Sibin Thomas
Introduction.
Rosmini, Antonio is written the book called Principles of Ethics. Southampton: Flower Wright books Leominster, 1867.It is the great work in the field of moral philosophy, looks to the light of reason as the objective basis of moral action. The subjective foundation of such actions the act of will by which we accept what the light of reason puts before us.
CHAPTER I
The First Moral Law.
The moral law is notion of the mind used for making a judgment about the morality of human actions, which must be guided by it. The human mind forms all judgments with the idea of universal being, which is innate in the human spirit as the form of intelligence. We can call this as the form of intelligence. Thus any spirit devoid of it lacks intelligence. Universal being therefore must be first moral law the notion we use to produce all moral judgments. The idea of universal being constitutes the light of reason. This is the most general formula in ethics and expresses the first law more accurately than follow reason, because human reason is a faithful guide only it follows its light. Reason is the faculty with which the human spirit applies the idea of being; reason is simply the application of the idea. If the idea of being is innate and functions as supreme law, it follows that by nature we bear within our soul the seed of morality.
CHAPTER II
The Idea of Being as the Supreme Rule for Judging about Good in General.
For the people in general, relationship between things and the faculty of desire But what are things that we call good because they can move our desire? A thing is good in so far as it is desired. This implies the existence of a being capable of desire. There could be no notion of good without such being, because a relationship and good, is a relationship with things and that which desires them cannot be thought without the two terms of the relationship. The tendency to delight in oneself, and to love oneself with all that is good and prefect in one's nature. Even the enjoyment itself is something good for the person experiencing it. Therefore good is that which is desired: first the enjoyment, and second the perfection of the enjoyed. We cannot doubt the real distinction between these two parts of good. If we had never experienced the pleasure of our own or another nature, we could not form the idea of perfection in any nature. It is impossible, therefore to perceive or to know that is good and perfect in different natures, without feeling and desiring it. To analyse the concept of good means analysing an object of our understanding, because a concept is always an object of understanding. The nature of being requires a relationship between matter and sensitiveness for good to exist. The same is true for the understanding, which is also an act of being. 'Being' and 'Good' therefore as the same. Good is being considered in its order, and the order when known, is enjoyed by the intelligence. Good and Being are really the same but differ conceptually.
CHAPTER III
The Idea of Being as the Principle of Eudaimonology.
Eudaimonology tells the way to once on happiness and differs from ethics. Kant and his school have liberated ethics from the stimulus of happiness. However they concentrated their attention on finding a final stimulus on moral good, and did not succeed in establishing the true nature of morality itself. Also it talks about the subjective good. It is the good considered relatively to a subject enjoying it. Good in itself, absolute good, is never considered relatively to any subject. Virtue, wisdom and other supra-sensible is meaningless relative to animals. Such good can be enjoyed only with the intellect and reason that the animals lack. Wisdom and virtue are the highest good for beings which possess intellect and will, for whom alone, as we shall see absolute good exists. Each thing is good in itself but not good for any subject. In every subject there is something without which the subject cannot exist. This is called substance. There is something without which the subject can exist, but only imperfectly. It is called accidental perfections. Being is divided in to substantial and accidental, and these divisions have to be participated of good also. Absolute good is the highest of the intelligences, and when enjoyed provides bliss or happiness, terms never used of the blind, momentary movements of animals life or any perfection connected with non –sensitive things. It is indeed reasonable to reserve such words as Bliss and Happiness to describe the pleasure.
CHAPTER IV
The Idea of Being as the Principle of Ethics.
Here it also talks about the relationship between objective and subjective good .Sense and intellect comprise the two fundamental human faculties. They perceive things in different ways and thus provide the explanation of the distinction between the subjective good and objective good. The objective good is the source of moral good; subjective good is the source of good as well-being. But here we can ask a question that what is the moral good? Is it subjective or objective? I consider moral good moral good is objective, not the subjective good. A subject searching only for his own satisfaction does nothing moral.
CHAPTER V
The Will as the Cause of Moral Good and Evil.
The will is our interior, moral power. Good is called moral good when it is desired by a will. So I would say that morality is relationship between what is good and the intelligent nature which will the good. So the will therefore, is the active power by which human beings operate relatively to the objects of their mind rather than according to the stimulus of inclination. A bad will does not aim at truth. Thus we can say that anyone with an evil will has two standards, one for the things favourable to himself. I would say that the direct knowledge simply directs the will.
CHAPTERVI
The Powers Involved in Moral Acts.
This chapter talks about the different types of reasons. First it talks about the moral intellect; it is the faculty of the intellect depends in the first moral law. The power to apply being as moral law can be called moral reason. Moral reason is the power to form perceptions and ideas as moral law, in other words it is the faculty for making moral judgments. When the reason is concerned with human happiness it is called Eudaimonological reason. Practical reason is the capacities of voluntary reflection to form deceive esteem of an object.
CHAPTERVII
The Two Elements of moral Acts.
All the six chapters were talking about the law and the will in harmony with the law.
Conclusion.
As a conclusion, the will, harmonising with the law by an act of voluntary reflection. In a word we assent to truth without resistance or repugnance. If moral acts are composed of these two elements a treatise on ethics would have to study them carefully and deduce from this twofold principle the whole science of moral discipline.
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