BIOETHICS

By: Perlie L. Arreo,RN

Law and Conscience

LAW – an ordinance of reason

promulgated by competent authority
for the common good
3 essential elements of law
1. ordinance of reason
2. Promulgated by competent
authority
3. common good
Characteristics of true law

1. true law is just

 … honest
 … Possible of fulfillment
 … Useful
 … Relatively permanent
 … Promulgated
CLASSES OF LAW

1. ETERNAL LAW
 Divine reason and will commanding
that the natural order of things be
preserved and forbidding that it be
disturbed
 Directs all things in the universe
making them toward an end which is
God himself
 Directs everything by necessity- that
is – everything necessarily follows the
direction of said law viatendency of
his nature – except man in his
rationality
2. NATURAL LAW
 Eternal law as known to man by
reason
 provides man the general rule as
known to his reason which means “
the good is to be done and evil is to
be avoided
Properties of natural law

1. OBLIGATORY – certain moral laws

are inherent in the nature of man from
which man in his rationality cannot
altogether escape
2. RECOGNIZABLE – regardless of
religion, because of his rationality,
man recognizes the natural law
providing that good should be done
while evil should be avoided
3. IMMUTABLE – since human nature
is unchanging, its natural tendency to
do good and avoid evil does not also
change
4. UNIVERSAL – the binding force of
natural law extends to all human
beings worldwide
HUMAN POSITIVE LAW

Ordinance of reason derived from

natural law
Concrete and determinate application
of the natural law promulgated for the
common good by a human agency in
charge of a society
KINDS OF HUMAN POSITIVE
LAW
1. STATE LAW (legal/civil) – enacted
by the state through its legitimate
body of legislature for the temporal
common good
2. CHURCH LAW (ecclesiastical) –
enacted by the church through its
ecclesiastical governing authority that
is ultimately geared towards the final
end of man which is God
CONSCIENCE

Practical judgment of reason on the

goodness and evilness of an act
BASIS: a set of moral principles may
of which were learned as early as
childhood serving as the starting point
of human reason
Types of human conscience

1. CORRECT AND ERRONEOUS

CORRECT - present in the judgment
of an act as good when it is truly good
and an act as evil, when it is truly evil
ERRONOUS – present in the
judgment of an act as good when it is
evil and an act evil when it is good
2. CERTAIN AND DOUBTFUL
CERTAIN - present when there is an
assured and firm judgment of an act
without any fear of being in error
DOUBTFUL – present when there is
no sure judgment of whether an act is
good or bad
LAX AND SCRUPULOUS

LAX – perceives even moral grace

evil as allowable; finds and makes
excuses of evil acts through seriously
rationalizing and justifying them
SCRUPULOUS – perceives evil in an
act when there is none