTS SUCH AS THOSE WE FIND IN A BOOK OF
CRIMINAL LAW. RATHER, IT REFERS THE NATURE OF ALL CREATED
THINGS WHICH IS THE PRINCIPLE OF THEIR MOVEMENTS AND
ACTIONS: CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL OR RATIONAL.

NATURAL LAW AS THE ESSENTIAL NEED TO BECOME A

PERSON
IS RECOGNIZED BY ALL MEN REGARDLESS OF CREED, RACE,
CULTURE OR HISTORICAL CIRCUMSTANCES. IN THIS SENSE, THEY
SPEAK OF MORALITY AS BEING “WRITTEN” IN THE HEARTS OF MEN.
Steward Dugald (1753-1820)- regards the natural law as the
“original principle of our institution”

George Berkeley (1685)- calls it the “eternal law of reason” or

the “Will of God”

Paul Tillich elaborates that what we call “will of God” is actually

our “essential being with its potentialities, our nature declared as
“very good” by God who created it”.

Tillich explains further that natural is the “command to become

what one potentially is, a person within a community of person”.
 PROPERTIES OF THE NATURAL LAW

1. It is universal. Natural Law is a constitutive element of human nature.

2. It is obligatory. Natural Law is human nature, calling for itself to be actualized, to be “lived”
according to its basic and essential demands.
3. It is recognizable. It is imprinted in the human nature and man has the light of reason to know
it.
4. It is immutable or unchangeable. Nature Law is human nature. It is immutable because man’s
essential nature can never be lost as long as man is man.
CONTENTS OF NATURAL LAW
MAN DISCOVERS BY THE LIGHT OF REASON THOSE FUNDAMENTAL
MORAL PRINCIPLES CONTAINED IN THE NATURAL LAW.

FORMAL NORMS- ARE THOSE THAT RELATE TO OUR CHARACTER,

THAT IS, TO WHAT KIND OF PERSONS WE OUGHT TO BE.
EXAMPLES:
DO GOOD AND AVOID EVIL. BE HONEST. BE CHASTE. DO NOT BE
SELFISH, PROUD, VAIN OR FOOLISH.

MATERIAL NORMS- RELATE TO THE SORT OF ACTIONS WE OUGHT TO

BE. MATERIAL NORMS ARE THE APPLICATION OF THE FORMAL NORMS
TO INDIVIDUAL CONCRETE ACTION, SUCH AS, SPEECH, KILLING,
MAKING PROMISES, OR USING CONTRACEPTIVES.
INTERPRETING THE MATERIAL NORMS
The physicalist suggests that the physical and biological nature of man determines
morality. Anything opposed to man’s physical, physiological, or biological tendencies is
wrong and immoral.

The personalist suggests that reason, not the physical structure of human faculties or
actions, is the standard of morality. According to the Thomistic School, reason is “recta ratio”,
or right reason. It is the dynamic tendency in the human person to know the truth, to grasp the
whole of reality as it in.
THE ORDER OF REASON
St. Thomas Aquinas calls the order established by reason as the “specific natural law”.
Accordingly, man has to consider the natural order of things. And yet, he must not confuse the
natural order with the moral order. It is reason that which takes Natural Law and interprets it in a
way worthy of man’s humanity. In this sense, Natural Law is not the same as the Laws of Nature
which are the forces governing the material world.

Moral Conscience- the task of discovering and interpreting Natural Law in a manner fitting to
man.
CONSCIENCE
 defined as an act of the practical judgement of reason deciding upon an individual action
as good and to be performed or as evil and to be avoided.
 the word is derived from the Latin conscientia which means “trial of oneself” both in
accusation and defense.

KINDS OF CONSCIENCE
1. CORRECT OR TRUE CONSCIENCE
Judges what is good as good and what is evil as evil.
2. ERRONEOUS OR FALSE CONSCIENCE
Judges incorrectly that what is good is evil and what is evil is good.
3. CERTAIN CONSCIENCE
Is a subjective assurance of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of a certain act.
4. DOUBTFUL CONSCIENCE
Is a vacillating conscience, unable to form a definite judgement on a certain action.
5. SCRUPULOUS CONSCIENCE
Is a rigorous conscience, extremely afraid of committing evil.
6. LAX CONSCIENCE
Is one which is refuses to be bothered about the distinction of good and evil.

THE COMPULSORY NATURE OF CONSCIENCE

Insofar as conscience operates within the realm of truth and sound reason, it is compulsory.
When error creeps in, we should always trace it to its root in order to eradicate it.
CONSCIENCE AND AUTHORITY
Conscience insofar as it is the “Voice of God” within the recesses of our nature assumes the
authority of God. God is the ultimate norm to which conscience must conform to.
Conscience too is linked with human authority:
1. It is linked with the state insofar as this derives its authority from its nature itself and in affirmed
by natural law and divine revelation.
2. It is linked with human community, because conscience depends for help in community and
social authority in order to be informed correctly of its judgement.
EDUCATION OF CONSCIENCE
 Studying and searching for truths in the laws and in the sciences, since conscience is not
independent from the treasury of knowledge available to each individual.
 Cultivation of good habits. This means that practical truths we discovered must be
internalized and then externalized in action.
 Militate against evil, condemning it where we find it. Indifference to evil dulls the spirit. We
must learn not only to turn our backs against evil but fight against it.
 Use of freedom. To use it properly, we must understand it properly.
THE END!