GLOSSARY
ABORTION. The expulsion of a living fetus from the mother's womb before the fetus is viable. If abortion is induced intentionally, when the mother is in serious danger because of the existing pregnancy, it is called `therapeutic abortion'.
ABORTION, INDIRECT. An abortion which is the secondary effect of an otherwise licit action which is the primary object of the intention.
ABORTION, THERAPEUTIC. See Abortion.
ABSOLUTE. As an adjective, without condition or restriction. As a noun, the unconditioned, the ultimate ground of reality.
ACT, ACTUALLY VOLUNTARY. An act in which the intention is present here and now, effectively influences the act, and is consciously before the mind during the performance of the act.
ACT, COMMANDED. See Act, Imperate.
ACT, DIRECTLY VOLUNTARY. An act which is the immediate object of the will's striving and as such is immediately caused by the will. An act voluntary in itself.
ACT, ELICITED. An act begun and completed is the will as its sole agent.
ACT, EXPRESSLY VOLUNTARY. An act in which the consent is manifested externally by some word or sign.
ACT, FORMALLY GOOD OR EVIL. An act is said to be formally good or evil in so far as it is viewed to be such by the individual's conscience, even if his conscience is erroneous in its judgment. Thus, if a good act is erroneously judged by an individual's conscience to be evil, the act is materially good but formally evil; if an evil act is erroneously judged by an individual's conscience to be good, it is materially evil but formally good. See Act, Materially Good or Evil.
ACT, HABITUALLY VOLUNTARY. An act in which the intention was made at some former time and never retracted, but its power of causality does not exist here and now, so that the present act can no longer be considered as being influenced by it.
ACT, HUMAN. An act proceeding from the deliberate free will of man.
ACT, IMPERATE. An act begun in the will but completed through the medium of other powers or faculties under the command and control of the will.
ACT, IMPERFECTLY VOLUNTARY. An act in which voluntariness is imperfect, either because the advertence of the mind to the act is incomplete and only partially present or because the will does not give full consent.
ACT, INDIRECTLY VOLUNTARY. An act which has as its object the effect of an object immediately willed provided it is foreseen that this effect will follow out of this cause. An act voluntary in cause.
ACT, INTERPRETATIVELY VOLUNTARY. An act in which the intention to perform the act was never present and cannot have an influence upon the act; but the character of the person is such that one prudently judges an actual intention would be present, if the person had a proper understanding of the situation.
ACT, MATERIALLY GOOD OR EVIL. An act is said to be materially good or evil in so far as it agrees or disagrees with the norm of morality objectively in itself, independent of the judgement of the individual's conscience. If a good act is erroneously judged by an individual's conscience to be evil, it is materially good but formally evil; if an evil act is erroneously judged by an individual's conscience to be good, it is materially evil but formally good. See ACT, Formally Good or Evil.
ACT, MIXED VOLUNTARY. An act in which an object is willed which pleases in some qualities but displease in other qualities, so that there is a mixture of desire and repugnance, of voluntariness and involuntariness.
ACT, MORALLY INDIFFERENT. An act which, from the standpoint of its object, is neither morally good nor morally bad.
ACT, NEGATIVELY VOLUNTARY. an act of the will in virtue of which a person deliberately decides not to perform a particular act but to omit it.
ACT OF MAN. An act not proceeding from the deliberate free will of man.
ACT, PERFECTLY VOLUNTARY. An act in which the preceding knowledge of the object and its circumstances is compete, so that the act is performed with full knowledge and full consent.
ACT, POSITIVELY VOLUNTARY. An act actually willed and performed.
ACT, PURE VOLUNTARY. An act in which the object willed is pleasing in all its qualities and is therefore willed with full consent and without any repugnance.
ACT, TACITLY VOLUNTARY. An act in which the consent is not manifested externally, but is indicated by some fact or the omission of some fact which entitles one to conclude that the consent is present.
ACT, VIRTUALLY VOLUNTARY. An act is which the intention was elicited at some former time, is present here and now, and influences the act to be performed, although the intention is not adverted to consciously during the performance itself.
ACT, VOLUNTARY IN CAUSE. See Act, Directly Voluntary.
AGNOSTICISM. The doctrine which denies the constitutional ability of the mind to know reality and concludes with the recognition of an intrinsically Unknowable.
AUTHORITY. Viewed abstractly, the right to lead the members of a society toward the attainment of the common end to be realized by their association. Viewed concretely, the bearer of the right or power to lead the members of a society toward the attainment of the common end to be realized by their association. In reference to the state, authority is the moral competence to issue commands and impose obligations in matters pertaining to the public welfare. Right of jurisdiction.
BEATITUDE. Supreme happiness. See Happiness.
BETTING. A bet is a contact by which two or more persons, disputing about the truth of a thing or about an event, agree among themselves that the winner of the dispute shall receive a reward.
BIRTH CONTROL. See Contraception.
BLASPHEMY. Contempt for God expressed in insulting thoughts or words.
BOURGEOIS. In the theory of communism, the class of modern capitalists who own the social means of production and employ wage labor.
BOYCOTT. The concerted action of a group of persons, withholding patronage and purchase of goods from an individual or business concern, for the purpose of forcing the correction of unjust conditions; it is usually combined with deterring others from purchasing the goods of the boycotted individual or business concern.
BOYCOTT, SECONDARY. A boycott by which economic pressure is brought to bear on other businesses or industries to boycott an unjust employer under threat of boycotting these business or industries themselves if they refuse.
BUYING AND SELLING. A contract by which the two contracting parties mutually agree to deliver merchandise for a price.
CAPITALISM. The economic system in which the ownership of natural wealth, the production and distribution of commodities, the employment and remuneration of labor, and the organization and operation of the economic system itself, are affected and controlled by private enterprise under competitive conditions.
CAUSE. that which in any way whatever exerts a positive influence in the production of a thing.
CAUSE, EFFICIENT. That by which something is produced.
CAUSE, FINAL. That for the sake of which an efficient cause acts.
CAUSE, FORMAL. That through which a thing is made to be what it is.
CAUSE, MATERIAL. That out of which something becomes or is made.
CELIBACY. Abstention from marriage; the status of being unmarried.
CERTITUDE. that mental state in which the mind gives a firm assent to a judgment without fear of the possibility of error, due to recognized valid reasons.
CHASTITY. As a species of the cardinal virtue of temperance, moderation in the use and enjoyment of the legitimate function of sex.
CHOICE. The selection of definite means to achieve a specific end.
CIRCUMSTANCE. As a determinant of morality, a circumstances is a condition superadded to the essence or nature of the moral act and affects its morality. Such circumstances are: who? what? where? by what means? how? when?
COLLISION OF RIGHTS. An apparent conflict of rights which cannot be satisfied simultaneously.
COMMISSION. A contract by which one person accepts the agency to do business i the name of another.
COMMUNISM. In general, the theory or system of social organization which advocates the common ownership of the means of production and the equal distribution of the products of industry. In the Marxian (and Soviet) sense, it is the final stage of social perfection, following capitalism and state socialism, characterized by a stateless and classless society of free and equal men in which there will be no class antagonisms, no wars, no exploitation, no poverty, and no dissension, in which there will be an abundance of material goods owned in common, and which everything will be regulated by the principle "from each according to ability and to each according to need".
COMMUNISM, ABSOLUTE. The doctrine which bans ownership of property in every form and which advocates the simple use of all goods.
COMPANY. A relatively simple form of partnership, in which the members assume the responsibility for the conduct of the business and share in the profits and losses.
CONCUPISCENCE. The natural tendency or inclination of sensuous appetency toward a consciously perceived sensuous good and away from a consciously perceived sensuous evil. it is a transitory impediment to voluntariness. See Passion.
CONCUPISCENCE, ANTECEDENT. The concupiscence which occurs prior to any act of the free will in its regard.
CONCUPISCENCE, CONSEQUENT. The concupiscence which occurs after an act of the free will in its regard.
CONSCIENCE. The immediate judgement of practical reason with respect to the character of individual acts as being permitted, commanded, or forbidden. conscience is the immediate subjective or manifestative norm of moral conduct.
CONSCIENCE, DOUBTFUL. Conscience in so far as the practical reason cannot reach a definite decision whether the contemplated action is good or evil.
CONSCIENCE, ERRONEOUS. Conscience in so far as its judgement disagrees with the objective norm of morality.
CONSCIENCE, RIGHT. Conscience in so far as its judgement agrees with the objective norm of morality.
CONSENT. The decision of the will to use the means necessary for bringing the intention into execution.
CONTINENCE. Abstention from the sexual act.
CONTRACEPTION. The voluntary prevention of conception by the positive use of artificial means which hinder the generative cells from uniting during the sexual act.
CONTRACT. An agreement between two or more persons to transfer a right to do or not to do something.
CONTRACT, BILATERAL. A contract with imposes an obligation on both contracting parties.
CONTRACT, CONSENSUAL. One which is made essentially by the mere consent of the contracting parties.
CONTRACT GRATUITOUS. A contract in which one party intends generosity,while the other party receives a favour.
CONTRACT, ONEROUS. A contract in which both contracting parties intend to obtain something to their advantage.
CONTRACT, REAL. One in which the contract is not essentially completed until some object has passed from the hands of the one contracting party to the hands of the other.
CONTRACT, SOCIAL. The theory of J.J. Rousseau in which he maintains that the state came into existence through the free consent and `social contract' of all concerned, whereby everyone grants all his individual rights and ruling power to the `general will' embodied in the authority of the community.
CONTRACT, UNILATERAL. A contract which imposes an obligation upon only one of the contracting parties.
CONTROL, VOLUNTARY. The control which the will exercises over the powers and actions of the human organism.
CORPORATION. A group of persons treated by the law s a single judicial person, having rights or liabilities, or both, distinct from those of the persons composing the partnership and endowed by the law with the capacity of succession.
COVETOUSNESS. The excessive desire of worldly goods.
CRITERION. A rule or standard by which principles, facts, statements, and conduct are tested, so as to form a correct judgment concerning them.
CRITERION, MORAL. A rule or test by means of which we are able to discriminate between what is morally good and morally evil and to judge correctly that a particular act is morally good or morally evil.
CUSTOM. Usage, practices, standards, and codes which are common to certain groups or classes of people and which regulate their actions in social and religious affairs.
DEMOCRACY. A form government in which the ruling power resides in the people themselves.
DEMOCRACY, DIRECT. A form of democracy in which every issue facing the political body is decided by all the members of the democracy.
DEMOCRACY, INDIRECT. A form of democracy in which the people exercise only an indirect control over government by means of the constitutional election of representatives to whom they delegate the direct rule.
DESIGNATION. The doctrine that the bearer of public authority in the politically organized community is determined neither by the natural law nor by the conet of the people forming the state, but by the nature of the historically given circumstances.
DETERMINANTS, ETHICAL (MORAL). The factors which determine the morality of a concrete individual human act. They are: the object, the circumstances, and the end of the agent.
DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT. In the theory of communism, a political state with a power founded solely on the armed force of the masses. It is a transition organization, leading from capitalism to communism proper, and communists refer to it as `state socialism'.
DISEASES, MENTAL. Disorders and abnormalities of the brain and nervous system, resulting in disturbances in the sensory powers of knowledge and appetency and involving indirectly a consequent disturbance in the proper functions of the intellect and will. A mental disease is a permanent impediment to voluntariness.
DIVINATION. The attempt to foretell or to acquire knowledge of future events by evidently insufficient means.
DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS. The theory that the supreme political power is conferred on the ruler by a special act of God, so that he rules by divine law.
DIVORCE, IMPERFECT. Separation from bed and board, so that husband and wife are freed form their marital community life, although the matrimonial bond remains intact.
DIVORCE, PERFECT. The dissolution of the matrimonial bond, so that husband and wife are free to marry again during the lifetime of the other.
DOUBT. That state of mind in which a suspended judgement ensues, due to the mind's inability to decide whether the judgement is true or false.
DUTIFULNESS. As a potential part of the cardinal virtue of justice, the virtue which urges man to render proper respect and obedience unto his parents (including relatives) and his country, because he owes them his existence and sustenance. Also called `piety'.
DUTY. In the passive sense, duty is an action or omission of an actinon to which one is obligated by justice. In the active sense, duty is the moral obligation to do something or to omit something in favour of another according to the demands of strict justice. See Right.
EFFECT, DOUBLE. Mixed effects, one good and the other bad, issuing from the same act.
EMOTION. An effective mental state of the animal organism, following the cognition of an object or situation, characterized by strong feeling, by an impulse to action, and by physiological changes in bodily function.
EMPIRICISM. The doctrine that all human knowledge is derived from the data of particular states of consciousness, so that experience is the exclusive source and criterion of all knowledge.
END. In ethics, and end is that for the sake of which an advertent intellect and a free will act; purpose; that which an advertent intellect and a free will intend in their action; that which man intends when he acts intelligently and freely.
END, ABSOLUTELY ULTIMATE. The last end of all proximate and intermediate ends in every series, so that no further ulterior end or purpose can be conceived for which to tend.
END, ACCESSORY. See End, Secondary.
END, FOR WHICH (WHOM). The thing or person that is to benefit by the acquisition or realization of the `end which' is acquired or realised.
end, intermediate. A remote end to which some other end is referred, while it is itself referred to some ulterior end.
END, NATURAL. An end which is such that it lies within the tendencies and powers of the nature of the agent to strive for this end and to realize it.
END, OBJECTIVE. The object or thing itself which is striven for and realized as the result of purposive action.
END OF THE ACT. That particular end which is present in the act itself and which the act as such tends to realize because it is this particular kind of act.
END, OF THE AGENT. The end of purpose which induces the agent as a motive to perform this particular kind of act.
END, PRIMARY (PRINCIPAL). The main one among two or more end which actuate an agent (efficient cause) and is sufficient of itself to make the agent act.
END, PROXIMATE. An end that is referred to some ulterior end, but has no other end referred to it.
END, RELATIVELY ULTIMATE. An end that is the last end in a particular series of ends.
END, REMOTE. An end to which one or more ends are referred.
END, SECONDARY (ACCESSORY). An end intended together with a primary end, without however exserting the same potent influence on the actin of the agent.
END, SUBJECTIVE. The possession of the objective end and the personal satisfaction or happiness which accompanies this possession.
END, SUPERNATURAL. An end which is such that it lies beyond the tendencies and powers of the nature of an agent to strive for this end and to realize it.
END, ULTIMATE. A remote end to which one or more ends are referred, while ti is not itself referred to any other end.
END, WHICH. The good itself which is striven for as the end to be realized by the efficient cause (the `agent') through the action.
ERROR. Disconformity (disagreement) between intellect and thing.
ETERNITY. Endless duration.
ETHICS. The philosophical science of human conduct in so far as conduct is viewed as good or bad, right or wrong. Moral philosophy, philosophical morals.
ETHICS, GENERAL. That part of ethics which treats of the moral concepts, judgments, and principles which are basic to the entire moral order.
ETHICS, SPECIAL. That part of ethics which applies the general moral concepts and principles to the various situations of life in which man finds himself, so as to define and determine his rights and duties more in detail.
EUDAEMONISM. The ethical system which considers earthly happiness to be the ultimate end of man and the standard according to which man must judge what is morally good or evil.
EUTHANASIA. The art or practice of painlessly putting to death a person suffering from a marked deformity or from an incurable and distressing disease.
EVIL. Whatever is unsuitable for a natural tendency or appetency; the privation of a required good.
EVIL, APPARENT. The privation of an apparent good.
EVIL, INTRINSIC. That which is evil by nature; it is always and under all conditions evil.
EVIL, MORAL. Something unsuitable for a rational being according to the demands of the moral law; the privation of the proper relation between an action or its omission and the moral law.
EVIL, PHYSICAL. The privation of a physical good.
EVIL, REAL. The privation of a real good.
EXCHANGE. A contract by which money of one kind is changed into money of another kind with a moderate fee for the service rendered.
FAMILY. The natural society of father, mother, and child.
FORMAL. Applied to goodness, as understood by many ethicians, formal goodness is the goodness inherent in the act itself, irrespective of its consequences.
FORMALISM, ETHICAL. A system of ethics which maintains that goodness inheres in the act as such, irrespective of the consequences of the act. Since intuitionism looks toward the formal goodness of acts, it is often referred to as `ethical formalism; in a similar manner, Kant;'s ethical theory is styled `formalism'.
FORMALISM OF KANT. As a system of ethics, Kant's formalism is based on the intrinsic objective norm of human nature. The will is autonomous a law unto itself. Actions are morally good only if performed because of duty; duty is the obligation to act from pure reverence for law. The norm of morality is the categorial imperative: "Act in conformity with that maxim, and that maxim only, which you can at the same time will to be a universal law". The consequences of an act are outside the scope of the moral law.
FREE WILL. The ability of the will, all conditions for action being present, to decide whether to act or not act and whether to act in this manner or in that manner.
FREEDOM. In the widest sense, the absence of external coercion or restraint; in the strict sense, the absence of intrinsic necessity or determination in the performance of an act on the part of the will.
FRUITION. As an elicited act, the satisfaction of the will in the achievement of an end.
GAMBLING. A contract by which two or more persons, engaged in a game of chance, agree among themselves that the winner of the game shall receive a certain reward.
GLUTTONY. Excessive love of the pleasures of the palate.
GOOD. Whatever is suitable for a being. That which a being desires.
GOOD, ABSOLUTE. Good without qualification or condition. Usually taken in the sense of `ontological good', `objective good', `good in itself'.
GOOD, ABSOLUTELY ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE. That supreme good through the acquisition and possession of which man obtains his supreme happiness.
GOOD, ABSOLUTELY ULTIMATE SUBJECTIVE. The Supreme happiness which man obtains through the acquisition and possession of the supreme objective good.
GOOD, APPARENT. Something that is judged to be good for a being, but is actually not good for it.
GOOD, INTRINSIC. That which is good by nature, it is always and under all conditions good.
GOOD, MORAL. A good which has everything demanded of it by the moral law.
GOOD, ONTOLOGICAL. A thing as good in its very entity or reality.
GOOD, PHYSICAL. That which is good for physical well-being; a good which satisfies the demand of the nature of a being.
GOOD, RELATIVE. Good with reference to another being, int he sense that something is suitable for another being.
GOODNESS, FORMAL. As understood by many ethicians, the goodness of the act as such; goodness, considered as inherent in the act, irrespective of its consequences.
GOODNESS, MATERIAL. As understood by many ethicians, material goodness is the goodness of the act in its results; if the consequences of the act are good, then the act itself is considered good. Among the ethical theories based on the extrinsic norm of the consequences of action are hedonism, utilitarianism, and evolutionary naturalism.
GOVERNMENT. In ac active sense, it is the ruling and administration of the political body. In a passive sense, it is the actual organization through which the activities of the state are carried out.
HABIT. A facility and readiness of acting in a definite manner, acquired by the frequent repetition of a certain kind of act. It is a permanent impediment to voluntariness.
HAPPINESS. As defined by Boethius, a state made perfect by the aggregation of all good things. The possession of all good consonant with man's nature.
HEDONISM, EGOISTIC. The ethical system which is based on the extrinsic norm of the usefulness of an act in promoting individual human happiness. Happiness consists in pleasure.
HUMANISM. An attitude of thought or action,whether arranged into a system or not, centring upon distinctively human ideals,usually in contrast to religious or naturalistic interests. In ethics, one of the forms of the `New Morality', a teleological system of ethics developed in recent times, based primarily on the `results of conduct,' consciously directed toward the perfection of the individual and the attainment of maximum happiness for mankind.
IDEALISM. In general, the doctrine which holds that the being of things is conditioned by their being known; consciousness is constitutive of its objects; the being of sensible things is simply their being sensed,and their true characters are their sensed characters; the world we know is the world of our perceptual content; the mind of man cannot transcends its own internal, conscious states.
IDEALISM, DIALECTICAL. The doctrine which holds that reality is constituted of logical ideas (logical entities), so that we have direct knowledge of reality in the ideas of logical thought.
IDIOCY. Extreme deficiency of intelligence, commonly due to an undeveloped or abnormally developed brain. It is a permanent impediment to voluntariness.
IDOLATRY. The giving of divine honour to a creature.
IGNORANCE. The lack of required knowledge. It is a transitory impediment to voluntariness.
IGNORANCE, AFFECTED. An ignorance which is willed directly in itself by a person who does not desire to have his ignorance removed.
IGNORANCE, ANTECEDENT, OF THE ACTION. An ignorance which precedes the will's decision and is the (negative) cause of the action, so that the action is performed through ignorance and on account of ignorance.
IGNORANCE, ANTECEDENT, OF THE WILL. An ignorance which precedes the decision of the will and is independent of the decision of the will.
IGNORANCE, CONCOMITANT, OF THE ACTION. An ignorance in which the action is performed in and with ignorance, but not through ignorance and on account of ignorance.
IGNORANCE,CONSEQUENT, OF THE WILL. An ignorance which follows from the decision of the will and is dependent on the decision of the will.
IGNORANCE, CRASS (SUPINE). The ignorance of a person who uses hardly any reasonable diligence to remove the ignorance.
IGNORANCE, INVINCIBLE. An ignorance that cannot be removed.
IGNORANCE, MORALLY INVINCIBLE. An ignorance which cannot be removed by any reasonable effort normally made under the circumstances by prudent and conscientious persons.
IGNORANCE, PHYSICALLY INVINCIBLE. An ignorance which cannot be removed at all, because the person is totally unaware of the presence of ignorance in his mind.
IGNORANCE OF FACT. Lack of the knowledge of the necessary conditions required for the application of the law to a particular situation.
IGNORANCE OF LAW. Lack of the knowledge of the existence of the law or the content of the law.
IGNORANCE, SIMPLY VINCIBLE. The ignorance of a person who uses some diligence, but not a sufficient amount to remove the existing ignorance.
IGNORANCE, VINCIBLE. An ignorance which can be dispelled with the diligence and effort customarily applied by prudent and conscientious persons under the given circumstances.
IMMORTALITY. Endless duration of life.
IMPEDIMENTS. With reference to human acts, those factors which impair perfect knowledge and perfect consent in moral matters. Such impediments may be either transitory or permanent.
IMPEDIMENTS, ACTUAL. See impediments, Transitory.
IMPEDIMENTS, PERMANENT. Impediments to the human act which lessen or prevent the advertence of the intellect and the exercise of the freedom of the will in such a manner that a more or less stable condition of involuntariness results in a person. Such permanent impediments are: infancy, idiocy, moronism; propensities and habits; mental diseases.
IMPEDIMENTS, TRANSITORY. Impediments which affect individual human acts, lessening or presenting the exercise of freedom in their regard. Actual impediments. They are ignorance, concupiscence or passion, fear, and violence.
IMPUTABILITY. That property of moral acts in virtue of which these acts are attributed to a person as his own, because he is their author and cause.
INDIFFERENTISM. Practical indifferentism is the actual neglect of one's religious duties. Theoretical indifferentism is the mental attitude and conviction that a person can fulfil his religious obligation in any type of religion.
INDIVIDUALISM. In general, the doctrine or system which stresses the reality and importance of the individual. the laissez faire system of competition in political economy.
INDIVIDUALISM, ECONOMIC. The doctrine or system which maintains the political and economic independence of the individual and emphasizes the necessity of the complete liberty of individual initiative, action, and interests, especially in industry and business.
INFANCY. That period in the life of the individual human person which extends from conception to the time when the age of reason and discretion is reached. It is a permanent impediment to voluntariness.
INSURANCE. A contract by which one of the contacting parties obligates himself, upon the payment of a premium, to compensate another for any damage or loss in his person or property resulting from some untoward event.
INTELLECT. The spiritual power to form concepts, judgments, and inferences.
INTELLIGENCE. As an integral part of prudence, the auxiliary virtue and pertains to present items, which contribute to the judgements of a moral action.
INTENTION. The active striving of the will for the attainment of a particular
INTUITION. A mental process of direct and immediate apprehension. Applied to ethics, it means the direct and immediate perception of human conduct as good or evil, so that the knowledge of the distinction between good and evil conduct is not the result of an intellectual process or reasoned judgment, but of a special perceptual faculty or sense. The system of ethics based on intuition as the norm of morality is called `intuitionism'.
INTUITIONISM. The system of ethics based on intuition as the norm of morality. See intuition. It claims that man possesses a distinct faculty or power or sense which,through its own immediate perception, is the criterion of what is right and wrong, good and bad, in human conduct. Intuition is thus the intrinsic subjective norm of morality.
JUSTICE. The moral virtue which inclines man's will to render unto each his due. As a cardinal virtue, it inclines man's will to render unto other rational beings that which they have the right to demand as their due.
JUSTICE, COMMUTATIVE. The cardinal virtue of particular justice which orders the dealings of one individual with the other individual and sees to it that each one receives strictly what is his own.
JUSTICE, DISTRIBUTIVE. The cardinal virtue of particular justice which orders the dealings of society toward its members and inclines those in government to distribute equitably the common goods and burdens among the members of the commonwealth and inclines the latter to be contented with their share of the social goods and burdens assigned to them.
JUSTICE, LEGAL. The virtue which regulates the actions of the individual in his relations to the commonwealth or community to which he belongs as a member.
JUSTICE, PARTICULAR. The cardinal virtue of justice which regulates the actions of an individual in his relations to private persons and inclines his will to render unto everyone is due in the equivalent of value.
LABOR. Human industry which produces goods of some sort.
LAW. A rule or norm according to which something is drawn toward an action or restrained from an action.
LAW, AFFIRMATIVE. A law of command obligating a person to perform a definite positive act.
LAW, DIVINE. A law which emanates from God as the legislator.
LAW, ETERNAL. The plan of God's wisdom directing all crated things toward the realization of their natural end. The rational will of God commanding the preservation of the natural order and prohibiting its violation.
LAW, HUMAN. A law enacted by legitimate human authority.
LAW, INTERNATIONAL. The code of laws which determine the rights and duties of sovereign states and their citizens in their mutual relations and conduct.
LAW, MORAL. A rule or norm governing the free actions of man relative to moral obligation. An ordinance of reason directed toward the common good and promulgated by the one who has the care of the community.
LAW, NATURAL. A law manifested by the natural light of human reason reflecting on the fundamental principles of morality. The moral law, manifested by the natural light of reason, demanding the preservation of the natural order and forbidding its violation; the binding norms of moral actions, in so far as these norms are manifested by mere reason.
LAW, NEGATIVE. A law of prohibition obligating a person to refrain from performing a definite act.
LAW OF NATIONS. International private law dealing with the rights and duties of the individuals belonging to various national groups. Jus gentium.
LAW, PENAL. A law which imposes a penalty upon violation.
LAW, PERMISSIVE. A law which allows a person to perform a certain act without hindrance from others.
LAW, PUNITIVE. See law, Penal.
LAW, TEMPORAL. A law enacted in time by human authority through legislative channels.
LIBERALISM, ECONOMIC. The doctrine or system which maintains that the sole regulative principle of economic life is the law of supply and demand and free competition in the market place. In applying the principle of laissez faire, it demands freedom of trade, freedom of contract, freedom of competition in the open market, freedom for operation of the economic laws of supply and demand, freedom from interference and restraint on the part of organized social groups and the government.
LIBERALITY. As a potential part of the cardinal virtue of justice, the virtue which inclines one's will to give gladly of one's earthly goods to others.
LIE. The telling of an untruth, so that there is a contradiction between what a person thinks and says. Contradiction between a person's thought and speech.
LIE, FORMAL. Contradiction between a person's conviction and speech, when he is conscious of the contradictions; a conscious and deliberate statement contrary to one's subjective judgment, whether this subjective judgment be objectively true or false.
LIE JOCOSE. One made in jest, in order to amuse someone.
LIE, MATERIAL. Contradiction between a fact and a person's statement of the fact, but the person is unconscious of the contradiction.
LIE, OFFICIOUS. One in which a person seeks to gain some advantage or avoid some difficulty, be it for one's own self or for another, without thereby inflicting any harm upon another.
LIE, PERNICIOUS. One in which a person not only deliberately attempts to deceive another, but also seeks to inflict upon him by means of the lie.
LIMITATIONS OF RIGHTS. That property whereby the exercise of one right is curtailed by some other right.
LOAN. A contract by which the ownership of an object consumable in first use is transferred to anther with the obligation that an object of a similar nature and quality be returned at some specified time.
LOCKOUT. An act whereby the employer shuts down his business or plant as a protest against what he considers to be the unjust demands of those of his owners who are striking.
LOTTERY. A contract by which a person, upon payment of a certain sum of money, acquires the right of obtaining an article or money, if the chance he holds wins.
MARRIAGE. The permanent union,lawfully formed, of man and woman for the procreation of children and their proper education. Conjugal society.
MARRIAGE, INDISSOLUBILITY OF. That essential property of marriage in virtue of which the conjugal bond between husband and wife cannot be dissolved or broken by any human power during the lifetime of either of the two.
MARRIAGE, UNITY OF. That property which demands that only one man be married to only one woman simultaneously.
MATERIALISM. A naturalistic form of philosophy which finds the ultimate explanation of all phenomena, physical and psychical, in the nature and activity of universal matter or force.
MONARCHY. A form of government in which one person possesses the supreme rule over the political community.
MONARCHY, ABSOLUTE. A monarchy in which the monarch's rule is complete in every respect, so that his word is the sole law of the realm.
MONARCHY, CONSTITUTIONAL. A monarchy in which the monarch's power is curtailed by a constitution.
MONARCHY, LIMITED. A monarchy in which the monarch's power is curtailed din some respects.
MONARCHY, PARLIAMENTARY. A monarchy in which the monarch's power is curtailed by a parliament, in as much as the parliament possesses partial governmental power.
MONOPOLY. The exclusive control of the supply of a particular commodity in a given market.
MORALITY. That property of human acts in virtue of which they are said to be `good' or `evil', `right' of `wrong'. the `rightness' and `wrongness' of human acts.
MORALITY, INDEPENDENT. The doctrine that man can lead a truly moral life without natural or supernatural religion.
MORALITY, OBJECTIVE. The conformity or disconformity of a particular human act and its object with the objective proximate and ultimate norm, irrespective of our judgment.
MORALITY, PERSONAL. See Morality, Subjective.
MORALITY, SUBJECTIVE. The conformity or disconformity of a particular act and its object with the objective norm of morality, according to our judgment.
MORALITY, THE NEW. A trend in recent ethics which is decidedly teleological in character, based primarily on the `results of conduct,' consciously directed toward the perfection of the individual and the attainment of maximum happiness for mankind. Typical of this new morality are the names `self-realization', `energism,' `total elf-development,' `idealistic perfectionism', `cultural progress', `humanism,' `meliorism,' and `value ethics'.
MORONISM. A state of moderate feeble-mindedness. It is a permanent impediment to voluntariness.
MURDER. The intentional and unlawful killing of a person.
NATURALISM, EVOLUTIONARY. A system of ethics which combines the principles of utilitarianism and evolution, seeking to explain the rise and development of morality through organic evolution. Basically, it is a form of utilitarianism. The welfare of human society is the norm and criterion fro determining what is morally good or bad. See Utilitarianism.
NORM. An authoritative standard which serves as a pattern or model to which things of a similar nature must conform.
NORM, MORAL. An objective standard or rule or principle which determines the morality of an act in itself.
NORM OF MORALITY, PROXIMATE. The immediate norm, available to all persons, used as a standard with which to compare human acts for the purpose of judging their morality. In the case of human acts it is the nature of the whole man.
NORM OF MORALITY, ULTIMATE. the final, most basic norm which is the ground and reason why human acts are morally good or evil. The ultimate norm or standard for judging the morality of any human act is God's nature and perfections.
OATH. The calling upon God as a witness to the truth of a statement or of the intention to fulfil a promise.
OBJECT, FORMAL. The specific aspect of the general subject matter (material object) which is the proper object of a particular science and which distinguishes this science from all others. In ethics, it is the `rightness' and `wrongness', the `goodness' and `badness', of human conduct.
OBJECT, INCIDENTALLY EVIL. An object which is evil because of a precept.
OBJECT, INCIDENTALLY GOOD. An object which is good by reason of a precept.
OBJECT, INTRINSICALLY EVIL. An object by nature evil; it is always and under all conditions evil.
OBJECT, INTRINSICALLY GOOD. An object by nature good; it is always and under all conditions good.
OBJECT, MATERIAL. The general subject matter which a science treats in its investigation. In ethics, it is the conduct of man, the acts controlled by the will, `human acts' as distinguished from `acts of man'.
OBJECT OF THE MORAL ACT. That which the will intends directly and primarily.
OBLIGATION. The necessity, based on intelligent motivation, of obeying the prescription of a law. The moral necessity to do the good and avoid the evil, based on the knowledge that God, our Supreme Good, demands the observance of the law and forbids its deliberate violation.
OCCUPATION. the effective seizure and possession of an ownerless object with the intention of making it one's property.
OLIOGARCHY. A form of government in which the ruling authority is vested in a few persons or in a privileged group.
OWNERSHIP. The exclusive right to control and dispose of something as one's own according to one's will.
PARTNERSHIP. A contract by which two or more competent persons place their money, effects, labor and skill, or at least some of these items, in lawful commerce or business, with the agreement that the profits and losses shall be shared between them in definite proportions.
PASSION. The emotional excitement which normally accompanies the sensuous appetency in its activity of striving fro a sensuous good and of avoiding a sensuous evil. It is a transitory impediment to voluntariness.
PASSION, ANTECEDENT. The passion which occurs prior to any act of the free will in its regard.
PASSION, CONSEQUENT. The passion which occurs after an act of the free will in its regard.
PATIENCE. As a potential part of the cardinal virtue of fortitude, the virtue which inclines the will to accept with resignation the existing trials and sufferings.
PERSON, MORAL. A society or organised group of persons capable of rights and duties.
PERSON, PHYSICAL. Any living person, considered as an individual.
POLYANDRY. A form of polygamy in which one woman has more than one husband.
POLYGAMY. A marriage in which one person simultaneously possesses more than one mate.
POLYGYNY. A form of polygamy in which one husband has more than one wife.
POSITIVISM. A form of naturalism which denies the legitimacy of philosophical problems and methods and claims that science is the only knowledge which is exact and ultimate. In the philosophy of law, the system which maintains that the only valid law is positive law, excluding any higher law such as natural law.
POSITIVISM, LEGAL. The system, as philosophy of law, which repudiates the concept of natural law as being `metaphysical' and maintains that the philosophy of law must restrict itself to an analysis of positive law as it actually exists in the statutes.
POSITIVISM, MORAL. The system which denies the natural (intrinsic) distinction between the morally good and the morally evil and claims that this distinction is derived solely from the free and positive enactment of authority. When the distinction is based on the enactments of human authority, moral positivism in anthroponomic; when based on divine authority, theonomic.
POWER. The right of coercion. In reference to the state, power is the legal competence to enforce obedience to commands and fulfilment of obligations.
POWER, EXECUTIVE. The competence of the government to establish and maintain the agencies necessary to carry out the laws.
POWER, JUDICIAL. The competence of the government to restore the legal order when disturbed.
POWER, LEGISLATIVE. The right of the government to enact laws which are norms of actio for the citizens.
PROLETARIAT. In the theory of communism, the class of modern wage laborers who possess no means of production and must sell their labor power in order to live.
PROMISE. An act by which one person obligates himself gratuitously to another to do or omit something and the promise is accepted by the one to whom the promise is made.
RATIONALISM. In general, the theory or method of philosophy which maintains that the criterion of truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive. In ethics, the system which seeks to deduce the moral law in detailed form from the supposed `pure state of nature' in which man existed prior to the establishment of communal or political life with its positive laws.
REASON. The power of the mind which perceives the truth and validity of derived ideas, judgments,and principles on the basis of indirect and mediate evidence.
REASON. As an integral part of prudence, the auxiliary virtue which assists a person in the comparison and valuation of different things in a moral action.
REASON, RIGHT. Taken as the proximate subjective norm of morality, whatever is in accord with reason is in accord with the nature of man, as man.
RELATIVISM. The doctrine that every known object is relative (in relation) to the knowing subject and as such is dependent in this being upon the knowing subject and incapable of existing apart from consciousness; the doctrine of the immanence of relations as constitutive of their being; the doctrine which holds that truth has no objective standard but is relative and may vary form individual to individual and from time to time.
RELATIVISM, MORAL. The doctrine that ethical truths are not based on objective grounds but are relative, so that the rightness and wrongness of actions or objects depend solely on the attitude taken toward them by some individual or group.
RELIGION. In its primary meaning religion is the worship extended by men to an extramundane and supramundane personal being, on whom they believe to be dependent in their lives and whom they seek to make propitious by special observances. In its secondary meaning it is the virtue which inclines men to render honor and homage to God as the Supreme Being, the first cause and last end of man. Also used to signify all the truths which express the relation of man to God and all the duties which pertain to man in consequence of these truths.
RELIGION, NATURAL. Religion based on the truths and duties which man knows through the aid of human reason alone.
RELIGION, OBJECTIVE. The objective truths which underline the relation of man to God and the objective duties which pertain to man because of this relation; these truths and duties are independent of man's knowledge or ignorance and of his likes or dislikes.
RELIGION, SUBJECTIVE. The personal sentiment, inclination, and practice of worship, by means of which an individual renders honor and homage to God.
RELIGION, SUPERNATURAL. Religion based on the voluntary revelation of God.
RENTING AND HIRING. A contract by which one party obtains the right to the use and usufruct of a thing (except money) or of services or of labor for a definite price.
REVOLUTION. The overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler, and the substitution of another government or ruler, by the governed.
RHYTHM. The practice of periodic continence during the time of the wife's period of fertility and the performance of the conjugal act during the time of the wife's period of sterility.
RIGHT. In the passive sense, a right is something which is due to someone according to strict equality because of a strict obligation. In the active sense, a right is the moral and inviolable power vested in a person to do, hold, or exact something as his own.
RIGHT, ALIENABLE. One which can be renounced or transferred for sufficiently grave reasons, because it is not an essential requirement of human nature.
RIGHT, CONATURAL. One which belongs to man because of his very nature as a person, without any action on his part or on the part of any other person in his behalf. Also called `congenial right'.
RIGHT, DIVINE OF KINGS. The theory that the supreme political power is conferred on the ruler by a special act of God, so that he rules by divine law.
RIGHT, IMPERFECT. One based on some virtue other than commutative justice and is not so determined as to object (matter) and subject that one may resort to physical force to exact it.
RIGHT, INALIENABLE. One which cannot be renounced or transferred because it is necessary for the fulfilment of man's purpose of being and essential duties.
RIGHT, LEGAL. One determined and enforced by an enactment of the civil authorities.
RIGHT, MORAL. One based on the moral law and which appeals through knowledge to another's will.
RIGHT, NATURAL. One founded no the natural law.
RIGHT, PERFECT. One based on strictly commutative justice and is so determined as to object (matter) and subject that one may resort to physical force to exact it.
RIGHT, PERSONAL. One which gives to a person power to exact something from another person,so that this something may become his own.
RIGHT, POSITIVE. One founded on the positive law.
RIGHT, PRIVATE. One which inheres in private person as against private persons.
RIGHT, PUBIC. One which inheres in the state or in private persons against the state.
RIGHT, REAL. One which gives to a person power in or over his own objects.
SANCTION. The rewards or punishments ordained by a legislator for the observance or transgression of the law.
SOCIALISM. The political doctrine that the workers should take over the apparatus of existing governments by parliamentary action of some kind and then proceed to socialize or nationalize the means of production by placing their ownership in the hands of the state. Socialism advocates production for use, not for profit; hence, all means of production for profit must be owned by the state, not by individuals or private groups.
SOCIALISM, NATIONAL. A form of totalitarian government based on the theory, propounded by Adolf Hitler, that the state originated through the blind struggle of the races as biological groups and that the superior (Aryan) race wins out because it possesses superior blood.
SOCIETY. The stable union or association of a number of persons for the mutual realization of a common end.
SOCIETY, CIVIL. The permanent union f a multitude of families and individuals, under a common authority, for the purpose of promoting their pubic welfare.
SOCIETY, COMPOSITE. One consisting of a number of societies (moral person) as its proximate component parts or members.
SOCIETY, CONJUGAL. The permanent union, lawfully formed, of man and woman for the procreation of children and their proper education. Marriage.
SOCIETY, CONVENTIONAL. One which has its origin, formation, and continued existence in the mutual free consent of its members for the attainment of an end specifically agreed upon.
SOCIETY, EQUAL. One in which all members share the authority in an equal degree, because the society itself is the bearer of social authority, even though the members may delegate a certain person or assemblage of persons to exercise this authority in their name.
SOCIETY, IMPERFECT. One which does not possess within itself all the means required for the complete attainment of its end, but needs the assistance of some society of a higher order.
SOCIETY, INTERNATIONAL. The association of states or governments for the public welfare of mankind.
SOCIETY, NATURAL. One which is formed as a result of man's very nature, as something which is necessary for the proper attainment of the perfection suitable to his rational nature.
SOCIETY, PERFECT. One which possesses within itself all the means necessary for the realization of its need, so that it is not directly dependent on any society of a higher order for the attainment of its end.
SOCIETY, SIMPLE. One composed directly of individual (physical) persons.
SOCIETY, UNEQUAL. One in which the social authority is vested by special right in one or more persons to whom the members are subject.
SOVEREIGNTY. The legal supremacy of the state.Viewed positively, it mens that the ruler has the right of supreme rule over the people of the state with reference to the attainment of the pubic welfare of the political community. Viewed negatively, it means supreme independence of the state, so that ti is an equal among and not subordinated to the jurisdiction of another state in the community of nations.
STATE. A natural and perfect society, consisting of many families and individuals, established for their common good under the direction of the supreme authority of a common ruler.
STRIKE. An act of quitting work on the part of organized labourers, for the purpose of forcing the employers to comply with their demands for higher wages or better working conditions or both.
STRIKE, GENERAL. A strike in which practically all union members of a nation quit work simultaneously.
STRIKE, JURISDICTIONAL. A strike called because of a dispute between rival unions as to which union shall have exclusive jurisdiction over the workers of a certain factory or industry and exercise their bargaining rights.
STRIKE, SIT-DOWN. A strike in which the workingmen quit work but continue to occupy the premises.
STRIKE, SYMPATHETIC. A strike in which the workers quit their own work out of sympathy with other workers who are out on strike.
SUICIDE. The direct, intentional destruction of one's own life.
TOTALITARIANISM. The doctrine that the will of the state is the exclusive and sufficient source and foundation of all laws and rights of man. Politically, a highly centralized government controlled by an individual or group excluding voice and existence to opposing minority groups. State omnipotence.
TRANSFERENCE. The doctrine that all political authority, at the time the state is formed by the self-organizing members, rests in the people as a political body or community and is then transferred by the politically organized community to a certain person or group. Also called `translation'.
TREATY. A compact made by one state with one or more states.
TRUST. An permanent organization which controls the commercial policy of a number of independently operated companies.
TRUTH. Conformity between mind and thing.
TYRANT. A person who usurps governmental power unlawfully and justly or who uses lawful governmental power oppressively and unjustly.
UNION, CLOSED. A union which limits the number of persons allowed to join the union; when the stipulated number of members, has been reached, no new members are admitted to the union until there is a vacancy.
UNION, LABOR. A league or association of workingmen, organized for the purpose of promoting and defending their common interests and rights.
USE. As a form of indirect private ownership, it is the right to employ someone else's property for one's own purposes, but without the right to dispose of its substance.
UTILITARIANISM. The ethical system which is based on the extrinsic norm of the usefulness of an act in promoting the happiness of the individual and of the human race. Happiness consists in pleasure. The norm is expressed in the formula of `the greatest happiness for the greatest number.' also called `universalistic hedonism' and `social eudaemonism'.
VIOLENCE. Physical force applied to a resiting person by an external agent. It is transitory impediment to voluntariness.
VOLITION, DELIBERATE. Volition which results in consequence of a deliberation over the respective merits of a particular values.
VOLITION, NATURAL. Volition which must follow the perception of a perfect good.
VOLUNTARINESS. The state of an act in so far as it proceeds from the will as its cause.
VOW. A voluntary promise made to God whereby a person binds himself to do the better good.
WAGE, FAMILY. A wage enabling the workingman to support his wife and family in reasonable, frugal comfort.
WAGE, LIVING. A wage that will give the workingman a decent livelihood.
WAR. A condition of armed conflict between two or more sovereign states.
WILL. The rational appetency, or the power to strive for an intellectually perceived good and to shun an intellectually perceived evil.
WILL, FREEDOM OF. The absence of intrinsic necessity or determination in the will with regard to the performance of an act.
Dr. Saju Chackalackal CMI (http://dvk.academia.edu/SajuChackalackal/CurriculumVitae)
Dean, Faculty of Philosophy, Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram (www.dvk.in)
HoD, Department of Philosophy, Christ University (www.christuniversity.in)
Director, Globethics.net India (www.globethics.net) (http://www.globethics.net/web/guest/globethics.net-india)
Residence:
Dharmaram College
Dairy Circle, Hosur Road
Bangalore 560029, INDIA
Tel: +91-80-41116263
Mobile: +91-94800 22339
Email: saju@chackalackal.com / sajucmi@gmail.com
Web: www.chackalackal.com
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