FREEDOM AND LAW ⢠Human freedom finds its authentic and ...
FREEDOM AND LAW
Human freedom finds its authentic and complete fulfillment precisely in the acceptance of that law Some present-day cultural tendencies have given rise to several currents of thought in ethics which center upon an alleged conflict between freedom, and law. These doctrines would grant to individuals or social groups the right to determine what is good or evil Certain moral theologians have introduced a sharp distinction, between an ethical order which would be human in origin and of value for his world alone, and an order of salvation for which only certain intentions and interior attitudes regarding God and neighbour would be significant Man’s dominion extends in a certain sense over man himself The exercise of dominion over the world represents a great and responsible task for man one which involves his freedom in obedience to the Creators command God left man in the power of his own counsel that he might seek his creator and freely attain perfection. Attaining such perfection means personally building up that perfection in himself Reason draws its own truth and authority from the eternal law, which is none other than divine wisdom itself God gave this light and this law to man at creation. The rightful autonomy of the practical reason means that man possess in himself his own law, received from the creator Of theonomy or participated theonomy, since man’s free obedience to God’s law effectively implies that human reason and human will participate in God’s wisdom and providence God makes it clear that man doesn’t originally possess such knowledge as something properly his own, but only participates in it by the light of natural reason and of Divine Revelation Law must therefore be considered an expression of divine wisdom Man achieves such dignity when he frees himself from all subservience to his feelings The second Vatican council points out that the surpreme rule of life is the divine law itself, the eternal, objective and universal law by which God out of his wisdom and love arranges, directs and governs the whole world and the paths of the human community The council refers to the classic teaching on God’s eternal law And God’s wisdom is providence, a love which cares But God provides for man differently from the way in which he provides for beings which are not persons The essential subordination of reason and human law to the Wisdom of God and to his law The force of law consists in its authority to impose duties, to confer rights and to sanction certain behavior Man is able to recognize good and evil thanks to that discernment of good from evil which he himself carries out by his reason The different ways in which God, acting in history cares for the world and for mankind are not mutually exclusive; on the contrary they support eachother and intersect God’s plan poses no threat to man’s genuine freedom on the contrary, the acceptance of god’s plan is the only way to affirm that freeom
Other moralists in their concern to stress the importance of values, remain sensitive to the dignity of freedom, but they frequently conceive of freedom as somehow in opposition to or in conflict with material and biological nature, over which it must progressively assert itself Freedom in meaning of his behavior. The process of determining the mean would obviously have to take into account the many limitations of the human being, as existing in a body and in history A freedom which claims to be absolute ends up treating the human body as a raw datum, devoid of any meaning and moral values until freedom has shaped it in accordance with its design Human nature and the body appear as presuppositions or preambles, materially necessary for freedom to make its choice, yet extrinsic to the person the subject and the human act The person, by the light of reason and the support of virtue, discovers in the body the anticipatory signs, the expression and the promise of the gift of self, in conformity with the wise plan of the creator A doctrine which dissociates the moral act of the bodily dimensions of its exercise is contrary to the teaching of Scripture and Tradition Natural inclinations take on moral relevance only insofar as they refer to the human person and his authentic fulfillment, a fulfillment which for that matter can take place always and only in human nature The natural law thus understood does not allow for any division between freedom and nature Precisely because of this truth the natural law involves universality In order to perfect himself in his specific order, the person must do good and avoid evil, be concerned for the transmission and preservation of life The natural law expresses the dignity of the human person and lays the foundation for his fundamental rights and duties, it is universal in its precepts and its authority extends to all mankind Positive precepts such as these, which in order us to perform certain actions and to cultivate certain dispositions, are universally binding; they are unchanging The acting subject personally assimilates the truth contained inthe law The negative precepts of the natural law are universally valid What must be done in any given situation depends on the circumstances, not all of which can be foreseen; on the other hands t here are kinds of behavior which can never, in any situation, be a proper response – a response which is in conformity with the dignity of the person The Church has always taught that one may never choose kinds of behavior prohibited by the moral commandments expressed in negative form The very progress of cultures demonstrates that there is something in man which transcends those cultures Need to seek out and to discover the most adequate formulation for universal and permanent moral norms in the light of different cultural contexts, a formulation most capable of ceaselessly expressing their historical relevance of making them understood and of authentically interpreting their truth
Human freedom finds its authentic and complete fulfillment precisely in the acceptance of that law Some present-day cultural tendencies have given rise to several currents of thought in ethics which center upon an alleged conflict between freedom, and law. These doctrines would grant to individuals or social groups the right to determine what is good or evil Certain moral theologians have introduced a sharp distinction, between an ethical order which would be human in origin and of value for his world alone, and an order of salvation for which only certain intentions and interior attitudes regarding God and neighbour would be significant Man’s dominion extends in a certain sense over man himself The exercise of dominion over the world represents a great and responsible task for man one which involves his freedom in obedience to the Creators command God left man in the power of his own counsel that he might seek his creator and freely attain perfection. Attaining such perfection means personally building up that perfection in himself Reason draws its own truth and authority from the eternal law, which is none other than divine wisdom itself God gave this light and this law to man at creation. The rightful autonomy of the practical reason means that man possess in himself his own law, received from the creator Of theonomy or participated theonomy, since man’s free obedience to God’s law effectively implies that human reason and human will participate in God’s wisdom and providence God makes it clear that man doesn’t originally possess such knowledge as something properly his own, but only participates in it by the light of natural reason and of Divine Revelation Law must therefore be considered an expression of divine wisdom Man achieves such dignity when he frees himself from all subservience to his feelings The second Vatican council points out that the surpreme rule of life is the divine law itself, the eternal, objective and universal law by which God out of his wisdom and love arranges, directs and governs the whole world and the paths of the human community The council refers to the classic teaching on God’s eternal law And God’s wisdom is providence, a love which cares But God provides for man differently from the way in which he provides for beings which are not persons The essential subordination of reason and human law to the Wisdom of God and to his law The force of law consists in its authority to impose duties, to confer rights and to sanction certain behavior Man is able to recognize good and evil thanks to that discernment of good from evil which he himself carries out by his reason The different ways in which God, acting in history cares for the world and for mankind are not mutually exclusive; on the contrary they support eachother and intersect God’s plan poses no threat to man’s genuine freedom on the contrary, the acceptance of god’s plan is the only way to affirm that freeom
Other moralists in their concern to stress the importance of values, remain sensitive to the dignity of freedom, but they frequently conceive of freedom as somehow in opposition to or in conflict with material and biological nature, over which it must progressively assert itself Freedom in meaning of his behavior. The process of determining the mean would obviously have to take into account the many limitations of the human being, as existing in a body and in history A freedom which claims to be absolute ends up treating the human body as a raw datum, devoid of any meaning and moral values until freedom has shaped it in accordance with its design Human nature and the body appear as presuppositions or preambles, materially necessary for freedom to make its choice, yet extrinsic to the person the subject and the human act The person, by the light of reason and the support of virtue, discovers in the body the anticipatory signs, the expression and the promise of the gift of self, in conformity with the wise plan of the creator A doctrine which dissociates the moral act of the bodily dimensions of its exercise is contrary to the teaching of Scripture and Tradition Natural inclinations take on moral relevance only insofar as they refer to the human person and his authentic fulfillment, a fulfillment which for that matter can take place always and only in human nature The natural law thus understood does not allow for any division between freedom and nature Precisely because of this truth the natural law involves universality In order to perfect himself in his specific order, the person must do good and avoid evil, be concerned for the transmission and preservation of life The natural law expresses the dignity of the human person and lays the foundation for his fundamental rights and duties, it is universal in its precepts and its authority extends to all mankind Positive precepts such as these, which in order us to perform certain actions and to cultivate certain dispositions, are universally binding; they are unchanging The acting subject personally assimilates the truth contained inthe law The negative precepts of the natural law are universally valid What must be done in any given situation depends on the circumstances, not all of which can be foreseen; on the other hands t here are kinds of behavior which can never, in any situation, be a proper response – a response which is in conformity with the dignity of the person The Church has always taught that one may never choose kinds of behavior prohibited by the moral commandments expressed in negative form The very progress of cultures demonstrates that there is something in man which transcends those cultures Need to seek out and to discover the most adequate formulation for universal and permanent moral norms in the light of different cultural contexts, a formulation most capable of ceaselessly expressing their historical relevance of making them understood and of authentically interpreting their truth
