IN SEARCH OF THE GOOD! EVOLUTION OF CATHOLIC MORALITY

THE JOURNEY We will attempt to uncover in this course what it means to be ethical and how Catholic Morality has evolved and the factors that have shaped and formed that Morality.

THE WAY History/Understanding of Ethics Historical Roadmap of how Christian Ethics has evolved from the Covenant to Present Day. Woah!

THE BASICS Theology: The Study of God Philosophy: The Love of Wisdom Religion: An organized expression of a community’s belief in the Sacred

“WHAT DO I LOVE WHEN I LOVE GOD?” ST. AUGUSTINE Ethics is the belief in a right/wrong a good/evil. (Fr. Greek Ta Ethika meaning good character) Morality is the translation of that good into our actions. (Fr. Latin Moralitas having to do with customs or habits)

EXAMPLES OF MORAL SYSTEMS 10 Commandments Buddhist Precepts 5 Pillars Talmud/Torah Business codes of conduct Student Handbook Collective agreements in Sports (personal conduct policies)

WHY ARE WE ETHICAL? We can basically reduce the reasons human beings act ethically down to 4.

#1. THE SCREAM Action/Reaction Proposed by Ken Melchin in his work “Living with other People”. This is basically and action/reaction response.

#2 THE EXPERIENCE OF OTHER/BEGGAR The Beggar This is put forward by Emmanuel Levinas in his work Totality and Infinity This experience is referred to often as “The face” as it is the face of the other that causes us to act.

#3 “I HAVE TO” THE EXPERIENCE OF OBLIGATION This is put forward by Immanuel Kant. In this we act out of obligation/responsibility This is where we act because we feel the obligation to not necessarily the desire to.

#4 THE INTOLERABLE: EXPERIENCE OF JUSTICE This reason compels us to act based on injustice or the intolerable we feel that something must be done because it is not fair. This was really pioneered by the Church especially Pope Paul VI

ETHICAL CAMPS To examine those reasons even further we can for our purpose focus on three ethical camps that are crucial to understanding Catholic Ethics. 1. Aristotle (Teleological Ethics) 2. Kant (Deontological Ethics) 3. Levinas (Relational Ethics)

ARISTOTLE B.C Aristotle's ethics are called Teleological ethics from the root word telos which means end goal/purpose.

KANT Deontological ethics based on the root word Deon which means Duty. Wrote “Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals” & “Critique of Pure Reason” Maxims : Categorical Imperative/Means and End Theoretical Reason Practical Reason

EMMANUEL LEVINAS Ethics of the Face We find The Good (God) in each other not in what is similar about each of us but what is unique. Since God is much more that we can comprehend we find traces of him in what is unique in each of us. It is our seeing that uniqueness in each other that we find God.

LEVINAS CONTINUED. Pope John Paul II refers to Levinas in his work “The New Millennium” Matt 25 “When I was Hungry you fed me” illustrates the thought of Levinas. Psalm 27 “Your face O Lord I seek” God touches us through the face of the other. *The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states “The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes”

DEFINITIONS OF IMPORTANCE Empiricism: Knowledge comes from experience or evidence that can be perceived by the senses. Subjective: relating to a person’s own perception and understanding of a reality. What is thought to be. Objective: relating to a sensible experience that is independent of any one individual’s thought. What is.

“TO SPEAK OF THE HUMAN PERSON ….AUTONOMOUS, SELF DIRECTED” GULA In This Chapter we will analyze the human person and attempt to understand why and how it is that human beings act?

ARE WE FREE? Agent: A person who acts freely and knowingly and is self-directed. At the heart of ethics is the belief that Humans are free to choose…in this chapter we will examine those who believe this and those who believe we might to some extent be determined by different Biological and/or Social Forces.

LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN Analytic Philosophy: For anything to have value it must be empirically verifiable. He argues against Analytic Philosophy stating that Human Intention/Free Will is not necessarily something that is measurable but is real. “When I raise my arm, my arm goes up”

L.W CONTINUED Wittgenstein believes that human intention is left over when analyzing his statement. L.W contends that not everything that has value about the human person is empirically verifiable.

FREEDOM As Catholics we believe that we are Free. St. Augustine states “We will when we will, but it is God that allows us the power to act” God influences but does not control us. We call this Providence. Augustine wrote on Freedom during the time of the Pelagians who believed Humanity was fully free and the Manicheans who denied any type of freedom whatsoever.

Descartes “je pense, darefore, je suis” “I think therefore I am”….

DETERMINISM

GROUPS OF DETERMINISTS We can organize Determinists into three categories: Scientific/Social/Religious.

SCIENTIFIC DETERMINISTS G.E Moore

G.E MOORE G.E Moore in his work “Principia Ethica” discusses his theory of Naturalism. Naturalism sees the universe as a unified system operating according to the Laws of cause and effect. Naturalism attempts to reduce human behavior to Biological\Physical causes. The Human Being is a complex series of cause and effect.

SCIENTIFIC DETERMINISM CONT. An example of naturalism is “The Human Genome Project”. If Naturalism is true then Ethics would belong in the study of Biology. If Naturalism is true then according to Ted Peters “Human culture would be on a leash, a short leash controlled by a Genetic Agenda”

OTHER CONSEQUENCES If Human Behaviour is reducible then surely we can replicate it. (A.I) Turing was the first to conceive of intelligent Machines. McCarthy coined the term A.I Deep Blue the IBM supercomputer was the first example of A.I when it defeated reigning world Chess Champion Gary Kasparov (Watson is IBM’S Latest Version of a Supercomputer)

Others who believed this would be Huxley who stated “The Brain is a Machine Like everything else” Concepts such as teleportation would illustrate the fact that humans can be reduced and then re-configured. Philosophers such as Descartes, Aristotle and Plato would believe that there is a distinction between the mind and the brain.

SOCIAL DETERMINISTS Freud, Adler, Jung and Rank Make up the Vienna Psychological Society.

SOCIAL DETERMINISM Social Determinism believes that Human Behaviour is a result of a multitude of Social Causes. Freud's “Theory of the Unconscious” Freud believed that we are ruled by 2 instincts. 1.Eros: Life instinct (pleasure seeking) 2.Thanatos: Death Instinct (pain avoiding)

RELIGIOUS DETERMINISM John Calvin and The Puritan Tradition

RELIGIOUS DETERMINISM John Calvin believed that Human Beings do not “earn” their Salvation. Calvin believed that God had already chosen those who would be saved. He called this Doctrine “Pre-Destination” The Puritan tradition believed that humanity was so depraved that we all deserved Hell. And that if we are saved it is all because of God’s Grace.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON FREEDOM/DETERMINISM Obviously we are moving forward with the belief that we are free and therefore accountable for what we do. (If we didn’t believe in freedom the course would end now) Also we do understand that we definitely are influenced by genetic/social factors but that we do possess “Free Will”