virtue theory.

Some thoughts on virtue theory, from a talk I heard on Saturday.

1. I liked her discussion of natural law: "human reason pondering human
nature to glean moral insight." The bastardized version of natural law she describes is even in the catechism. Check it out:

"Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved." (CCC 2357)

Given that there are no scriptural reasons to condemn homosexuality per se, we now have a situation where the Church foolishly teaches a hurtful doctrine with no Biblical or theological support. Sigh. In fact, the version of natural law she describes - coupled with modern psychology and the witness of numerous gays and lesbians - directly opposes this doctrine.

2. When I was about divine command theory, it occurred to me that divine command theory doesn't make sense Biblically either. That's a very fundamentalist reading of the Bible: that it gives specific advice on every possible moral situation we could ever encounter. If only life in God's hands was so easy! We face moral situations today that Biblical authors never dreamed of: global warming, bioethical questions such as cloning and designer babies, and questions about artificial intelligence of the kind that sci-fi authors love to explore. We have to use prayerful discernment and reason to come to tentative answers. We have no other choice.

3. I would also argue that virtue ethics gets us out of the Euthyphro dilemma that divine command theory would run into. The question goes, "Is it good because God commanded it or did God command it because it was good?" And virtue ethics says "yes, both": God is good and wants our good.

Peace.