Key concepts in morality

Key Concepts in Morality

The Golden Rule

Why does every culture have such a consistent ethic of right and wrong?

Is there such thing as an “individual morality”?

Natural Law

Natural Law is the original moral sense which lets us figure out the good and the bad. Because everyone has this ability, we can decide basic duties and fundamental rights – we can make community and civil law.

Human Dignity

What gives a human dignity?

What takes it away?

Human Dignity

a) If I have rights, then I have dignity.

b) Because I have dignity, I should have rights.

Human Dignity

The dignity of the human person is rooted in his or her creation in the image and likeness of God.

Human Dignity

God gives each human person a spiritual soul that does not die, the ability to think, and freedom to choose.

Happiness

What is happiness?

Is it a Christian desire to be happy?

Happiness

We all want to live happily; in the whole human race there is no one who does not agree with this, even if they haven’t thought of it.

Happiness

We all want to live happily; in the whole human race there is no one who does not agree with this, even if they haven’t thought of it.

God has placed this desire in the human heart in order to attract humanity to Himself, who alone can make us happy.

Freedom

Freedom is the power given to us by God to act or not to act, to do this or to do that, and so to perform deliberate actions on our own responsibility. 

Freedom

We can understand the consequences to our actions, and so we can cooperate with (or resist) God’s plan for our happiness.

Responsibility

We are responsible for our free actions.

Responsibility

We are responsible for our free actions.

Sometimes we are less responsible, for example:

when we don’t know what we are doing or don’t know it is wrong, when we are pressured to do something, when we are too attached to something, or if we’ve developed a habit.

Principle

a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.

Ends MeansThe intended and desired result of a human action.

The process or steps taken to achieve an end.

Authority

Authority is the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience when: It is recognized by the population as a

whole It serves the common good

We must obey legitimate authority, as long as it is not unjust or immoral.