Unintended Morally Determinative Aspects (UMDAs): Moral absolutes, moral acts and physical features in reproductive and sexual ethics

• Authors: McCarthy Anthony
• Conference: Ethics of Moral Absolutes
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Catholic sexual ethics proposes a number of exceptionless moral norms. This distinguishes it from theories which deny the possibility of any exceptionless moral norms (e.g. the proportionalist approach proposed in the aftermath of "Humanae Vitae" and condemned in "Veritatis Splendor"). I argue that Catholic teaching on sexual ethics refers to chosen physical structures in such a way as to make ‘new natural law’ theory inherently unstable. I outline a theory of “the moral act” (Veritatis Splendor 78) which emphasises the place which chosen physical features – in particular, chosen sexual structures – play in specifying human actions. I conclude that this account, involving what I term UMDAs, is needed to make sense of the Church’s teaching in these areas.

Keywords

EN

Unintended Morally Determinative Aspects; intention; moral act; exceptionless moral norms; natural law

PL

intencja; akt moralny; bezwyjątkowe normy moralne; prawo naturalne

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie
• Journal: Studia Philosophiae Christianae
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 51
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 143-158

Contributors

author

McCarthy Anthony

• Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, 3 Whitacre Mews, Stannary Street, SE11 4AB London, United Kingdom