Ethics

• ‘philo’ - love
• ‘sophia’ – wisdom
• 
  

  philosophia – love of wisdom, coined by
• Philosopher - lover of

  wisdom
• Philosophy - is the search for wisdom

  is search for meaning.
• Wisdom - means learning the principle of things, the first cause of all things, and the meaning and purpose of understanding such things.
• Wisdom - deals with an understanding of the meaning of one’s existence and the importance of the things around the human person.
• a wise person - is one who is aware of what he knows and what he does not know
• wise person - holds beliefs that are not only true but which can also justify.
• wise person - knows a lot about things that are valuable in life.
• Philosophy - is the science of beings (things) in their ultimate reason, causes, and principles acquired by the aid of human reason alone.
• Pythagoras - (one of the sages of ancientGreece, born about the year 584 B.C.)
• THE OBJECT OF THE ACT - This is the basic factor of morality for it is the substance of the human

  action.
• THE LAW - St. Thomas Aquinas defined law as an ordinance of right reason given by one who has charge over a community for the common good and duly promulgated.
• law - is promulgated for the common good.
• precept - is an ordinance issued by public or private authority for the particular or private good of one or several persons.
• Divine Laws - which come directly from God.
• Human Laws - which are the enactments of Church or State
• Ecclesiastical Laws - human laws enacted by the Church.
• Civil Laws - human laws enacted by the State.
• Eternal Law - is God’s plan and providence for the universe.
• Temporal Law - all human laws are temporal laws.
• Natural Law - eternal law as apprehended by human reason.
• Positive Law - law enacted by positive act of a legislator.
• Affirmative Law - binds always, but not at every moment.
• Negative or Prohibitory Law - binds always and at every moment.
• Moral - violation of which is fault or sin.
• Penal - violation of which renders the violator liable to penalty, but

  does not infect him with sin.
• Mixed - violation of which involves both fault and penalty.
• THE CIRCUMSTANCES - These are conditions that affect an act and may affect it morally although they do not belong to the essence of the act as such.
• Quis - Who? Circumstance of Person. This refers to either the person who performs the act or to the person upon whom the act was done.
• Quid - What - Circumstance of Quantity or Quality of the Object, i.e.,

  the act. What is the extent of the act? Was the injury inflicted serious or slight?
• Ubi - Where? Circumstance of Place. Where was the action done?
• Quibus Auxiliis - With what Ally? Circumstance of Means or Instrument. Ally does not mean a companion but it refers to the instrument used in the performance of the act.
• Cur - In What Condition? How? Circumstance of Manner. Was the doer in good or bad faith? Was the doer’s disposition good or bad, intensely malicious or only slightly so?
• Quomodo - When? Circumstance of Time. This points to the time when the act was performed.
• Quando - Why? Circumstance of Purpose. What was the doer’s purpose in doing the act? What does he want to achieve? Is his intention good or bad?
• CONSCIENCE - It is the practical judgment of reason upon an individual act as good and therefore, to be done; or an evil, and therefore, to be avoided. Sometimes, conscience is defined as the inner voice in man telling him to do what is good and to avoid what is evil.
• True Conscience - when reason judges as good what is really good; and as evil what is really evil.
• Erroneous Conscience - when reason judges what is good as evil; and what is evil as good