The fourth and perhaps most contested issue raised in this second chapter of Veritatis Splendor is that of the moral act. Some acts, so maintains Pope St John Paul II, are evil by their very nature. They are intrinsically evil (intrinsic malum). They cannot be justified by circumstances or higher goals. Many thinkers in the past sixty years have argued that the morality of an act is entirely dependent on circumstances or intended outcomes. This is called consequentialism. Every act therefore finds its moral value (or disvalue) in the balance between ‘ontic’ goods and evils. So, a normally evil act, such as deliberately to kill another human being, may be justified in terms of some higher good that is intended to result.
Pope John Paul II argues that this is a false analysis. The act draws its moral value as good or evil from its relationship with the end of the human being, which is union in love with God. Some acts — such as murder, abortion, adultery, torture, or the exploitation of the innocent — cannot accord with the order of love of God and neighbor. There is no loving way to murder someone. Such acts are always and in every circumstance evil and make one who does them to be evil.
The importance of an reason for this become clearer in chapter 3 of the encyclical, which we will examine next week.
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