kinds of good ethics

1. 1. Essential and Accidental
2. Real and Apparent
3. Perfective and Non-perfective
4. Perfect and Imperfect

2.  Essential good
-Those that fit the natural needs of man
as man such good include food,
shelter, health, knowledge, virtue, and
life.
-It is also called perfective because they
contribute to the integral perfections
of man.

3. Accidental
-Those that fit the wants of an
individual because of his circumstance.
-It is also called non-perfective because
they merely contribute to the external
worth or appearance of a person.

4. Real good
-Is something which has an intrinsic
value. Thus, we call it: Value. It
possesses qualities rendering it “fitting”
or desirable.
-The real good includes both essential
and accidental goods.

5. Apparent good
-Is actually an evil thing but is
viewed as “good” under certain
aspects.
-Examples are diseases, sadness,
death, worry, crimes, etc.

6. Perfective good
-Is that which contributes to the integral
perfection of a person, such as: education,
virtue, food, exercise, medicine.
Non-Perfective good
-Is that which merely contributes to the
external appearance or convenience of a
person, such as: clothes, wealth, social
status, political power, etc.

7. -Also called unlimited or limited goods, respectively, or
absolute and relative goods.
Perfect good
-Has the fullness of qualities enabling it to fully satisfy
human desire.
Imperfect good
-Possesses only certain qualities so that it does not fully
satisfy human desire except in a relative or limited
sense. All “earthly” goods are imperfect. Only God, in
the absolute sense, is perfect good.

8.  This is evident in our concern for the best in
everything: best friends, best parents, best food, best
performance, best job and etc.
 In the Philosophers, the greatest goo is the Summum
Bonum.
 For Aristotle, the greatest good is happiness.
Happiness is what man aims to achieve in all his
activities. The ultimate purpose of life is the
attainment of happiness.

9. As a psychological state,
Happiness is the feeling of contentment
arising from the possession of a good.
As a state of being,
It is the perfection arising from the
possession of the good.

10. 1. Some people give the impression that
money or wealth can buy happiness.
If the Bible is to be believe, the avarice
of the rich makes it very difficult for
him to enter heaven. The camel may
pass easily through the eye of a
needle, but not the rich who grown
much bigger because of pride.

11. 2. Some people equates health with
happiness. The present day
preoccupation with physical fitness
may not be wrong. But he who invests
happiness in the beauty and agility if
the human anatomy might not have
much to look forward to when age
catches up with him. It is wonderful
to be strong and healthy, but
happiness is somewhere else.

12. 3. Sensual people vainly seeks happiness
in earthly pleasures. But one may not
indulge in all the pleasures of this
world without ending up with pain.
Certainly, an animal who has a
rational soul deserves a better fate
then AIDS or cancer.

13. 4. Certain people cling to their public
image as if God Himself was made
after their illusion. Surrounded by an
adoring crowd, these personal
personages exhibit the exuberance of
being “super”:putting themselves
above the ordinary folk. And yet, fame
and fortune are fragile as the mirror
that reflects their vanity.

14. 5. Some dedicates their lives to science
and arts. Doubtlessly, the sciences and
the arts are essential to man’s
development. They are however the
means rather than the end in
themselves. They are precisely
instrument leading to the promotion
of human well-being. The same can
be said of virtue.

15. 6. Some propose that the final purpose of man is
the promotion of the State or Government.
While man is sociable and needs the State to
regulate his social, political and economic
relations, the good of the individual comes
ahead of that of the State. Thus, the ideal
State does not sacrifice the well-being of its
members. Precisely, it is the function of
government to make possible the happiness
of its members or citizens.

16. Natural happiness-is that which is attainable by man
through the use of his natural powers.
Natural happiness “consists in the perfection that can
be attained by man through the employment of his
body and soul and the powers inherent in them:
intellect, will, internal and external sensory powers,
the sense appetites, locomotion, nutrition and growth”

17. Aristotle
 It was obvious that natural happiness does not rest on
one single good object. Rather, it consists in the
attainment of all those things that are essential to
human growth and development.
 The highest good belongs to the intellect: the
contemplation of truth. But this fullness of knowledge
is attained through virtue..

18. Christian philosophers: St. Augustine and St.
Thomas Aquinas
-Teach that man, in every deliberate action acts toward
an end, and ultimately, to an absolutely ultimate end:
happiness.
GOD- summum bonum
-infinite good
-the greatest good

19. “Man cannot attain perfect happiness in this
life, because God can never be known
perfectly by man’s natural powers. But man
can approximate perfect happiness in this
life by knowledge and love of God and by the
exercise of virtue”