This program is for Supernumeraries who have recently finished their initial formation. It is a three-year program that provides basic philosophical foundations, covering:
Year 1: Introduction to Philosophy
Year 2: Philosophy of the Human Person
Year 3: Ethics 

The word philosophy means ‘love of wisdom’. In philosophy, human reason, drawing together and drawing on all rational knowledge, searches for the ultimate causes and meaning of things, the foundation of being. Philosophy provides the basic principles necessary to study Theology in later courses.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: 

Ethics, as a philosophical discipline, studies human free actions to guide them toward the ultimate good or final end of the person, distinguishing the natural inclination of irrational beings toward a purpose from the free and conscious orientation of human beings toward a good that ultimately involves a personal entity. This approach in ethics seeks to provide students with criteria to organize human conduct from a perspective that favours the individual’s good and contributes to their happiness.

It is useful to begin by exploring the evolution of ethical doctrines, highlighting how they have attempted to answer the question of what is “good” or “just” for human beings. Starting from the concept of the person and the full realization of their life, arguments can be presented to help students move beyond limited ethical perspectives, such as utilitarianism, hedonism, or ethical relativism. This requires a clear and comprehensive study of both the structure and foundation of moral behavior, showing the essential relationship between virtue and good. Virtue, understood as a disposition toward good, is revealed as a fundamental component in the pursuit of human fulfillment and in the realization of authentic good.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 

PURPOSE

To delve systematically into the reality and meaning of human free conduct, so as to acquire sufficient knowledge to guide such conduct—real life—toward the integral (supreme) good that is proper to humanity.

OBJECTIVES

• Reflect on the notion of ethics under which each individual acts and uncover the perspective of ethics as the best way for a free person to live their life. Thus, based on the concept of the person and what constitutes the fullness of meaning for their life, acquire tools and arguments to move beyond limited ethical perspectives that permeate society (utilitarianism, hedonism, ethical relativism, etc.).
• Thoroughly and clearly study the foundation of moral behavior, analysing concepts that allow an understanding of life’s moral dimension: human actions, freedom, the orientation of life toward a supreme good, love and happiness, virtues, truth, values, and their hierarchy.
• Discover how virtues, by informing and rightly ordering all human faculties and actions, cooperate in their mutual interrelation to achieve the progressive and unified perfection of the person.
• Understand the particular contribution of philosophical ethics (rational principles and philosophical foundation) to Moral Theology, which studies the moral teachings derived from Christian revelation.
• With this foundation, study the various levels of the normative dimension of human life: right reason, moral virtues, ethical norms, and moral conscience. Analyse the concept of natural moral law and its fundamental content (relationship with the world, love for others, and especially for God), emphasizing in this context the connection between religion and ethical life.
• Study the particularities of moral knowledge (especially its relationship with habits, culture, and history, giving account of its peculiarities and avoiding historical relativism or ethical historicism) and moral norms.
• Analyse the morality of human acts in terms of object, purpose, and circumstances.
• Embrace and be able to explain that a rightly lived moral life is not limited to a minimum ethical standard—the exact fulfillment of a set of norms—but naturally aims for fullness, aspiring to the widest possible spread of moral good, since a person cannot be good without doing good to others.

1. The Person as Author of Their Own Conduct: Theories of action and theories of the person: various conceptions of the moral subject. The subject as the author of their own conduct and the intrinsic purpose of human actions: the first-person perspective. Purposefulness and rationality. Moral actions as immanent actions

2. Theory of Voluntary Action: Phenomenology of voluntary action: from its origins in affectivity and passions to the final decision and its execution. Concept and modalities of voluntary action. Voluntary action as intentional action. The direct and indirect object of the will. The various acts of the will. The progressive concretization of moral purpose in intentions and choices made in each specific situation. Description of voluntary action. Voluntary action, theory, and production.

3. Freedom: Historical introduction. Dimensions of freedom. Freedom and affectivity. Freedom, truth, and morality. Freedom and moral accountability.

    

4. Desire for Happiness and Moral Life: Aspiration to happiness and morality. Human dynamism and the ultimate end of life. Metaphysical teleologism and utilitarian teleologism. Determining the concrete essence of happiness: Aristotelian “happy life”; the perspective of “modern ethics”; the modern concept of “eudaimonism”; happiness in Christian ethics. The practical determination of the concrete essence of a happy life as a moral issue. Orientation toward God as the basis of moral life. Ethical life and religiosity. Relations with others: respect, justice, love.

    

5. Human Acts and Reason as the Standard of Goodness: Practical reason and the differentiation between moral good and evil. Virtues as supreme kinds of moral good. Right reason as the moral standard and the objective meaning of actions. The activity of right reason: the intellectual level of principles, the discursive level of moral life, and the level of prudence. The notion of sin.

Course Notes | VIEW

Further Reading:

BOURKE, V.J., Ethics, Mac Millan, New York 1967. 

RODRÍGUEZ LUÑO, A.- BELLOCQ, A., Ethics, Eunsa, Pamplona 2014*

SPAEMANN, R., Basic moral concepts, Routledge, London 1991

Veritatis Splendor, Pope John Paul II

1. Principles of Practical Knowledge: The natural moral law. Universal principles of practical reason and particular moral knowledge. Principles of practical reason and natural law. The unfolding of natural law from first principles. Natural law, practical principles, and moral virtues. Knowledge of moral law and affective dispositions. Mutability and immutability of ethical requirements: historical-cultural differentiation and the problem of moral relativism.

1. Particular Moral Knowledge: Prudence—the nature of prudential command; the goals of virtues as the principle of prudence; practical truth; the interdependence of intellectual and affective aspects in prudent choice. Moral conscience: conscience and prudence; forms of moral conscience; principles for following conscience; formation of moral conscience.

1. Moral Norms and Intrinsically Evil Actions: Principles and norms. Difference between moral norms and legal norms. Norms and descriptions of actions: the reference point of moral norms. Absolute prohibitions (prohibitive norms, intrinsically evil actions).

1. Moral Judgment of Particular Actions: The unity of practical reason and the sources of the morality of actions: object, end, and circumstances; circumstances and consequences. Moral assessment of the influence of passions. Morality of actions with indirect effects (non-intentional consequences). Morality of actions that “materially” cooperate with evil. Proportionalist and consequentialist conceptions of moral judgment.

Course Notes | VIEW

Further Reading:

BOURKE, V.J., Ethics, Mac Millan, New York 1967. 

RODRÍGUEZ LUÑO, A.- BELLOCQ, A., Ethics, Eunsa, Pamplona 2014*

SPAEMANN, R., Basic moral concepts, Routledge, London 1991

Veritatis Splendor, Pope John Paul II