1. COURSE DESCRIPTION Course Number: MTH 611 Course Title: Fundamental Moral One Term: Fall 2016 Professor Fr. Brian Mullady, O.P. Email: bmullady@holyapostles.edu This course examines the Catholic tradition on those principles which comprise Church teaching on Fundamental Moral Theology. These include the ultimate end of man, freedom, right and wrong, law, conscience and the passions. 2. ENVISIONED OUTCOMES Students will demonstrate a knowledge of the ultimate end of man Students will demonstrate an understanding of justification and merit; Students will demonstrate a knowledge of the natural and limits of moral responsibility; Students will demonstrate a knowledge of the three moral determinants; Students will demonstrate a knowledge of the conscience; Students will demonstrate an understanding of the nature and kinds of law; Students will demonstrate an understanding of the moral nature of the passions 3. COURSE SCHEDULE HUMAN ACTIONS AND PASSIONS Part 1: Introduction to Morals: The difference between morals and nature Week One: Introduction Human Psychology a. The function of the emotions b. the function of the will c. the function of the intellect Reading: Brian Mullady, Both a Servant and Free, xi-22; CCC #1699-1715 1
Week Two: What is Moral Theology? a. the nature of the science b. the sources of moral theology Reading: Mullady, Both, 23-32 Week Three Human Happiness a. The Question of the Ultimate End b. What beatitude is c. What is necessary for beatitude d. How one arrives at beatitude Reading: Aquinas, ST, I-II, 1-5; Both, 33-54, CCC 1716-1729 Part 2: What is Moral? The Question of the Freedom and Responsibility of the Human Act Week Four The Question of the Voluntary-The Subject in Morals a. What is the voluntary? b. How does it befit an image of God? c. How do circumstances fit in? Reading: ST I-II, 6-10; Both, 55-62 Week Five Limits to Freedom a. ignorance b. weakness c. Violence d, Elicited and Imperated Acts of the Will e. Is command an act of reason or will? Reading: ST, I-II, 11-17; Both, 63-94 Week Six Modern Problems in Morals a. Objective morals b. Rahner c. Moderate Teleology d. Fundamental Option e. New Natural Law Theory Reading: Both, 95-112 2
Part Three: The Goodness and Evil of the Human Act Week Seven The Goodness and Evil of Human Acts a. The Moral Determinants b. Object c. Circumstances d. End e. The Question of good or evil ex genere suo f. Answer to Moderate Teleology Reading: ST I-II, 18; Veritatis Splendor; Parts One and Two; CCC #1776-1802; CCC 1749-1756. Both, 113-136 Week Eight Midterm in Class Week Nine The Nature of Law a. definition of law b. kinds of law c. nature of the natural law d. the Old Law e. The New Law of Christ Reading: ST, I-II, 90-108; CCC 1949-1974; Veritatis Splendor, Parts Three and Four; Both, 147-172 Week Ten The Conscience a. what is it? b. erroneous and correct conscience c. doubtful and certain conscience d. antecedent and consequent conscience Reading: ST, I-II, 19: 1-6; Both, 173-188 Week Eleven The Human Passions and Summary using Splendor of Truth, John Paul II a. The Subject of passions b. The Different Passions c. The Moral Character of the Passions 3
d. The Order of the Passions e. Summary using Splendor of Truth, John Paul II Reading: ST, I-II, 22-25; CCC 1762-1775; Splendor of Truth, John Paul II; Both, 137-146 The rest of the semester please listen to the required CDS, study the corresponding lecture notes and read Conrad Baars, I Will Give Them a New Heart and seek to apply the principles taught in the class to the various articles therein. I do not have an office so I cannot have office hours. You may contact me by phone at 510 459-4375 or Internet: bmullady@holyapostles.edu. If you live on campus, you may make an appointment to see me in my room. Please do not address class issues during meal or prayer times. 4. REQUIRED READINGS Required Texts: The Concise Summa, Thomas Aquinas, Christian Classics, 1997, paperback ISBN: 978-0870612107, $24.95 OR Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas, Internet Both a Servant and Free, Brian Mullady, New Hope Publications, 2011 ISBN: 978-1-892875-53-2 Available from: www.rosary-center.org, $20.00 or from the Professor Splendor of Truth John Paul II, Pauline Books and Media, 1993, ISBN: 978-0819869647, $6.95. Conrad Baars, I Will Give Them a New Heart, Alba House, 2007, ISBN: 978-0818912450, $18.95. Required CDs: Fr. Brian Mullady, O.P. Fundamental Moral One: The Rosary Center www.rosary-center.org $45.00 5. SUGGESTED READINGS Tour of the Summa, Leo Glenn (Tan Books) 6. EVALUATION: The course grade is a based on intelligent class attendance (25%), a midterm (25%) and a final examination (50%). You must answer the review questions to my satisfaction for the final the week before you will be permitted to take the final. 4
GRADING SCALE: A 94-100; A- 90-93; B+ 87-89; B 84-86; B- 80-83; C+ 77-79; C 74-76; C- 70-73 D 60-69; F 59 and below 7. DISABILITIES ACCOMMODATIONS POLICY Holy Apostles College & Seminary is committed to the goal of achieving equal educational opportunities and full participation in higher education for persons with disabilities who qualify for admission to the College. Students enrolled in online courses who have documented disabilities requiring special accommodations should contact Bob Mish, the Director of Online Student Affairs, at rmish@holyapostles.edu or 860-632-3015. In all cases, reasonable accommodations will be made to ensure that all students with disabilities have access to course materials in a mode in which they can receive them. Students who have technological limitations (e.g., slow Internet connection speeds in convents) are asked to notify their instructors the first week of class for alternative means of delivery. 8. ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY Students at Holy Apostles College & Seminary are expected to practice academic honesty. Avoiding Plagiarism In its broadest sense, plagiarism is using someone else's work or ideas, presented or claimed as your own. At this stage in your academic career, you should be fully conscious of what it means to plagiarize. This is an inherently unethical activity because it entails the uncredited use of someone else's expression of ideas for another's personal advancement; that is, it entails the use of a person merely as a means to another person s ends. Students: Should identify the title, author, page number/webpage address, and publication date of works when directly quoting small portions of texts, articles, interviews, or websites. Students should not copy more than two paragraphs from any source as a major component of papers or projects. Should appropriately identify the source of information when paraphrasing (restating) ideas from texts, interviews, articles, or websites. Should follow the Holy Apostles College & Seminary Stylesheet (available on the Online Writing Lab s website at http://www.holyapostles.edu/owl/resources). Consequences of Academic Dishonesty: Because of the nature of this class, academic dishonesty is taken very seriously. Students participating in academic dishonesty may be removed from the course and from the program. 9. INCOMPLETE POLICY An Incomplete is a temporary grade assigned at the discretion of the faculty member. It is typically allowed in situations in which the student has satisfactorily completed major components of the course and has the ability to finish the remaining work without re-enrolling, 5
but has encountered extenuating circumstances, such as illness, that prevent his or her doing so prior to the last day of class. To request an incomplete, distance-learning students must first download a copy of the Incomplete Request Form. This document is located within the Shared folder of the Files tab in Populi. Secondly, students must fill in any necessary information directly within the PDF document. Lastly, students must send their form to their professor via email for approval. Approval should be understood as the professor responding to the student s email in favor of granting the Incomplete status of the student. Students receiving an Incomplete must submit the missing course work by the end of the sixth week following the semester in which they were enrolled. An incomplete grade (I) automatically turns into the grade of F if the course work is not completed. Students who have completed little or no work are ineligible for an incomplete. Students who feel they are in danger of failing the course due to an inability to complete course assignments should withdraw from the course. A W (Withdrawal) will appear on the student s permanent record for any course dropped after the end of the first week of a semester to the end of the third week. A WF (Withdrawal/Fail) will appear on the student s permanent record for any course dropped after the end of the third week of a semester and on or before the Friday before the last week of the semester. 10. ABOUT YOUR PROFESSOR Fr. Brian Thomas Becket Mullady, O.P., is the son of an Air Force officer and was raised throughout the United States. He entered the Dominican Order in 1966 and was ordained in Oakland, California, in 1972. He has been a parish priest, high school teacher, retreat master, mission preacher, and university professor. He received his Doctorate in Sacred Theology (STD) from the Angelicum University in Rome, Italy and was professor there for six years. He has taught at several colleges and seminaries in the United States. He is an academician of the Catholic Academy of Science. He was most recently a Professor of Theology at Campion College in San Francisco. He is currently a mission preacher and retreat master for the Western Dominican Province. He also teaches two months of the year at Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, CT. He has had five series on Mother Angelica's EWTN television network. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and writes the Answer column in Homiletic and Pastoral Review. 6