Transcript In Search of the Good!

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.
WHAT IS SHE TELLING YOU?
WHAT ARE THEY TELLING YOU?
WHAT IS SHE TELLING YOU?
WHAT SHE TELLING YOU?
WHAT’S THIS LITTLE GUY TELLING YOU?.......
AND THESE TWO LITTLE DARLINGS?
#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
384-322 B.C
Aristotle's ethics are called Teleological ethics from the root word telos which means
end goal/purpose.
KANT
1724-1804
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2tvRhodzf0&feature=related
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
1905-1995
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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6RLHKRs9D8&feature=related
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.
FREEDOM CONT.
We attempt to define Freedom in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)
CCC 1744: Freedom is the power to act or not to act we are most fully free when our
actions are directed toward the Good (God)
CCC1745: Freedom as a result makes us responsible and accountable for what we
do.
CCC1761: One may not do evil so that good may result from it.
CCC1754: Circumstances contribute to making an immoral act more severe
(Aggravate) or Less Severe (Mitigate)
Descartes
“je pense, darefore, je suis”
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”
CONSCIENCE
Our Conscience is what we use to make the decisions we make 
Lets’ examine some factors that shape and form our conscience (The church is one of
those factors and the remainder of the course will focus on how the Church
shaped and formed its Conscience as an institution through a historical context,
then we will examine how we apply that teaching)
FACTORS THAT SHAPE
A: The Importance of Others
“Am I my brothers Keeper” Genesis
In the West we see others as obstacle
Sartre saw others as “My Hell”
Martin Niemoeller in his work “First they came for the
Communists” Sees all of us linked.
B: THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING DIRECTION IN LIFE
Our Direction effects our decisions.
Charles Taylor believes there is a link between identity and moral stance.
Fr. Ron Rolheiser “Meaning and Happiness…”
C: THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION AND
LANGUAGE
Our language impacts how we see the world since we decode our experience using
language.
Charles Taylor believes to answer the question Who am I you must examine 3 Things:
1. Community in which you were born
2. The Language you Speak
3. By Whom you were raised
D. THE IMPORTANCE OF CHARACTER AND ONE’S
BODY
Character means how our actions over time become fixed in our nature
“Plant an action…….
Moral Fibre: Is like muscle fibre the more you exercise it the stronger it becomes
E. THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSCIENCE
All of the previous effect conscience and your conscience according to our faith is
summed up in CCC 1776/1777/1778
Thomas More is an important example of how our Conscience impacts our person!
“The Kings servant but Gods first”
E. THE IMPORTANCE OF DEVELOPMENT OF
CONSCIENCE
Your Conscience develops as you mature
Your Conscience develops as you follow norms
Your Conscience helps you deal with your moral failure
Your Conscience develops as you participate in the life of the Church
Your Conscience develops as you grow in humility (I don’t know everything)
OUR CONSCIENCE CAN BE
MISINFORMED/MALFORMED
Rationalization
Trivialization
Misinformation
Means to an End
Ends justify the immoral means
Difficult to reason