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THE NORMS OF MORALITY

ACCORDING TO THE
SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY
AND TRADITIONAL
ETHICS

PRESENTED BY: JAYBIEN MAMPUSTI AND KATHLYN JAMBALOS

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Introduction

Ethics is not only concerned with the study of what

is right or wrong on or human conduct.
As a practical science, ethics also investigate how
man ought to behave in a very specific and
concrete situation by examining his conduct in the
light of various norms that guide his moral
judgment.
 The Norms of Morality According to the 03
Scholastic Philosophy and Traditional
Ethics

Morality consists of conformity and non-conformity of the human

conduct with norms. In the light of Traditional Ethics, these norms
are called the “dictates of reason”. Morality therefore, is defined as
the quality of a thing manifesting its conformity and non-conformity
with its norms or criteria.
R. Gula, defined the norms of morality as, “the criteria of judgment
about the sort of persons we ought to be and the sort of actions we
ought to perform”. These are standards that indicate the
rightfulness or wrongfulness, the goodness or badness, the value
or disvalue of a thing
Richard M. Gula 04

Richard M. Gula, a Sulpician priest,

has been involved in ministerial
formation and seminary education
for many years.
He has become a popular lecturer
and workshop presenter for
pastoral ministers throughout the
country.
 The Norms of Morality 05

Conscience

Traditional ethics considers conscience as the proximate

norms of morality.
Conscience is the nearest criterion in terms of criterion
in terms of evaluating the human conduct. It tells us
further that a thing is good and should be followed and
some things are evil and thus, should be avoided.
 Types of Conscience 06

Antecedent conscience - is a judgment before an action is

done.
Consequent conscience - is a judgment after an act is done.
True conscience - is a conscience in which judges things
truly are.
Erroneous conscience - is also called false conscience. It
judges things in a distorted manner since it considers bad
acts as good and good acts as bad.
Certain conscience - is a subjective certainly of legality of
particular actions to be done of to be omitted.
 Types of Conscience 07

Doubtful conscience - a state of mind when it cannot

certainly decide for or against a course of action and
leaves the person unsure about the morality of what
one is to do, or what one may have done.
Scrupulous conscience - is one which sees wrong
where there is none.
Lax conscience - is the opposite of scrupulous
conscience. It is the kind of conscience which fails to
see wrong where there is wrong.
Natural Law 08

Ethics considers this as remote norm of morality. According to

Traditional Ethics, everything has been made with a specific
nature and a purpose. St Thomas of Aquinas believes that the
purpose is always good. A good act therefore, is what befits the
nature of man; a bad act is one that does not befits man nature.
Eternal Law
Traditional Ethics considers eternal law or the divine law as the
ultimate norm of morality For St. Thomas Aquinas- “the divine
wisdom directing all actions and movement.” For St.
Augustine-“the divine reason or evil of God commanding the
natural order of things be preserved and forbidding that it be
disturbed.
 Business Application 09

Ideally, the 3 norms of morality according to

Traditional Ethics must be able to guide our
business decision making process.
Common sense directs that the ”dictates of reason”
should be enough to guide our evaluation between
the action that we perform and the norms that
determine what is acceptable and what is not in
our human behaviour.
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