Basic Morality
Basic and foundational truths that govern how we act; together they make up our ethics
What are Moral Principles?
The ability to exercise one's intellect and will, possessed by all human beings.
The intrinsic worth belonging to each human person.
What is human dignity?
This term refers to the new cell that is formed by the fusion of sperm and egg
What is a zygote (or embryo)?
This is a common though expensive fertility treatment, in which fertilization takes place outside of the body.
What is in vitro fertilization?
A habitual disposition to do good
What is virtue?
The overreliance on what can be empirically known and the rejection of other forms of knowing, like philosophy and ethics.
What is scientism?
The concept that you are not primarily your soul, or primarily your body, but rather that your identity lies in the unity of your body and soul.
What is hylomorphism?
This philosophy, supported by John Locke and Rene Descartes, emphasizes that the body and the person are separate substances and can exist independently of one another.
What is Person-Body Dualism?
This type of stem cell research has seen the most clinical success so far.
What is adult stem cell research?
The ability to choose - and to choose the good - and is supported by a life of virtue
What is Freedom for Excellence?
A denial of the meaningfulness of our existence, and therefore of human dignity.
What is nihilism?
Pope Pius XII famously said that the Church is ok with the theory of evolution, as long as we recognize that this aspect of our humanity could not have evolved into being.
What is the soul?
This word describes the ability of someone in a coma, sleeping, or in an embryonic stage to exercise their intellect and their will.
What is the radical capacity for reason?
This word describes the ability of embryonic stem cells to differentiate into any type of cell in the human body.
What is pluripotent?
The understanding that choosing ethically good options constitutes a life of true joy
What is Morality of Happiness?
The discipline that, while it cannot tell us the process of how the Big Bang came about, can tell us Who brought it into being.
What is faith (or theology)?
These are the two abilities of humans that St. Thomas Aquinas says show that we are made in the image of God.
What are knowing and loving?
The Church supports this philosophy, which says that a person and body are one inseparable substance; to be a human being is to be a human person deserving dignity.
What is natural law realism?
As ethicists ponder what to do with frozen embryos leftover from IVF treatments, this is the only option that would allow this embryonic person to live a full human life.
What is embryo adoption?
These are the two principles established by the Hippocratic Oath that continue to govern medical ethics today.
What are non-maleficence and patient confidentiality?
An outlook that embraces moral relativism while denying any divine source of our existence; it emphasizes the incredible potential of human beings.
What is secular humanism?
By identifying the soul in this way, St. Thomas Aquinas argued that the soul is the organizing pattern of our physical bodies.
What is the form of the body?
The fact that the new embryo exhibits coordinated behavior, directing the process of its own development to further stages of maturity, is proof that this is now in existence.
What is a new human organism?
This phrase describes the Church's moral stance governing its opposition to abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and in vitro fertilization.
What is a consistent life ethic?