RE: Morality
April 16, 2012 at 6:29 am
(This post was last modified: April 16, 2012 at 6:30 am by King_Charles.)
(April 14, 2012 at 1:55 am)Drich Wrote: I have posted this definition several times in past posts.
Morality is man's attempt to establish a righteous standard based on the sin he or the society he lives in is willing to except Incorporated into that standard.
Morality is not true Righteousness or God's Righteousness. God's Righteousness is a sinless standard no one can achieve.
Morality says: It is ok to lie to save your friend's life.
Righteousness says: it is always a sin to lie no matter what the reason.
God's righteousness is absolute, and never changes.
Man's Morality is on a sliding scale always identified by the lessor of two evils.
That said know that 'morality' is not the universal standard of good. Morality is a constantly changing to suit the the personal or civil righteousness of a community of people. What once was moral could now be considered a crime, and vise versa.
I say that to help those looking to frame questions based on "morality." Most of the time it is used an absolute standard when in fact it is not.
I'd certainly agree with your definition of morality. As you say morality is not always a universal standard, but the crux of morality is - it is an essential element of our anthropological make-up that allows people to function in a social framework, with basic standards of conduct being expected of those we live with. I don't think this is really something theists and atheists would disagree upon.
Many theologians, and, indeed, agnostic or atheistic philosophers, draw from this the concept of natural law. Which basically just means that universally good standards of human conduct in any society can be arrived at via the use of reason. This is sometimes contrasted with positive law, which is law that derives from some kind of authority and is not necessarily universal to all societies. Though obviously the distinction between the two is not always clear.
For St. Aquinas this "Natural Law" is derived from God's creation by the intellect of man, but does NOT require the revelation of the Church or scripture or even a belief in the Christian God. St. Aquinas termed "divine law" those standards of human conduct that come from God and/or the revelation, for example the virtue of Faith.
My essential point here is that morality derived by man from reason, and morality from the revelation of God (what I understand you to term righteousness) are not two competing standards, one exclusive of the other, but rather are complimentary. The divine law can never contradict natural law (though it may contradict positive law), and visa versa.