Transcript freedom within these laws.

Objective Norm of
Morality: Law
1. Why is it important to have laws? Can you
live without them?
2. Enumerate some house rules and school
policies and regulations.
What is your attitude towards these laws?
3. Can you break laws, rules and regulations
without any harmful consequences? Why?
4. As a Christian what laws of God do you obey
or try to live with? Have you been successful
in doing so?
Law is an ordinance of reason for the
common good promulgated by the person
who takes charge of the community.
-St. Thomas Aquinas
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Ordinance of reason suggests that the
means of the law must be based on the
insight of reason into value.
A law must be reasonable because it
serves as a guide to promote what is
right.
Each law has a purpose; it is not a caprice
or a whim.
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The common good implies that the goal of
the law must be for the common good of
the community on which it is imposed.
A law helps not only in the improving of
the society but also in the assuring the
betterment of the individuals in the
society.
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By the person who takes charge of the
community underscores the fact that
ordinances carry the force of law only if
they are imposed by competent or
legitimate authority.
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Promulgated or made known to all
through an official publication.
Kinds of Law
1. Natural Law
2. Divine Law or Eternal Law
4. Human Law (civil law and church or
ecclesiastical law)
Natural Law
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Refers to moral insights people are
capable of knowing by means of their
reason, and independently of the verbal
revelation of God.
Recognized by all men regardless of creed,
race, culture or historical circumstances.
The word natural means:
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not supernatural
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not positive
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found and derived from the nature of a
person.
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Natural law is that law of human conduct
which arises from the full reality of human
nature as ordered to its ultimate end, and
which is recognized by means of reason
independent of positive Christian
revelation.
Three Essential Characteristics of Natural Law:
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Natural Law is universal (Universality) Its
primary principles are self-evident such that it is
for all individuals with fully developed reason to
have an invincible ignorance of them.
Natural Law is one and the same for all (Unity
and Invariability) All classes of people possess
equal moral dignity as persons; hence, they
possess equal basic rights.
Natural Law is immutable (Immutability) This
means that there cannot be any change in
whatever is fundamentally good or evil.
Divine Law or Eternal Law
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God is the author of the laws governing
the universe.
He designed all the laws of the universe in
His own infinite mind.
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Is the plan flowing from God’s wisdom
which directs all actions and movements.
Is the Divine reason and/or will of God
Himself commanding the preservation of
the natural law and forbidding its
disturbance.
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Each being tends towards particular end
that reveals the will of God which contains
the blueprints that bring order to the
universe by directing all of creation to
their respective end goals.
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There is no freedom from the laws,
but freedom within these laws.
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We cannot break the laws, but if we
ignore them, they can break us. If we
disobey the laws, even in ignorance, our
nature is damaged for they are laws of
reality.
HUMAN LAW
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LAWS ENACTED BY CHURCH OR STATE
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ECCLESIASTICAL LAW
CIVIL LAW
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A HUMAN LAW DERIVES ITS BINDING
FORCE FROM NATURAL LAW AND
ULTIMATELY FROM ETERNAL LAW
A CONCRETE AND DETERMINATE
APPLICATION OF NATURAL LAW
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The treatise of human law deals with the
juridical order of society, be it of the state
or of the Church (or similar religious
bodies), insofar as this order is
determined by laws enacted for the
common good.
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Civil Law – Is the particular application of
natural law in given societies.
Church Law – Is the particular application
of divine law to the Christian community.
Sources:
Ramon B. Agapay
Ethics and the Filipino, 1991
Esteban T. Salibay, Jr.
Christian Morality in Contemporary Society, 2002