Pope Paul VI Institute

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Pope Paul VI Institute

• Principles of Morality, Double Effect and
  Cooperation
• By Fr. Edward J. Richard,
• MS, JD, DThM

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Morality

• Part I-Fundamental Points
• Part II-Double Effect
• Part III-Cooperation in Evil

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Part I - The Morality of Human Acts

• CCC1749. Human acts, that is, acts that are
  freely chosen in consequence of a judgment of
  conscience, can be morally evaluated. They are
  either good or evil.

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What good must I do?

• What is morality all about?
• There are numerous theories about what would
  constitute a good life ex. Hedonist, epicurean,
  pragmatist, utilitarian, etc.

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What good must I do?

• Our question is answered by the concept of the
  perfection of our human nature, with all its
  capacities, especially the inclination to truth
  and moral goodness.
• Our basic moral principle is Do good avoid
  evil
• Good leads to happiness evil is contrary to our
  nature.
• Then, how do we do that?

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The Moral Life

• Human Being-as is

Virtues
The Goal of Human Life
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Virtue

• A habitual and firm disposition to do the good
• Human and Supernatural
• Characterized by
• Promptness or readiness to act
• Ease or facility in performing the action
• Joy or satisfaction in its attainment

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The Morality of Particular Actions

• 1750 The Morality of human acts depends on
• --the object chosen
• --the end in view or the intention
• --the circumstances of the action.

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The object

• A good towards which the will deliberately
  directs itself. It specifies the act of the
  will.
• The object is the result of choice in the
  will. Is the good which is the object of
  choice in conformity with our true end?
• It is extremely important to remember that we
  are thinking here of the moral order.

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The Object

• Thus we are speaking of the moral object of an
  action and not merely the physical object or
  merely the physical act.

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Moral Object

• Physical Act
• Carnal Intercourse
• Killing

• Moral Object
• Fornication, adultery
• Murder
• Abortion
• euthanasia

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The Object

• Carnal intercourse has no specific identification
  in the moral order. But carnal intercourse
  between the unmarried is described by the moral
  term "fornication." What is meant by fornication
  makes it a moral object.
• The object answers the question, What is one
  doing?
• It is also clear that the object is the result of
  a choice about the means to achieve an outcome.

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Teaching CrMFC

• What does a CrM Practitioner do?
• What is the object of the action?
• One might want to see to avoid or achieve a
  pregnancy. The means one chooses is the object.

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Intention- Why?

• 1752 Intention resides exclusively in the acting
  subject. . . The end is the first goal of the
  intention and indicates the purposes pursued in
  the action.
• 1753 But a good intention a sincere desire to
  do good does not make behavior that is
  intrinsically disordered good or just.

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Intention

• The end does not justify the means. On the other
  hand, an added bad intention (such as vainglory)
  makes an act evil, that in itself, can be good
  (such as almsgiving).
• One might have a legitimate intention of avoiding
  pregnancy, say for health reasons.
• This intention does not justify the choice of
  immoral means.

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The circumstances

• 1754 The circumstances, including the
  consequences, are secondary elements of the moral
  act.

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Circumstances

• They contribute to increasing or diminishing the
  moral goodness or evil of a human act. (the
  amount of a theft) They can also diminish or
  increase the agent's responsibility (such as
  acting out of fear of death).

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Circumstances

• Circumstances of themselves cannot change the
  moral evil of acts themselves they can make
  neither good nor right an action that is in
  itself evil.

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Virtue and Good Action

• Virtue helps us to do the good and avoid evil
• How does virtue help us?

What, Why, Circumstances (many possibilities,inc.
consequences)
Human Good
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Prudence

• Prudence is the capacity to know how to pursue
  the good and avoid evil in every circumstance
• It guides all of our virtues
• In prudence we must judge that we are choosing
  the best means to achieve the good, with the
  intention of avoiding as much evil as possible

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Choosing the Good

• Following the moral path involves the use of all
  the virtues, under the guidance of Prudence, to
  make sure that good is chosen and evil is avoided
• So morality is clearly a matter of will
• We are talking about goods intended and foreseen
  evils

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Part II - Principle of Double Effect

• Here we have to look at the results of the act,
  even though we might not intend them.
• When an action will have two effects,
• one good one which is intended, and
• another evil effect which is foreseen, not
  intended, but only permitted,

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Double Effect

• The intended effect, good or evil, is called
  direct
• The unintended but foreseen effect is said to be
  indirect
• They are both voluntary

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Principle of Double Effect

• The driver of a car swerves to avoid the
  pedestrian but sees that the car will hit the
  parked truck.
• It is evident that the agent is in some way
  responsible for both effects.
• It is the agents action (and a choice) which
  produces the two effects, and if he or she did
  not place the action, the evil effect would not
  materialize here and now.

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Principle of Double Effect

• Does right order (i.e., Do good and avoid evil,
  which must be preserved as a fundamental tenet of
  the natural law) demand that one refrain from the
  action
• if not, under what circumstances is such an
  action consonant with right order?

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Two precepts of the Natural Law must be attended
to

• One must not intend to do that which is evil.
  (negative precept)
• One must prevent evil insofar as one can
  reasonably do so. (positive precept)

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Principle of Double Effect

• The Principle of Double Effect states that an
  action, good in itself, which has two effects--an
  intended good effect, and a foreseen, but not
  intended evil effectis moral provided there is a
  just order between the intended good and the
  permitted evil.

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Principle of Double Effect

• A large number of moral questions are solved by
  the principle of double effect.
• This can be an important question in most
  client-related issues.
• You have a good action (teaching) with a good
  effect (knowledge which benefits health,
  morality, etc.)

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Principle of Double Effect

• Can one do the good of teaching CrMFC when the
  person intends to use the knowledge for an evil
  purpose?
• To what extend does one need to avoid teaching a
  person who is going to use CrMFC to achieve an
  immoral end?

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Principle of Double Effect

• Double Effect is probably the more important
  principle (over cooperation) in most
  client-related issues.
• You have a good action (teaching in conformity
  with moral law) with a good effect (knowledge
  which benefits health, morality, etc.)
• A clinical, and effective transmission of a sound
  theology of the human body

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Principle of Double Effect-Overview

• 1. That the action, in itself, be good or at
  least indifferent
• 2. That the good effect cannot be obtained in
  some equally expeditious way, without the
  concomitant evil
• 3. That the evil effect be not directly willed,
  but only permitted. Under no condition can the
  action be even partially prompted by a desire for
  the evil effect. Otherwise the evil effect
  becomes a direct voluntary effect.
• 4. That the evil effect be not a means to
  producing the good effect. Otherwise, the evil
  effect, like any other means, would be
  necessarily directly willed.
• 5. That there be a right order between the good
  that is intended and the evil that is permitted.

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The Parts of the Principle

• The Action Must be Good in Itself
• It is a fundamental rule of conscience that one
  may never do evil in order that good may come of
  it (see St. Paul)
• The action, considered in itself, apart from the
  concomitant evil effect, must be morally good, or
  at least indifferent.
• In teaching CrMFC services, this would not be an
  issue

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The Parts of the Principle

• Which Has Two Effects
• Good and Evil
• Both the good and the evil effects are results of
  the action in question
• Example Someone could use the morally good
  information about fertility as part of a plan to
  achieve a pregnancy out of wedlock or to engage
  in fornication

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The Parts of the Principle

• Intended Good Effect-
• the knowledge of CrMFC
• is called the direct voluntary effect.
• It is the good that determines the will
• Example The direct voluntary effect that
  determines the practitioners will is the desire
  to communicate morally good knowledge of
  fertility care principles

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The Parts of the Principle

• A Merely Permitted Evil Effect
• called the indirect voluntary effect that is,
  although foreseen as an evil effect resulting
  from the action, it is no way an object of the
  act of the will.
• Its connection with the will is indirect -- i.e.,
  in that the act of the will does in some way
  cause the evil effect.
• Ex., it is foreseen that someone could use this
  information for an immoral purpose

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The Parts of the Principle

• Just order (due proportion) Between the Intended
  Good and Foreseen Evil Effects
• may licitly be placed that is, without moral
  guilt
• provided there is a just order between the
  intended good and the permitted evil
• Ex., The good of establishing a center and
  teaching CrMFC outweighs the potential
  foreseeable evil that others might engage in. It
  supports the Gospel of Life.

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Just Order or Due Proportion

• Truth about God truth about creation (Highest
  but always reasonable)
• Common Good-Public safety education
• Individual Good of Life
• Ones own Suicide-no martyrdom-yes.
• Ones neighbor
• Health and well-being including fertility
• Totality-can sacrifice an organ or limb to save a
  life
• Convenience, annoyance, minor issues of justice
• We do not permit directly destroying a
  subordinate good for the sake of the greater, but
  we can allow the sacrifice, as in martyrdom or
  totality.

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The Parts of the Principle

• It would be contrary to right order to allow some
  serious damage as a secondary result of an action
  whose good effect would be relatively
  insignificant.
• A matter of prudent human judgment.

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The Parts of the Principle

• Otherwise not Reasonably Attained
• If the good effect could be obtained in an
  equally expeditious and effective way, without
  the unintended evil effect, this must be done.
• In that case there would be no just reason for
  permitting the evil effect.
• Probably not a major issue here

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Churchs position

• Teach natural methods of fertility regulation as
  a means of combating the culture of death

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Evangelium vitae

• 88. All of this involves the implementation of
  long-term practical projects and initiatives
  inspired by the Gospel.
• Many are the means towards this end which
  need to be developed with skill and serious
  commitment. At the first stage of life, centers
  for natural methods of regulating fertility
  should be promoted as a valuable help to
  responsible parenthood, in which all individuals,
  and in the first place the child, are recognized
  and respected in their own right, and where every
  decision is guided by the ideal of the sincere
  gift of self. Marriage and family counseling
  agencies by their specific work of guidance and
  prevention, carried out in accordance with an
  anthropology consistent with the Christian vision
  of the person, of the couple and of sexuality,
  also offer valuable help in rediscovering the
  meaning of love and life, and in supporting and
  accompanying every family in its mission as the
  "sanctuary of life."

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Principle of Double Effect-Summary

• 1. That the action, in itself, be good or at
  least indifferent
• 2. That the good effect cannot be obtained in
  some equally expeditious way, without the
  concomitant evil
• 3. That the evil effect be not directly willed,
  but only permitted. Under no condition can the
  action be even partially prompted by a desire for
  the evil effect. Otherwise the evil effect
  becomes a direct voluntary effect.
• 4. That the evil effect be not a means to
  producing the good effect. Otherwise, the evil
  effect, like any other means, would be
  necessarily directly willed.
• 5. That there be a right order between the good
  that is intended and the evil that is permitted.

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Part III

• Cooperation

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Principles of Cooperation

• Cooperation is understood to mean the
  participation of more than one person in the same
  immoral or criminal action.
• Because someone could misuse knowledge of CrMFC
  we consider the question of cooperation
• Varying degrees of association in a situation
  which is contrary to right order.

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Principles of Cooperation

• The responsibility of those who are the principal
  agents of sinful acts (the main actor) is not the
  issue
• The question here is about those who participate
  in some way
• Some principles are helpful in establishing the
  existence or degree of guilt.

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Kinds of Cooperation

• Different kinds of cooperation
• Formal
• Material

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Formal or Material

• The cooperation is either formal or material
  depending upon whether one intends the sin whose
  external commission one is aiding.

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Formal Cooperation

• One takes part in the evil action and at the
  same time adopts the evil intention of the main
  actor.

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Formal Cooperation

• A practitioner who adopts the intention of the
  unmarried couple to use CrMFC to fornicate at
  will is guilty of formal cooperation.

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Formal Cooperation

• A CrMFCS Practitioner who agrees with an
  intention of a couple to use the knowledge she
  teaches them for IVF formally cooperates

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Formal Cooperation

• Formal cooperation in the sinful act of another
  is always wrong and the cooperator is equally
  guilty of the act as the principal actor

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Formal Cooperation

• can be explicit or implicit

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Explicit Formal Cooperation

• Cooperation is explicit when the end intended by
  the cooperator is the sin of the principal agent.
  
• Ex., Inez, the practitioner, adopts the intention
  of the couple to use FC principles to conceive
  out of wedlock.

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Implicit Formal Cooperation

• It is implicit when the cooperator does not
  directly intend to associate himself with the sin
  of the principal agent, but the end of the
  external act (finis operis) which for the sake of
  some advantage or interest the cooperator does
  intend, includes from its nature or from
  circumstances the guilt of the sin of the
  principal agent.
• In teaching this might come about if you try to
  get involved for some reason in helping bring
  about IVF because your cousin has a clinic and
  needs the business or if you think that it is OK
  for non-Catholics to use IVF

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Divisions According to Degrees of Influence

• From the viewpoint of Activity
• From the viewpoint of Dependence
• (see www.edwardjamesrichard.com go to medical
  ethics page)
• From the viewpoint of Nearness to the Act of the
  Principal Agent

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Nearness to the act

• cooperation is either immediate or mediate,
• depending on whether the cooperator shares in the
  sinful act or in some act that preceded or
  followed it.
• Immediate? Not likely for a practitioner Napro,
  yes.
• Giving information that will bring about the
  immoral act.

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Immediate Material Cooperation

• occurs when one actually performs the immoral
  action in cooperation with another

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Immediate Material Cooperation

• IMC will usually be formal cooperation and the
  cooperator is equally guilty with the principal
  agent.
• IMC will usually be formal cooperation because it
  is senseless to say that a person in his right
  mind performs a criminal act without intending in
  his will to do it.

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Immediate Material Cooperation

• Unless you actually get involved in the details
  of the process of some evil action like IVF, for
  example, you will not be cooperating in this way.

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Mediate material cooperation

• Mediate material cooperation involves
  participation in the sinful act of another but
  not in such a way that one actually places the
  act with the other or concurs in the evil
  intention of the other but by doing something
  which is good or indifferent in itself, that
  action supplies an occasion of sin to another or
  supplies assistance, means or preparation.

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Mediate Material Cooperation

• The will of the cooperator is not so much that
  one cooperate in the sinful act, as that the
  other person uses the action of the cooperator as
  occasion or assistance to his crime.

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Proximate and Remote

• MMC is subdivided into proximate and remote by
  reason of its nearness according as the act of
  sin will follow closely or otherwise on the act
  of cooperation.

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Proximate and Remote MMC

• Proximate cooperation is more closely morally
  connected with the evil action of the principal
  agent,
• but remote is understood to have little moral
  connection with the sin.
• Working with people who end up using CrMS for
  immoral purposes does not necessarily make a
  practitioner an immoral cooperator according to
  Catholic moral principles.

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Proximate and Remote MMC

• This nearness is a Moral category.
• how definite it is that the sin of the agent
  follows on the act of the cooperator?
• Is there an intrinsic connection?
• The question of education. Could a lot of
  education be used for an evil purpose?

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Proximate and Remote MMC

• In analyzing this look at the specific act that
  you are about to do, not just the whole array of
  instruction.
• Does the client have a specific immoral purpose
  for wanting a piece of information from you?
• If you are not sure whether it is moral to
  proceed, seek counsel from others with the
  appropriate expertise. This is the prudent, and
  therefore, moral approach.

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Proximate and Remote MMC

• What is the good effect of the clients
  possession of a specific piece of information I
  am asked to give?
• Does that good equal or exceed the evil which the
  client intends on committing? Teaching about a
  particular aspect of the system (good) v. the
  intended use of that information to achieve IVF
  (evil).
• Is there another way to achieve the same good and
  avoid the evil?

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Sinfulness of Cooperation

• Some people seem to think that all cooperation is
  evil and must be avoided-that is not the case.
• The principles of cooperation addressed most
  clearly the cases where the cooperation was
  formal or where the material cooperation was a
  physical act which contributed to the outcome.
  The principles are not precise and do not cover
  intellectual matters well.

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Sinfulness of Cooperation

• Note that in analyzing cases of cooperation
  regarding teaching about the use of the signs of
  fertility, the practitioner is not teaching the
  techniques for IVF, nor teaching a couple how to
  engage in fornication, for example, or providing
  some physical assistance to those acts.
• Education presents a case quite unlike the
  traditional categories of cooperation.

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Formal cooperation

• always sinful since it includes the approval of
  the sin of another and some willing participation
  in that sin
• In confession then it would not suffice to say
  that one cooperated in sin, one must also
  identify the sin committed.

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Material Cooperation

• In general the question of the sinfulness of
  mediate material cooperation depends upon a
  number of factors including an assessment of the
  degree of influence and the reasons for
  performing the action which will be used by the
  principle actor.

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Material Cooperation

• Sometimes material cooperation might not be
  permitted regardless of the various degrees of
  influence, however.

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ERD 45

• Abortion (that is, the directly intended
  termination of pregnancy before viability or the
  directly intended destruction of a viable fetus)
  is never permitted. Every procedure whose sole
  immediate effect is the termination of pregnancy
  before viability is an abortion, which, in its
  moral context, includes the interval between
  conception and implantation of the embryo.
  Catholic health care institutions are not to
  provide abortion services, even based upon the
  principle of material cooperation. In this
  context, Catholic health care institutions need
  to be concerned about the danger of scandal in
  any association with abortion providers.

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Quaecumque sterilizatio

• Any cooperation institutionally approved or
  tolerated in actions which are in themselves,
  that is, by their nature and condition, directed
  to a contraceptive end . . . is absolutely
  forbidden. For the official approbation of direct
  sterilization and, a fortiori, its management and
  execution in accord with hospital regulations, is
  a matter which, in the objective order, is by its
  very nature (or intrinsically) evil.

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Material cooperation, in general

• Is analyzed according to the principle of double
  effect.
• From the cooperation two results follow, one that
  is good and one that is bad.

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Mediate Material Cooperation

• Since the cooperator foresees but does not intend
  the evil he is faced with a question of the
  principle of double effect.
• Special consideration here is directed toward the
  proportion between the cooperation and the
  gravity of the crime.

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Mediate Material Cooperation

• 1. The good effect will be, at least, my own
  freedom of action, plus the value of me doing
  this or that action, not wrong in itself.
• Teaching fertility care is a good action and
  should be pursued in and of itself to appropriate
  degrees for respective age levels. The good
  effect is the knowledge that flows from it.

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Mediate Material Cooperation

• 2. The evil effect is the fact that the action
  is an occasion for sin or an assistance to it.
• The evaluation will depend upon your prudent
  judgment, but remember that you can never choose
  to do evil yourself to bring about some good.

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Intrinsic Evil

• An act of cooperation can be intrinsically evil
  if it has no uses except such as are evil.
• Teaching knowledge about identifying peak day or
  ovulation would not be anything more than remote
  cooperation, in general.
• But that could change when you are asked a
  specific question
• Ex. A practitioner is asked, Would you show me
  the best day, based on my chart, for me to get
  artificial insemination.

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Sterilization In Catholic Hospitals

• The CDF has declared that any policy or plan on
  the part of a Catholic hospital to cooperate in
  sterilization is intrinsically evil. (Quaecumque
  sterilizatio)

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Education about Your Purpose

• An act of cooperation is evil according to its
  circumstances if it signifies approval of evil,
  gives scandal, endangers the faith or virtue of
  the cooperator, or violates a law of the Church.
• It is not imprudent to teach knowledge of the
  signs of fertility.
• It could present a moral problem, however, if you
  fail to educate about your intention, or allow
  the client to believe that you even tacitly
  accept his/her purpose.

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What is your reason for teaching?

• The second condition is that the cooperator must
  have a reason sufficiently weighty to justify
  permitting the evil connected with his
  cooperation.

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How serious are you?

• The graver the sin that will be committed the
  graver the reason required.
• A graver reason is required for cooperation in
  assault than for cooperation in theft.
• So the greater the evil that you suspect or know
  could be committed, the more reason you have to
  avoid cooperating.

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• A grave reason for cooperation is required, if a
  great evil incurred.
• It would be imprudent to give someone specific
  information when it is known with certainty that
  such will result in a serious offense against
  human life or dignity

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Will the person act immorally anyway?

• The greater the dependence of the evil act on
  ones cooperation, the greater the reasons.
• A person might act regardless of our involvement
  with the net result that the only real effect of
  our teaching would be to plant seeds of conversion

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Scandal

• 2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which
  leads another to do evil. The person who gives
  scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He
  damages virtue and integrity he may even draw
  his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a
  grave offense if by deed or omission another is
  deliberately led into a grave offense.

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Scandal

• 2287 Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in
  such a way that it leads others to do wrong
  becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the
  evil that he has directly or indirectly
  encouraged. "Temptations to sin are sure to come
  but woe to him by whom they come!"

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Summary Point

• Pay attention to the principle of Double Effect.
• Make your intentions clear by what you say and do.

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The End