NORMS, LAW & OBLIGATION
This type of norm is the highest expression of moral obligation and exists primarily to promote the common good rather than personal preference.
What is a law?
According to Aquinas, this foundational moral directive summarizes the entire content of natural law.
What is “Do good and avoid evil”?
This fundamental passion is the root of all other human desires and inclinations toward the good.
What is love?
This psychological theorist described freedom as developing through identity formation during adolescence.
Who is Erik Erikson?
This biblical figure led Israel from slavery to freedom through covenantal law rather than chaos.
Who is Moses?
Unlike rules or maxims, this kind of norm loses its binding force when it fundamentally contradicts justice and human dignity.
What is an unjust law?
This form of law is “engraved in the soul”.
What is natural law?
Virtues
What are stable habits formed through discipline that enable a person to act consistently toward the good?
Lawrence Kohlberg
Which theorist argued that moral reasoning matures from obedience to punishment toward universal ethical principles?
This passage summarizes Christian freedom as liberation from sin rather than exemption from moral obligation.
What is Galatians 5:1?
This philosopher argues that for this to be morally binding, it must be reasonable, ordered toward the common good, and derived from both God and human reason.
Who is St. Thomas Aquinas?
This argument explains why human law must always be subordinate to moral truth rather than public opinion or political power.
What is the claim that human law must conform to natural law?
Pride
Which capital sin distorts the desire for excellence into self-exaltation and resistance to truth?
This stage of moral development prioritizes justice and ethical principles even when they conflict with the law.
What is the post-conventional stage?
According to St. Paul, this—not the Mosaic Law—is the true source of human freedom.
What is grace?
Freedom ordered toward the common good vs. unrestricted autonomy
What is the distinction between freedom and license?
These four inclinations structure natural law reasoning and explain why morality extends beyond legality.
What are the preservation of life, propagation and education of offspring, pursuit of truth, and living in a peaceful society?
Prudence
Which virtue governs practical decision-making by integrating reason, experience, and moral instinct?
Radical individualism (or relativism)
Which modern danger of freedom emphasizes self-determination while undermining community, truth, and moral depth?
The story of the Rich Young Man
Which Gospel encounter reveals how attachment to wealth can become an obstacle to freedom without explicit condemnation?
Conscience informed by moral reasoning.
Which concept explains why blind obedience to authority is morally insufficient and why unjust civil laws may require resistance rather than compliance?
The Ring of Gyges
Which philosophical problem challenges whether moral behaviour is genuine if goodness depends only on surveillance or punishment?
Passions
What are not morally evil in themselves but become destructive when detached from reason and virtue?
This explains why freedom without responsibility ultimately collapses into isolation, injustice, and loss of meaning.
What is autonomy detached from the common good?
This theological claim explains why salvation is not achieved through human effort alone but through __________.
participation in God's life