Assessment

Continuous Assessment 10% + Essay 30% + Exam 60%

Module Aims

“No one can escape from the fundamental questions: What must I do? How do I distinguish good from evil?” (John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, 1993 2). >span class="NormalTextRun SCXW125267524 BCX0">facilitate learners in attending to the fundamental experience and principles of moral reasoning. It encourages learners to pay attention to the process of answering moral questions and undertaking moral action, as individuals and a society. By doing so, foundational issues necessarily arise, and in turn, inform moral discernment. By attending to the process of moral reflection, this module aims: to grasp the operation of fundamental dynamics of human action and reflection; to recognise the principles moving moral discourse, and to employ a Christian perspective in a deliberation towards action.

Indicative Syllabus:

The following reflects the indicative content

• Week One: Happiness – The Search and the Self
• Week Two: Moral Awareness - On Agency and Conscience
• Week Three: Moral Theory I – Teleology and Deontology
• Week Four: Moral Theory II – Virtue Ethics and Ethics of Care
• Week Five: Moral Theory III – Ethics of Critique and Christian Ethics
• Week Six: Christian Ethics - On Narrative and the Christian vision of the human person
• Week Seven: Moral Evil: Four approaches
• Week Eight: Natural Law: Do Good and Shun Evil
• Week Nine: Human Rights: Liberalism and Natural Law
• Week Ten: Navigating cases with Moral Principles: Cooperation and Double Effect
• Week Eleven: The Task of Moral Theology
• Week Twelve: Grace and Friendship in the moral life

Learning Outcomes

• — Describe the dynamic of moral reasoning and action according to the Catholic moral tradition, by unpacking key elements such as conscience, practical reasoning, and engagement with sources
• — Identify theoretical models of moral reasoning and their associated theorists (utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, ethics of care, ethics of critique, narrative ethics) and show capacity to employ their basic principles in differing situations and/or cases.
• — Relate theological reasoning on moral action and the human person to the Christian narrative in a consistent and constructive manner
• — Empathise with moral failure and engage with explanations on moral evil: dualism, theodicy, perspectivism, privation and original sin
• — Compare and contrast approaches to human rights (natural law and liberal law)
• — Articulate the role of meaning, grace and friendship in moral reflection and action

Bibliography

• — ohn Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, chp 1 (selected passages on Moodle) Commentary: David Cloutier, ‘Human Fulfilment,’ in Matzko-McCarthey and Lysaught, eds, Gathered for the Journey, 134-152
• — Augustine, Confessions Bk 10 (selected passages on Moodle)
• — “What is happening?” The Case of the Scandal in Bohemia by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• — Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 18. (selected passages on Moodle) see also Veritatis Splendor nn.71-83
• — William C. Mattison, Introducing Moral Theology: True Happiness and the Virtues (Grand Rapids, MN: Brazos Press, 2008), 38-56. (See Moodle)
• — Cardinal John Henry Newman, Letter to the Duke of Norfolk (On Moodle) See also Veritatis Splendor 54-64.
• — Richard Gula, ‘On Conscience,’ Reason Informed by Faith, (Mahweh: Paulist Press, 1989). (See Moodle)
• — J.S. Mill, Utilitarianism; Immanuel Kant, Groundwork (See Moodle for selected passages)
• — Brenda Almond, Exploring Ethics, 39-55, 90-108.
• — Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto;
• — Pope Francis, Evanegelium Gaudii
• — Victor Lee Austin, ‘What’s Christian about Christian Ethics?’ Christian Ethics: A Guide for the Perplexed (London: Bloomsbury, 2012), 23-42 (See Moodle)
• — Paul J. Waddell, ‘Finding a Story Worth Handing On: Narrative and the Moral Life,‘ in Happiness and the Christian Moral Life: An Introduction to Christian Ethics (Lanham, MD: Sheed & Ward, 2008),135-164.
• — Andrew Michael Flescher, Moral Evil (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 2013).
• — Rene Girard, Violence and the Sacred (1972) (Selected Passages on Moodle)
• — Dana Dillon and David McCarthey, ‘Natural Law, Law and Freedom’ in Matzco and McCarthey, eds, Gathered for the Journey, 153-176;
• — Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 94.
• — United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, 1948 (Selected Passages) John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, 1968 (Selected Passages)
• — David Hollenbach, Claims in Conflict (Mahweh, Paulist Press, 1979)
• — Julie Hanlon Rubio, ‘Cooperation with Evil’ in Hope for the Common Ground (Georgetown University Press, 2016), 27-55.
• — Paulinus Odozor, Moral Theology in the Age of Renewal, ‘Second Vatican Council and the Renewal of Moral Theology,’ 17-44 and ‘The Debate on Moral Norms,’ 209-247.
• — William C. Mattison, Introducing Moral Theology: True Happiness and the Virtues (Grand Rapids, MN: Brazos Press, 2008). (See Moodle)