Ethics Midterm Study Guide.

Because Aquinas is crazy

1. What is genus, species, and differentia
1. Genus: What is predicated essentially of many things differing in a species
2. Species: different things belonging to the same genus
3. Differentia: that which separates a species from everything else in the genus
2. What are the four causes?
1. Formal Cause
2. Agent/ Efficient Cause
3. Material Cause
4. Final Cause
3. How do the four causes relate to ethics?
1. Formal Cause - the cause of the acts existence?
2. Agent Cause - The person who acts
3. Material Cause - the matter by which the person acts
4. Final cause - the reason for which the act is done
4. What are the three acts of the intellect?
1. Apprehension
2. Judgment
3. Reasoning
5. What does Aquinas mean by science?
1. Knowledge
6. How is ethics a science?
1. A practical science; a study of human action
7. What are the 12 components of a voluntary action?
1. Apprehend the good
2. Will the good
3. Judge the universal
4. Intend the good
5. Counsel
6. Consent
7. Judgment of means
8. Free choice
9. Command
10. Execution
11. Contemplation
12. Enjoyment
8. What is the relation between capacity, habit, act and object?
1. Our capacities allow us to act for some object, and doing so repeatedly is a habit
9. What are the various synonyms for capacity?
1. ability, potential, 
10. What are the various species of habits?
1. virtue
2. vice
11. what are the various synonyms for acts?
1. operation, execution, performance, transaction, accomplishment, consummation, achievement
12. What are the various capacities of humans?
1. grow, assimilate nutrition
2. reproduce
3. sensation
4. appetite
5. intellect
6. will
13. What are the capacities of animals?
1. growth, assimilate nutrition
2. reproduction
3. sensation
4. appetite
14. How is man a rational animal?
1. Come to know universals through reason
15. What does voluntary and involuntary mean?
1. voluntary - consent of the will
2. involuntary - without or contrary to the will
16. What did the word cardinal originally mean?
1. from the Latin word cardo, meaning hinge: all the other virtues revolve around these
17. What does the word virtue originally mean?
1. From the Latin word vir, meaning manly; denoting manly virtue
18. What are the four cardinal virtues?
1. Prudence
2. Justice
3. Temperance
4. Courage
19. Which part of the soul is prudence found in?
1. intellect
20. What does the word 'prudent' originally mean?
1. knowing, forseeing
21. What is the difference between practical and speculative reason?
1. practical - using truth as a means to an end
2. speculative - using truth for its own sake
22. What does Aquinas mean by science?
1. knowing
23. What does he mean by self evident?
1. that which is a necessary conclusion, needs no deductive  reason to come to
24. What is the difference between a universal and a particular?
1. Universal: that which applies to everything  in the species
2. Particular: a specific instance 
25. What is the role of prudence in relation to ends and means?
1. prudence illuminates for us the means deemed most appropriate for achieving antecedently established ends
26. Be able to give examples of ends and means
27. What is meant by a moral virtue?
1. those that perfect the appetitive powers of the soul
28. What is meant by a mean in moral virtues?
1. a balance between excess and lack, balance between extremes
29. What is meant by command?
1. The object of prudence, to direct subordinates in the right course of action
30. What is the difference between an individual and a common good?
1. An individual good has as its end the good of a specific person, whereas the common good has as its end the collective good of the many
31. What is meant by good counsel?
1. the research of reason to perform any particular act
32. What is meant by 'judging well according to common law'?
1. right judgment about particular practical matters
33. What is meant by 'judging well according to general law'?
1. right judgment according to higher principles than common sense
34. When is imprudence a sin?
1. When it is a negation, not a privation, i.e.  the movement or act of reason is in opposition to prudence, i.e. rejecting counsel. Mortal when it involves contempt and rejection of the Divine Law, but venial if acting beside the Law and without contempt and without detriment to things necessary for salvation
35. How/ why is lust a cause of imprudence?
1. because pleasure corrupts the operation of right reason
36. What is the difference between prudence of the flesh and craftiness?
1. Prudence of the flesh denotes a man who sees carnal goods as his final end
2. craftiness is the obtaining of an end, whether good or evil , through counterfeit means
37. How is right related to justice?
1. right is the object of justice
38. What are the two basic kinds of right?
1. Natural right
2. Positive right
39. What constitutes a natural right?
1. the law of equal returns, unchangeable
40. What is positive right?
1. a thing is adjusted or commensurated to a person by agreement or common consent
41. In which part of the soul does justice reside?
1. the will
42. How is justice a general virtue?
1. the good of any virtue is referable to the common good, which justice directs, so that all acts of virtue can pertain to justice, insofar as it directs the common good
43. How is justice a particular or special virtue?
1. A legal justice directs a man immediately to the good of another individual
44. What are the two species of justice
1. Distributive (whole in relation to its parts)
2. Commutative (part to part)
45. What is restitution?
1. To reinstate a person in the possession or dominion of his thing, must be given for salvation, giving back fully for the inequality, not just the amount, including giving what was not given in the first place
46. What does Aquinas mean by respect of person?
1. Respect of someone's position or office rather than their merits
47. Under what conditions is killing another person lawful?
1. Involuntary, so long as not negligent
2. self-defense, only so far as it is an unfortunate side-effect
3. Defence of the community or common good
4. justice executed by legitimate authority
48. What is Aquinas' argument for corporal punishment?
1. for the sake of the whole, a part may suffer, especially for its cure
49. What is the difference between theft and robbery?
1. Theft involves taking something in secret
2. Robbery involves taking something by violence
50. Which is worse?
1. robbery
51. What is calumny?
1. falsely charging a person with a crime
52. What are the three species of lying?
1. Jocose
2. Officious
3. Malicious
53. What is reviling?
1. The dishonoring of a person
54. What is backbiting?
1. Speaking against another's name secretly
55. What does Aquinas mean by tale-bearing?
1. Speaking evil of persons in order to sever relationships
56. What is derision?
1. Shaming a person with words
57. What does Aquinas mean by cursing?
1. to command or desire another's evil, as evil, being intent on the evil itself
58. Why does Aquinas think usury is wrong?
1. Usury is to sell what does not exist, because money is consumed by its use, and therfore there is an inequality in transaction, which is injustice
59. What is the difference between sins of omission and sins of transgression or commission?
1. A sin of omission is not doing what one ought to do, whereas a transgression is doing what one ought not to do
60. What does Aquinas mean by religion?
1. Offering service and ceremonial rites to a superior nature that men call divine
61. How is religion a natural phenomenon, rather than a part of special revelation?
1. Natural reason tells man that he is subject to a thing higher than himself on account of his personal defects. Naturally, anything superior deserves obeisance from that which is inferior
62. What is the difference between natural religion and revealed religion?
1. Natural religion uses public signs, philosophy and natural revelation, whereas revealed religion is given by God to private individuals and involves belief
63. What does Aquinas mean by prayer?
1. To ask becoming things of God, an act of reason
64. How is prayer efficacious?
1. By prayer we make ourselves able to receive what God has already deigned to give us (partial causality)
65. What are the two theological errors that one must avoid in discussion of prayer?
1. God can change His mind
2. Implying necessity on human affairs
66. What is meant by contingent?
1. That which could be otherwise
67. What is meant by necessary?
1. That which could not possibly be at all different
68. What does Aquinas mean by sacrifice?
1. Offering certain sensible signs to God in as a sign of the subjugation and honor due to Him
69. What does Aquinas mean to vow?
1. A binding to do or omit some particular thing
70. What is meant by an oath?
1. Calling God to bear witness to the Truth of a statement
71. Why is it necessary to invoke God as a witness?
1. because God is the source of all truth and knowledge