PHILO MIDTERM EXAM

• Law


  According to St. Thomas Aquinas, an ordinance of reason, promulgated for the common good by one who has charge of society
• Laws


  • They are "ordinance of reason"
  • They are "promulgated"
  • They are passed by "one who has charge of society"
  • They are necessary to man
  • They are comparable to the signs in the street which guide the traveler towards his destination
• Kinds of Law


  • Divine Positive Laws
  • Human Positive Laws
• Divine Positive Laws


  Those promulgated, or made known to us by special command of God
• Human Positive Laws


  • Those promulgated by a legitimate human authority, either in the State or in the Church
  • Intended to preserve peace and harmony within a society and to direct each member of that society to work towards the common good
• Human Positive Laws


  • Laws of the State- CONSTITUTION and the CODE OF CIVIL LAWS
  • Laws of the Church– CANON LAW
• Divine and Human Laws


  • Positive laws
  • Negative laws
• Positive laws


  Those that require the performance of an act, permit and expect actions to be done
• Negative laws


  Those that require the omission of an act, prohibit the performance of an act
• Moral and Political Laws


  • Moral laws
  • Political laws (civil and criminal laws)
• Moral laws


  Those derived from the natural law, universal laws binding all men alike
• Political laws


  Those enacted by men to guide their actuation in society to one another, with the objective of peace and order and material prosperity
• Properties of Human Laws


  • They must conform with divine laws
  • They must promote the common good
  • They must be just and not discriminatory
  • They must be practicable
  • They regulate external actions only
  • They are fallible, because human legislators are liable to commit errors
• Norms of morality


  The standards that indicate the rightfulness and wrongfulness, the goodness or evilness, the value or disvalue of a thing
• Norms of morality

  The criteria of judgment about the sorts of person we ought to be and the sorts of actions we ought to perform
• Norms of morality


  • Remote norm: Natural Law
  • Proximate norm: Conscience
  • Ultimate norm: Eternal Law
• Eternal Law


  The plan of God in creating the universe and in assigning to each creature therein the specific nature, providing for the cosmic order
• Natural Law


  • It is recognized by all men regardless of creed, race, culture or historical circumstances
  • It is an inner force that compels man towards good and away from evil
  • It is "being written in the hearts of men"
• Properties of the Natural Law

  • It is universal
  • It is obligatory
  • It is recognizable
  • It is immutable or unchangeable