Catholic Social Teachings and Utilitarianism - Case Study Example

Actions and Crimes in the Catholic Church according to Utilitarianism and Catholic Social Teaching

Introduction

The thesis Statement:

The essay discusses how Catholic social teachings and utilitarianism perceive crimes and actions in the Catholic Church. Crimes are among the most fundamental issues in our day to day lives. According to the Utilitarianism Philosophy, crime is a moral philosophy which proves that the results will always justify ones actions. If a person seeks to blackmail other persons so as to seek his pleasure, it is immoral according to the Catholic Teachings Ethics. To the contrary, the utilitarianisms hold that if the end is good then it means the extortion actions initially taken were good too.

The Consequentialists hold that the consequences of an individual’s conduct are any judgment’s ultimate basis about the wrongness or rightness of that act. Good consequences make good actions while bad consequences make bad actions. The purpose of the Consequentialists is to seek the greatest happiness level for the greatest number of people. Their goal on the other hand is seeking pleasure and avoiding pain (Anonymous, 2009).

All humans have dignity because they are created by God. An individual hence has his own dignity and worth; he gets to choose what he wants. The actions of an individual in the community are divided into bad and good. According to the human dignity therefore, an individual is free to choose what he wants to do. Every human being in the Catholic Church is expected to help each other in the Lord’s name (Anonymous, 2006).

Background

• Parts of the Moral Act

According to Catholicism, there are three key parts or components of a moral act. They include circumstances, intention and object. At least one of the acts has to be good. Others may tend to be indifferent yet none should be evil. Defecting any of the acts renders the act morally evil (Anonymous, 2006). The chosen object refers to a good that will direct itself deliberately. It’s just a human act matter. The morally chosen object is a specification of act of the will. This is insofar as the reason to judges and recognizes it as being or not being in conformity with the good that is true. The morality objective norms express the rational evil and good order which is attested to by conscience.

The intention contrasts the object by residing within the acting subject. Because it lies at an actions voluntary source and ends up determining it by its end, an intention is an essential element of an actions moral evaluation. This represents the first mission of the intention indicating the purpose that was pursued in the action. The intention is hence the representation of the wills movement towards the end. It focuses on the activity’s goal aimed towards the anticipated good from the undertaken action. Intention does not limit itself to directing the individual actions but rather, guides a lot of actions towards the same purpose. It is capable of orienting an individual’s life to its ultimate end. For instance, services done with an end to help an individual’s neighbor can similarly be inspired by God’s love as well as our actions ultimate end. Nevertheless, the same actions can be inspired by a lot of intentions such as to perform a service so as to obtain favours (Anonymous, 2009).

The circumstances on the other hand are representations of the secondary elements consequences of a moral act. Circumstances contribute in either the increase or diminish of the evil or moral goodness of the human acts. They can at the same time increase or diminish the responsibility of the agent such as to act out of the fear of death. The circumstances of themselves cannot therefore change acts moral quality themselves. In this regard, they can neither make right nor good an action in its evil (Anonymous, 2009).

• Historical /Political Background

According to St. John Paul II (1992), for people to be genuine, development has to be achieved within a freedom and solidarity framework, without actually sacrificing either of the two under whatever pretext. Development’s moral character as well as its necessary promotion tends to be emphasized when very rigorous respect is offered to the demands that derive from the order of good and truth that is proper to the human person. For a long time now, the Catholic Church thinks that the human being moral is very fundamental. In the same respect therefore, human beings true development is rights and freedom. At the same time, however, people cannot do things that hurt others so as to achieve their own goods (St. John Paul II, 1992).

• The Ethical Responses

The philosophical response to Utilitarianism holds that the answer given to blackmail and the imposed actions is different. Like the other consequentialism forms, the core idea behind it is that whether an action is morally wrong or right depends on the effects it causes. Precisely, the only relevant action effects are the bad and good results that are produced. John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham are the most popular classical utilitarian. Utarianism is therefore a philosophical theory indicating how people should evaluate a lot of things involving choices they face. What can be evaluated include such things as policies, character traits, actions and moral codes. The theory is consequentialism form because it is based upon the notion that it’s the result or consequence of policies, laws and actions that determine they are right or wrong, good or bad (Lefevere, 1997).

Catholics consider it immoral to blackmail others so as to seek personal pleasure. However, according to Utilitarianism the action of extortion is rendered good as long as the end is good. For example, a man from Ghana was arrested after an extortion attempt that targeted a leading Jewish Democratic congressman (Anonymous, 2009). Eric Kwame Ogbosu, on 15th July 2009 was charged with attempting to extort cash from Robert Wexler by threats to give Wexler’s Social Security number together the identity of his wife to thieves according to reports from the media. Since his arrest, a lot of attempts have been made in opening credit accounts for the social security number of Wexler. According to the Utilitarianism, if Ogbosu did that such that he could benefit his interests and at the same better his life, the action is good.

• The principle of utility

The principle of utility holds that a right action will be brought about by the greatest happiness for a great number of persons. The principle holds that sometimes an individual needs to sacrifices some things so as to get great amounts of happiness. For example, Derfner (Jan 1993), holds that Binyamin Ntanyahu admitted to having cheated on his wife. Binyamin was a Likud chairmanship contestant when he received a phone call threatening him to step down or his cheating video cassette will be aired on media. A fellow close contestant, David Levy took the heat for allegedly conducting the blackmail. In this case, if many people felt happy about Netanyahu quitting then the person who spear headed the blackmail will be a good man for having brought the greatest happiness amount to the greatest amount of persons.

• Human Dignity

According to the Catholic teachings, each person has his own dignity and worth with the right of choosing what it is he wants. According to Anonymous (2009), a self proclaimed former mob leader Yossi Harari got arrested after having been suspected for extorting a businessman. Harari headed Ramat Anudar, crime organization that conducted murders, extortion and ultimatums. Harari was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2000. To the contrary, according to the human dignity principles, an individual is free to make a choice on what action he wants to take whether good or bad. The freedom of choice is a fundamental human right. When it comes to Utilitarianism, however, the actions of an individual are no longer important. An individual needs to make a choice of doing a thing that makes the end good (Bloomfield, 2009).

The human life is sacred and that human’s dignity is the society’s moral vision. According to Malcolm (1998), for instance, a federal jury found three anti-abortion national leaders guilty. The National Organization for Women together with abortion clinics within Delaware and Wisconsin filed a civil law suit that accused the defendants for having attempted to intimidate clinics. Everything that lives has its meaning. A person may be willing to do good to bring help to others. However, other persons would rather cause harm to others so as to gain their benefits. The utilitarianism to the contrary holds that if the actions of the anti-abortion group benefited the rights of many people then their actions are good (Malcolm, 1998).

• The Human’s Action in the Community

For Catholics, there are either bad or good actions. This can be illustrated by a case in Guangzhou where some authorities constantly interfered with and stopped Liangren Church gathering. They even forced the landlord into terminating the church’s leasing contract (Tongsu, 2010). According to Tongsu (2010), the church pastor was taken into custody and at the same time locking down the church’s gathering venue. For this case, the authorities have violated the religious rights of the person. For the Utilitarianism, however, so long as the action gives most people then the action is upheld and deemed okay.

The principles of human dignity hold that a human being is free to choose what he wants to do. The Catholic Church can therefore do a lot in fighting corruption and promoting the economies that tend to pit the needs of citizens ahead of the privilege gains and interests of individuals. Bribery, extortion, nepotism, embezzlement, patronage and other misuse of power for personal gain is rendered unethical. They are hindrances to development. Utilitarianism will consider it a good action if it gives happiness to many needy people Tongsu (2010).

• Community in Catholic Church

The Catholic Church thinks that Blackmailing and Extortion are bad. The ministries therefore have to be exercised in a fraternal service and dedication spirit to the church. This is done in the Lord’s name. Each person’s conscience at the same time shouldn’t confine itself to just individual considerations in the person’s own acts moral judgment (St. John Paul II, 1987). The community of Catholic reminds members to keep themselves in good positions other than doing. Every human being should therefore each one another in the church in the Lords name.

• Moral Actions

The moral principles of the Catholic Church hold that every individual is supposed to keep good moral characters and work so as to get his community truly developed. Development therefore has to be achieved within the freedom and solidarity framework without having to sacrifice either (St. John Paul II, 1987). The catholic moral actions hold that humans a have freedom and rights.

• God’s view of human beings

God expects all human beings to love each other. The book of Romans 12: 9-18 encourages people to love each other. The choice an individual makes determines who he is. Proverbs 22:2 reminds us that the Lord made both the poor and the rich. Individuals hence determine the kind of persons they want to be (St. John Paul II, 1987).

Comparing and contrasting Utilitarianism and the Catholic Church

Summarily, there are a lot of differences between the Catholic Church and the Utilitarianism especially in regard to how they approach problems. The key differences and similarities are:

• For the Utilitarianism, if there is a good it automatically indicates that the extortion actions were good too. For the Catholic Church however, it is immoral for a person blackmails others to seek personal pleasure.
• The two notions are similar in that they both hold that happiness in essential for human beings.

Conclusion

In conclusion, crimes have become very essential concerns in the society. The utilitarianism however has got different perspective of crime when they view it in terms of extortion and blackmail. As much there are differences between the two theological notions, there are also clear similarities between Utilitarianism and the Catholic Church. Utilitarianism encourages people to seek pleasure and at the same time avoid pain. The Catholic Church requires people to avoid evil and strive to help one another.

• The principle of utility

The principle of utility holds that a right action will be brought about by the greatest happiness for a great number of persons. The principle holds that sometimes an individual needs to sacrifices some things so as to get great amounts of happiness. For example, Derfner (Jan 1993), holds that Binyamin Ntanyahu admitted to having cheated on his wife. Binyamin was a Likud chairmanship contestant when he received a phone call threatening him to step down or his cheating video cassette will be aired on media. A fellow close contestant, David Levy took the heat for allegedly conducting the blackmail. In this case, if many people felt happy about Netanyahu quitting then the person who spear headed the blackmail will be a good man for having brought the greatest happiness amount to the greatest amount of persons.

• Human Dignity

According to the Catholic teachings, each person has his own dignity and worth with the right of choosing what it is he wants. According to Anonymous (2009), a self proclaimed former mob leader Yossi Harari got arrested after having been suspected for extorting a businessman. Harari headed Ramat Anudar, crime organization that conducted murders, extortion and ultimatums. Harari was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2000. To the contrary, according to the human dignity principles, an individual is free to make a choice on what action he wants to take whether good or bad. The freedom of choice is a fundamental human right. When it comes to Utilitarianism, however, the actions of an individual are no longer important. An individual needs to make a choice of doing a thing that makes the end good (Bloomfield, 2009).

The human life is sacred and that human’s dignity is the society’s moral vision. According to Malcolm (1998), for instance, a federal jury found three anti-abortion national leaders guilty. The National Organization for Women together with abortion clinics within Delaware and Wisconsin filed a civil law suit that accused the defendants for having attempted to intimidate clinics. Everything that lives has its meaning. A person may be willing to do good to bring help to others. However, other persons would rather cause harm to others so as to gain their benefits. The utilitarianism to the contrary holds that if the actions of the anti-abortion group benefited the rights of many people then their actions are good (Malcolm, 1998).

• The Human’s Action in the Community

For Catholics, there are either bad or good actions. This can be illustrated by a case in Guangzhou where some authorities constantly interfered with and stopped Liangren Church gathering. They even forced the landlord into terminating the church’s leasing contract (Tongsu, 2010). According to Tongsu (2010), the church pastor was taken into custody and at the same time locking down the church’s gathering venue. For this case, the authorities have violated the religious rights of the person. For the Utilitarianism, however, so long as the action gives most people then the action is upheld and deemed okay.

The principles of human dignity hold that a human being is free to choose what he wants to do. The Catholic Church can therefore do a lot in fighting corruption and promoting the economies that tend to pit the needs of citizens ahead of the privilege gains and interests of individuals. Bribery, extortion, nepotism, embezzlement, patronage and other misuse of power for personal gain is rendered unethical. They are hindrances to development. Utilitarianism will consider it a good action if it gives happiness to many needy people Tongsu (2010).

• Community in Catholic Church

The Catholic Church thinks that Blackmailing and Extortion are bad. Read More