ethics module

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Our discussion in the last chapter deals with the human person
as the subjectof human rights and duties.Now let us consider the
same human person fromanother angle-as the center and object of
love.
Itis love and the worthiness to love and be loved which fors
the mostdistinctive feature of the human personality.Love does not
merely aim at qualities;one does not love qualities.Love aims al the
deepest reality,the mostsubstantialhidden existing reality in the
beloved-a mataphysicalcenter,deeper than all the qualities and
essences which one can discover and enumerate in the beloved.That
is why true love never says"I loveyou for your hair,your eyes,your
speaking softly,your fameor money."'Itsays"I loveyou-you the
embodiment of all the good,thenoblest and the best."'Iiis the person
－the you that is the object of love.Itis only such love as is rooted in
the person,theimmortal in mortals,thatis true,wholeand enduring.
Herein is a motive nobler than mere duty or obligation for the
doing of good,and the mainspring of all virtues-love.I mustlove
my neighbor because he is a person like me and therefore wonthy of
love.A community of men is a society not merely of individuals but
of persons:therefore,they should loveoneanother becausethey
partakeof the same nature,purpose,and destiny;no oneshould do
harmto anyone.This is the basis of civic friendship,thebrotherhood
of men,the unity of the human family.
If men really love,they would do no evil,for evil is essentially

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the hatred,therejection,or the turning away from good.Nobody
would do harm to anyone,to his body,to his honor,to his belongings,
for,obviously,such action implics hate or the lack of love.
Ethics means the doing of good and the practice of virtue.to us
these should all be motivated by love.To the Christians,thereare ten
commandments which are rcducible to two:love of God and love of
neighbor,or by further simplification,to only one word-love.The
whole of the moral order,thewhole complexus of moral laws and
concepts can all be summed up in one simple formula-love.
Love of Self and Others.
The first law of nature is self-preservation which means self-
ove.Itis but natural to love one's self.Any act,therefore,which does
harmto the self,fromthe willful exposition of one's body,one's health
to grave danger without necessity,to suicide,would be morally
wrong.Suicideis a violation of the firstlaw of nature.To Christians
it is likewisea violation of the law of God,Who alone has the supreme
dominion over life and death.Man is not the absolute owner of his
life;he justborrowed it,so to say,and so has no right to disposeof it
as he wills.
True love of self does not exclude love for others;for love is
never selfish.Italways shiares its goodness to another.As Fulton.
Sheen puts it,"There are only two words in the vocabulary of love:
you and forever.You,becauselovemustnot be confined to the seif,;
it reaches out,it radiates itself to another to you.

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The moral law commands us to love our neighbors becauseall
men have the samehuman nature;all have a common origin and
destiny.All are creatures of God and,therefore,allare equal before
God.This is the basis of the view of the“＇brotherhood of men under
the fatherhood of God."'Itmeans equality and love among men.Love
and justice,therefore,go together.Thewhole philosophy of Christi-
anity,of Buddhism,Confucianism,and practically allreligions or
creeds,is premised on love,on the brotherhood of men.Love is
defined by Confucius as the very current of life.The very language of
the bible is love:"I giveyou a new commandment.Itis the law of
love;love even your enemies.''"“Though you preach with tongues of
angels if you have not charity in you,you arejustlike a sounding brass
and a tinkling cymbal,"'and similar quotations of love abound in the
Bible.
Ethics and Justice
We have been interpreting the moral law in terms of love.Now
let us speak of morality in terms of justice.Loveand justice,wemay
say,arethe two foundation stones of morality.
Justice is a moral virtue which comes as a fruit of the constant
and proper observanceof rights and duties.Nominally,justiceis
defined as the constant will and disposition to give to each one his
due.(Justitia est constans et perpetua voluntas suum cuique
tribuendi).Itis properly defined as the principle of rectitude and

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fairness in men's relations with each other.Injustice,its opposite,is
the imposition.of wrong on another;it also means the violation of the
rights of another or others.
Fromthe foregoing definitions,wenotice two essential attrib-
utes of justice:universality and equality.
Universality is an element of justice which requires that justice
be applied to all,and not merely to a particular group or class;and
that everyone is bound to give to everyone whatis his due.
Equality is a fundamental principle of justice which demands
that justice is for all regardless of station or quality in life.Itsignifies
that the law mustbe applied to all without discrimination.For in-
stance,in the relation between the state and the citizen,the govern-
ment should not play favorites to any class or discriminateagainst any
group or individual.
The universalapplication of justicefinds expression in the
s0-called golden rule which may be positively stated:"Do unto others
as you wish others to do unto you,"'or negatively,"do notdo unto
Others whatyou do not wantto be done unto you.
All legal maxims or principles,alllaws,either human or divine,
ae reducible to this universalprinciple of justice.For instance,the
ten commandments are specifications,particularizations,or applica-
cons of the principle of iustice;as may be seen easily from the
following considerations:
1)The firstcommandment,loveGod aboveall,is a dictate of

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plain justice.For God is our Lord,Creator,and All,and to
love Him fully is to give Him His due.
2)Respectand love of parents is likewise a precept of justice
and the golden rule:We obey and love our parents obviously
because by our natural relation and dependence on them
they deserveour respectand love.Likewise,weourselves
like our children to do the samewith us later on.
3) Killing,lying,stealing,bearing false witness,adultery,and
all their forms are violations of the rule of justice:never to
do any harm to anyonewhether it be against his life,his
things,his reputation,his family,his bodily integrity(and
also obviously,fromthegolden rule,these are wrong be-
causewe do not like these things to be done to us).
Notice also the following legal maxims as re-statements or
applications of this same principle,as may be seen by mere inspection:
1)No one can exercise his rights in violation of the rights of
others.
2) Whoever receives the benefit must bear the burden.
3) No man is responsiblefor that which is beyond his control.
4)No one should unjustly favor himself at the expense of
another.
5)No judgement shall be rendered againstanyone else unless
he has been heard.

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The Bill of Rights in our constitution embody our fundamental
rights such as the right to life,liberty and the pursuitof happiness.
These rights and their correlatives emanate from the principle or
Justice.
In dealing with human relations and in determining the morality
of an action,it is therefore logical and proper to employ the basic
principle of justice as the center or pivotal point of discussion.
General Applications
The principle of justice does not only govern the relations
between an individual with another.Italso applies to:
1.Duties of the state to the citizens(distributivejuctice);
2.Duties of the individual to the state (legal justice);and
3.Duties of an individual to another(commutativejustice).
DistributiveJustice
The state mustfulfill certain duties toward its citizens.
These duties are clearly stated in our Constitution.
Examples:
（a)The governmentshould render aid for education,the pro-
motion of social justice,theprotection of labor,for sanita-

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tion,etc.
Legal Justice
The citizen in turn has his duties to the state;for instance,
to render military serviceto the state
Commutative Justice
Every individual should render to another that which
belongs to him.The basis of this is the so-called mutuality of
rights and duties..
Particular Applications of Justice
Duties of Justice
Itfollows fromthe principle of love and justicethat it is wrong
tO do anything harmfulto the body,reputation,and property of others.
Inus,murder is a great wrong because1)Itruns counter to the basic
Piinciple of love and justice.2)itdoes violence to the social order
ald,therefore.,againstthe morallaw.3)Itis againstman's nature as
a Social being and,therefore,againstthe natural law.Man,as wehave
often pointed out,is made not to live by himself alone but with his
fellow beings in society.Butwhat will happen if men murder each
other?Sociallife would become impossible.4)Itrobs God of His sole
dominion over life and death.He is the author of life and'He alone
can take it away.
Fromthe moralviewpoint,willful abortion is likewise wrong,
and no less than willful murder.Thefetus is destined by nature and,

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therefore,has the natural right to live;and no human authority can
destroy it.Euthanasia,or mercy killing,the practice of administering
painless death to one suffering from an incurable or loathsome disease,
even with the intention to relieve the patient from useless and ex-
tremely painful suffering,is notmorally justified on the same ground:
to shorten directly the life of another,even with the intention to relieve
him fromuseless suffering,would beagainstthe law of nature and
nature's God Who alone has the authority over every moment of
man's life.The end does not justify the means!
Rights of the Individual
Self Defense
Under certain conditions,itis morally justified to kill an unjust
asgressor in self-defense.
The right to live is a basic and inalienable right.Now,theright
to live necessarily includes the right to use the means necessary to
sustain and defend one's life.But sometimes,it may happen that the
only way to saveone's life from an unjusteaggressor is to kill;
therefore,to kill an unjustaggressor may bemorally permissibleunder
certain conditions.Theseconditions are:
1.That there is imminent danger of losing life or great bodily
possessions.

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2.That there is no other way of escape.
IThereis however the case of indirect euthanasia as in the case of
Qanran,which may be
allowed,under extreme conditions.(SeeBio-ethics)
3.I nlat no greater Iorcecan be inrlicted than whatis required to
ward off aggression.
These conditions are more or less the application of the four
general conditions to justify the doing of an act which has a double
effect.
Honor and Good Name
One of the greatest possessions thata man has is his honor.
Consequently,any deliberate act that intends to destroy the good
reputation of another constitutes a grievous violation of the moral law.
Speaking ill,or writing anything to ruin the good name of anyone,
especially when whatis said or written is not true,is a gravewrong.
Itis against the principle of love and justice;it inevitably leads lu
discord and disorder among men in society.Hence,it is against man's
social nature.
Libel is always wrong even if whatis said or written against the
person is true or partly true;for truth is not justification for libel.A
malicious intent to destroy the reputation of another would,from the
moral standpoint,stillconstitute libel irrespectiveof whether the
statements made are true or not."Adstortion'is a newly-coined word
to signify the nefarious practice of extorting money which consists in

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suppressing thepublication of an article derogatory to one's character
provided that the intended victim pays a certain amount of money to
the publisher.This acthas all the malice of extortion and usually
involves the malicious intent of libel.
Truthfulness
One of our duties of love toward our neighbors is truthfulness or
veracity.Moraltruth is the conformity between what one says and
what one has in mind.A lie is telling an untruth,telling what is not in
one's mind.
Lying is intrinsically wrong:1)itis againstthe natural purpose
of speech.Man is a speaking creature;he is given the power of speech
in order to be able to live and communicate with his fellows.Buthow
can he liua nnd commnnicate with hic fellowc hu lvinngYT xinn tande
life.Lying does violence to man's social nature and,therefore,is
against the moral law.
Mental Reservation
Mental reservation is the making of a statement which would
seem a lie without qualification but would not be a lie with the proper
qualification reserved in one's mind.Itis similar to giving a double-
meaning statement.Under certain conditions,which aredictated by
the principle of justiceand prudence,a mental reservation is not a lic
and,therefore,does notsharein the malice of a lie.
Examples of mental reservation:

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1.Pleading not guilty(though one is in fact guilty)in court,can
be a form of mental reservation,which does notincur any
violation of truthfulness.For thephrase"notguilty''is to be
understood as not guilty until and unless you proveso.This is
in accordancewith the legal principle that a person mustbe.
presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
2.To a fellow who always disturbs you by always going with you
to the show,you can tell"I will not go to the show''(although
you are really going),reserving thephrase"if you go with me"
in your mind.
3.To one who wishes to buy,asking you if you have this or that
thing(butter,for instance),you may answer"'no"'reserving
mentally the qualification."not for sale."'
Sometimes,it may even be advisableor necessary to make
a broad mental reservations,in thecase of a priest when asked
what he heard in the confessional;or in the case of a doctor when
asked by his nervous patient about the patient's really serious
condition.The priest can say,"I can nottell,"and the doctor
can say,"you should notworry,''or"you willbe better''(if
you don't worry),with those enclosed in parentheses only in the
doctor's mind.
4.Itis wrong to make a mental reservation when one is obliged to

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tell,as when a boy is asked by his father if he got the money
fromhis pocket(his father's pocket).If theboy really got it,he
Cannot make a mental reservation.
Family and Social Ethics
The closest of human relations exist among the members of the
family.Proper relations which is the very basis of family life and
society demands respectand love for authority.Thus,obviously,
children are enjoined by the natural moralorder(and hence,by the
moral law)to respect,obey and love their parents and elders.This is
the general consensus of mankind evidenced in the traditions,customs
and"laws of all people of all times."
The duties of parents to children and of children to parents are
too obvious to be mentioned here.However,itis worthwhileto
emphasizethat the primary end of family life is the proper upbringing
of children.This entails especially the proper training and education
of children in the home and in the school.
One of the greatest problems of our times,especially in our
country,onethat has recently attained alarming proportions,pressing
for urgent concern and action on all civic minded citizens is juvenile
delinquency.This"revolt”of our youth began with the slow loosen-
ing of moral discipline among our youngsters,butitis fasterupting
into vandalism,gangsterism,and attimes into an all out war with all
the crimes and offenses associated with it.

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While many and varied must be the causes indicative or consti-
tutive of the malady,the rootcause,webelieve is to be traced to the
veins or conditions of family life.The evil of teenagerism,webelieve
is primarily and mainly due to the lack or neglect oi moral guidance
and training on the part of parents for their chiidren in the home.The
church,theschools and other civic organizations can help but can
never supplantor provide by themselves aione this moral training so
essential to the life of children if they haveto become good men and
women of tomorrow.Moder lifeis accidentally disrupting family
unity and integrity.Parents aretoo busy or perhaps cven ignorantor
we believe,the constantfulfillment by both parents and children of
their respective duties prescribed by the natural morallaw.
Parents,therefore,should notonly look after the physicaland
intellectual welfare of their young but also after their moraltraining
which is the mostimportant of all.Moral training should be given by
constantteaching and good example.For their part,the children are
obliged to love and obey their parents,as wealready pointed out
before,unless,as whatmay seldom happen,they are asked or made
by their parents to do something contrary to the natural law.If,for
instance,onewishes to enter the religious state and does so against
great opposition from the parents,therewould be no disobedience on
one's partbecause we haveto obey God first.
Since family unity is the basis of social unity,it follows that
anything destructive or detrimental to family life and unity is likewise

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destructiveof the social and moral order.Thus,from themoral
standpoint,divorceis wrong,for:
1)Itdestroys family unity which is the very foundation of the
social unity;
2)Itmeans the breaking of a solemn promisemade in marriage;
and it is morally wrong to break one's promise.Marriageis
essentially a contract,a promisemade by a couple to stick
to each other,for good,becauselove which is the very
essenceof marriage mustbe true and enduring.Havewe
ever heard of a lover tell his beloved,"I loveyou,dearest,
for two days and two nights only?'
3)Itstifles the very spiritof love which holds the family
together;for how can a couple truly love each other when
they know that they may be separated from each other by
divorceperhaps in the near future?Thevery thought of
possibility of a divorcethereby hampers the love that should
exist between husband and wife.
4)Itis against the primary end of marriagewhich is the proper
upbringing of children;for it deprives the children of their
right to be supported by both parents especially when they go their lives
5)Itseparates whatnature has welded together.In each child
nature and nature's God has inseparably linked both father
and mother.But divorcewould separate these two naturally
inseparable elements,as if this could be done by arranging
that one half go to the father and the other half to the mother

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in the process of separation;so that divorcewould put
asunder whatnature and nature's God has joined together.
Birth Control and Morality
Birth control is discussed nowadaysas a means to check the
menace of the so-called population explosion and its attendant and
consequentevils.Frequently,however,themoralissues involved are
not taken into consideration in these discussions.This is unfortunatt
because birth control is primarily and fundamentally a moralquestion
which should be viewed and answered from the moralstandpoint.If
ethics is life as we have shown it to be,then any question that deals
with the very possibility and beginnings of human life,and which is
intimately bound up with the very end and function of family life,is
basically a moralquestion.But firstwe have to make an important
distinction between two types of birth control;namely,naturaland
artificial:
A.Natural birthcontrol includes the following:continence,the
so-calledrhythmmethod.
B.Artificial birth control,which includes any device(mechanical,
chemical,surgicalas in sterilization)for the purposeof destroy-
ing the semen and/or frustrating the end of the sexual act while
taking advantageof the pleasurein it.Willful abortion falls
under this latter type and involves greater malice.
An intelligent judgmentconcerning the morality of birth control

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must be based on a right appreciation of human sexuality in marriage.
（a)On a purely biological(physiological)level,the two scxes
appear as essentially directed towards one another and at the
same time towards theapparition of a third person,thechild.
Indeed,thesexual differentiation in plants and in animals as well
as in man is a sign of a complementary role in the apparition of
an offspring and the perpetuation of the species.
N.B.On this ground already,oneunderstands theunnatu-
ralness of birth control.Unfortunately,however,many argu-
ments againstcontraception stop at this level and are for this
reason quite incomplete,because on this level alone sexual
union would be no different in man and in brutes.Sexcan be
valued on a still higher insight.
（b) On a psychologicallevel in which not brutes are involved but
persons,sexbecomes penetrated,modified,and elevated by
human rationality and distinctively human emotions.On this
psychologicallevel,sexual union in marriagegets a deeper and,
consequently,higher meaning.Two human beings united in
wedlock are capable of more than justfecundation but also
specially mutual self-giving in love for their mutual perfection
（conjugallove).This conjugallove is fostered and manifested
in many ways butespecially through the particular act of sexual
intercourse.Hence,sexualunion is a communion between
persons,non-mediated and direct,symbolizing as wellas creat-

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ing the personallove of the partner to each other and their
openness to offsprings,becausethis giftof self to one another
is a gesturecapable of transcending itself in the apparition of a
new person,thechild.
Fromthis consideration of intercourseas a naturalsymboland
expression of love,capableof transmitting life the intrinsic malice of
birth control comes clearly to the fore.Contraception belies coniugal
In other words,such mates perform whatappears to be the act
of love but is only a sham;they lie to one another in their bodies as in
their hearts.They take that which says perfectunion and corruptit till
it can express only mutual pleasure.They abuse the symbolof the gift
of oneself to another till it betokens precisely the withholding of this
gift.And precisely by such an abuse the openness to children is
automatically blocked.
As practical solution,as of now,this only can be said:
1)A pill whosefunction is simply to regularizean abnormal cycle,
and which is used for such purpose,seems to be licit,as any
nonnal medicine can be licit,when the method of rhythm is
morally advisable.
2) A pill whosefunction is simply to inhibit the ovulation or which
is simply used for that purpose,cannotyetbe declared allowed
by the Moral Theologians,even when there is good reason for

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avoiding new birth.
Latest Pronouncements of the Church
on Contraception
The church has consistently maintained its opposition if not
condemnation of contraception and abortion.Thesame stand of the
church against the same was reiterated and stressed by Pope John Paul
in a homily he delivered in the mass he concelebrated in Cebu City,
Philippines,February 1981.
＂Fromthe moment of conception and through all
subsequentstages,allhuman life is sacred,for it is created
in the image and likeness of God.Human life is precious
because it is a gift of God,whoseloveknows no limit;,and
when.God gives life,it is forever.Whoever attempts to
destroy human life in the womb of the mother not only
violates the sacredness of a living,growing and developing
human being,and thus opposes God,butalso attacks
society by undermining the respect for all human life.If a
person's rightto life is violated at the moment in which he
is firstconceived in his.mother's womb,an indirect blow
is struck also at the whole moralorder which serves to
ensurethe inviolable goods of man.

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