Moral Object and Intention

1. Moral Object and Intention Pages 50-51

2. In Search of Truth • Morality is based on reality; about how things are. NOT about how things seem • All knowledge is based on: Who, what, where, when, why and how. • Reason is based on FACTS

3. The Moral Action • The moral action consists of three parts: • The Moral Object: What • The Intention/Motive: Why • The Circumstances: Who, where, when and how • CCC states that these three things determine the morality of human actions. • The “ACT” is the physical action – me moving my arm and hitting Vi Van

4. The Moral Object • Is the end toward which the act itself is inherently directed. • This is not necessarily the end chosen by the person who acts (the subject) as an intended end or purpose. Rather, it is independent of intention. • Thus we ask “What?” • Determines if the action is good or bad  directed to our true good or towards destructive purposes.

5. Simple ExamplesWhat is the Moral Object? • 1) A grade 12 student who goes out of her/his way to drive a grade 9 student to school. • 2) Grade 12 student creates a fake ID to buy alcohol/cigarettes illegally.

6. Analysis • 1) The act is a GOOD MATTER • It is directed to helping another person achieve the goal of getting an education. • 2) The act is a BAD MATTER. • Although buying the alcohol MAY be a harmless endeavor, the action is dishonest – A lie in its foundation.

7. Actions that are Intrinsically Wrong/Evil • Usually simple to decide which actions are good or bad. • Human reason (intellect) is our guide in understanding whether an action is for our overall good or for evil. • Example: The Ten Commandments. Objective “goods” developed by human reason because the prohibited actions serve destructive forces. • Reason combined with conscience

8. Evil Con’t • Acts such as: • Murder (includes abortion) • Adultery • Perjury • Rape • These acts are an “assault on human dignity” and are contrary to the good of humans • An assault on human dignity because they put a “lesser” value on humans and human acts.

9. Abortion • Sometimes our ration can mislead us, particularly when our ration is not combined with our conscience. • Ex. Words used for the act of abortion: • Interruption of pregnancy, Termination of Pregnancy, Evacuation of the Fetus. • Perhaps a way of easing our conscience. • Cannot sit to listen about what actually takes place during an abortion.

10. Actions • To determine morality we must determine the matter of action (what we are doing) • Our actions give life to our ideas – “flesh to our love” • “Actions – what we do – make up the content of the moral object” • A main component in judging if something is moral or immoral.

11. Actions Con’t • Actions consist of the following elements: • 1) They express who we are – visiting your grandmother often reveals you to be loving • 2) They make or form into the person we’re going to be – constant cheating or lying transforms you into a liar or cheater. • 3) They impact the world around us – urging someone to do a bad act promotes “evil”

12. Final Definition • “Moral Object is the moral content of an action that suggests whether the action is directed toward the true good.” • “The morality of the human act depends primarily and fundamentally on the ‘object’ rationally chosen by the deliberate will” • Pope John Paul II

13. Test Your MoralityWhat is the Moral Object? • 1) Hastening the death of an aged, terminally ill cancer patient. • 2) Refusing to pay taxes. • 3) Telling people what you think they want to hear rather than what you truly believe. • 4) Posing for a pornographic magazine. • 5) Passing a law that imposes penalties on couples who have ore than the number of children dictated by the government. • 6) Poking fun at a classmate who exhibits effeminate behaviour. • Do the following promote the true good of human beings or are they contrary to the good of humanity? Why?

14. Pisani’s Moral Intelligence • 1) Although the patient is already old and we will be ending their long standing pain, the act is essentially murder (a second party taking a life). Through our actions we promote “murder” in all its “academic” forms and thus open a door to the rationalization of ending life. • 2) Although 40 percent of our paychecks can potentially be taken by the government, taxes are what pay for our health care, highways, schools, parks, et cetera. Taxes, ideally, contribute to a better standard of life.

15. Pisani Con’t • 3) This act results in less confrontation with individuals. However, when performed we have committed the act of lying. Our dishonesty may result in many unwanted consequences. • 4) Although the pictures might provide some with “pleasure”, a person who does this has stated that they are a means to an end; that their body is a tool to make another happy. They have delegated the sacrosanctity of the human body to the “pit”.

16. Pisani Con’t • 5) Against God’s law because of the commandment “be fruitful and multiply.” Against humanity because it imposes on our natural right. • 6) Judging a person’s behaviour to be lesser than the “standard”, causing feelings of sadness, uselessness and fear. Once a standard has been created, a line drawn in the sand, individuals with gather on either side. Once the “teams” are assembled, a battle will surely ensue.

17. Larger Example • A man with a wife a 3 children has gotten himself into trouble with a certain underground criminal organization. The man has fallen into debt but cannot pay it off. The organization has given him one month to pay the debt or else one of his family members will get “hurt” in order to act as incentive to pay. The man decides to hire someone to burn down his house and collect the insurance money in order to pay off the debt. In the process the man’s wife was unknowingly home and dies in the ensuing fire. • What is the moral object? Does it serve the good or the bad?

18. The Moral Object • The moral object, or the outcome, is the death of his wife and lying (attempted fraud) thus the moral object does not serve the good of humanity. • If the man were in a state of rationality he would not have hired the man to burn down his house, or get involved with these people. • The man would have searched for other sources of income before he even went into debt. • The act too is inherently evil because the inherent outcome involved lying (and subsequently death).