{"id":135,"date":"2020-01-29T21:11:57","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T04:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/?p=135"},"modified":"2020-01-29T21:11:57","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T04:11:57","slug":"principle-of-double-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the Principle of Double Effect to do the Most Good"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Over the course of our lives we will be faced with many difficult decisions.\u00a0 These decisions may be life altering and may change us forever. In the encyclical Veritatis Splendor<\/i><\/a>, Saint Pope John Paul II writes, \u201cActing is morally good when the choices of freedom are in conformity with man\u2019s true good <\/i>and thus express the voluntary ordering of the person towards his ultimate end: God himself, the supreme good in whom man finds his full and perfect happiness\u201d.<\/p>\n

In these circumstances there are right and wrong moral decisions, and the principles of double effect and material cooperation assist us in making the right decision.<\/p>\n

The principle of double effect, or PDE, has its origins with St. Thomas Aquinas. It is one of the best strategies in solving complex morality issues.<\/p>\n

This principle states that it is possible to make a decision that has both good and bad effects.\u00a0 Just because it has both effects does not mean that it is not morally permitted.<\/p>\n

There are conditions that must be met for a decision to fall under this principle.\u00a0 The act itself must be good or morally indifferent.\u00a0 The good effect must not come from evil.\u00a0 Evil is not the intended result.<\/p>\n

If evil is the effect it should be a last resort and the good effect should be equal or greater.\u00a0 This principle, along with material cooperation, help to make the best moral decision out of possibly the worst of circumstances.<\/p>\n

Material Cooperation<\/h2>\n

When an individual assists in some way in wrongdoing this is called material cooperation, and there are two categories.\u00a0 The first is known as immediate material cooperation.\u00a0 This is when one disapproves of the act, but assists anyway.<\/p>\n

The second in Mediate material cooperation, and consists of proximate mediate and remote mediate material cooperation<\/a>.\u00a0 Proximate mediate is immoral in all cases. One example may be assisting in the production of Sarin gas.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t pass the morality test because that is used only for evil purposes.<\/p>\n

Remote mediate may be permitted based on the circumstance, such as not being able to find viable employment elsewhere and having to feed your children.<\/p>\n

In this circumstance someone may be the janitor at the factory that produces Sarin gas because employment may not be had elsewhere.\u00a0 This is why moral decisions should be looked at to get all the factors.<\/p>\n

Regarding this Pope John Paul II<\/a> writes, \u201cIn this view, deliberate consent to certain kinds of behavior declared illicit by traditional moral theology would not imply an objective moral evil\u201d (Veritatis Splendor para 75).<\/p>\n

Valid Use of PDE<\/h2>\n

A hard case when it comes to PDE is the subject of abortion<\/a>.\u00a0 Abortion is the termination of a human life while it is still in the womb.\u00a0 Abortion being wrong is not a matter of just the church saying so.\u00a0 Numerous scientific studies claim that life begins at conception. This can be deduced by the use of reason without the aid of faith.<\/p>\n

Imagine if a couple had six kids at home, and while pregnant with the seventh the mother is diagnosed with uterine cancer.\u00a0 Removing the cancer would end the pregnancy, but not removing it the mother will perish while the child lives.\u00a0 After much prayer and anguish the parents opt to remove the cancer.\u00a0 They do so for the benefit of the six children they have to raise.<\/p>\n

This is an effective use of PDE since the intent was not to terminate the pregnancy, but to remove the cancer.\u00a0 Conversely a woman who chooses to terminate the pregnancy because she just does not want another child does not meet the conditions of PDE.<\/p>\n

Proponents of proportionalism<\/a> reject PDE because the moral actions of the individual should be judged by the consequences that ensue.\u00a0 In short, the outcome that brings the greatest good or the least bit of evil is the appropriate action.<\/p>\n

Proportionalism does not have a set definition of what is morally upright. Therefore it can change based on the individual.\u00a0 It is because of these reasons that proportionalism is condemned by Veritatis Splendor<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the course of our lives we will be faced with many difficult decisions.\u00a0 These decisions may be life altering and may change us forever. In the encyclical Veritatis Splendor, Saint Pope John Paul II writes, \u201cActing is morally good when the choices of freedom are in conformity with man\u2019s true good and thus express […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4296,"featured_media":153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,81,90,15,87,27,84],"class_list":["post-135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abortion","tag-double-effect","tag-holiness","tag-jesus","tag-john-paul-ii","tag-moral-theology","tag-morality"],"yoast_head":"\nUnderstanding the Principle of Double Effect to do the Most Good<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Over the course of our lives we will be faced with many difficult decisions.\u00a0 These decisions may be life altering and may change us forever. In the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Understanding the Principle of Double Effect to do the Most Good\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over the course of our lives we will be faced with many difficult decisions.\u00a0 These decisions may be life altering and may change us forever. In the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Pursuit of Holiness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"www.facebook.com\/williamhemsworthauthor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-30T04:11:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1278\/2020\/01\/stained-glass-4702215__340.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"232\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"William Hemsworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@w_hemsworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"William Hemsworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/\",\"name\":\"Understanding the Principle of Double Effect to do the Most Good\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-30T04:11:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-30T04:11:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#\/schema\/person\/5604e1670ca722f23378e469efcf43d4\"},\"description\":\"Over the course of our lives we will be faced with many difficult decisions.\u00a0 These decisions may be life altering and may change us forever. In the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Understanding the Principle of Double Effect to do the Most Good\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/\",\"name\":\"The Pursuit of Holiness\",\"description\":\"To Become a Saint is the Ultimate Goal\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#\/schema\/person\/5604e1670ca722f23378e469efcf43d4\",\"name\":\"William Hemsworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50f85b7354bae694ccf31c6b821a2d21?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50f85b7354bae694ccf31c6b821a2d21?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"William Hemsworth\"},\"description\":\"I am a Catholic convert and my goal is to spread the truth of Christ and His church. This column aims to aid you in your pursuit of holiness. This is done by looking at scripture and the lives of the saints. It is my prayer that it helps in some small way.\",\"sameAs\":[\"www.facebook.com\/williamhemsworthauthor\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/w_hemsworth\",\"brandygrenier\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/author\/whemsworth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Understanding the Principle of Double Effect to do the Most Good","description":"Over the course of our lives we will be faced with many difficult decisions.\u00a0 These decisions may be life altering and may change us forever. In the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Understanding the Principle of Double Effect to do the Most Good","og_description":"Over the course of our lives we will be faced with many difficult decisions.\u00a0 These decisions may be life altering and may change us forever. In the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/","og_site_name":"The Pursuit of Holiness","article_author":"www.facebook.com\/williamhemsworthauthor","article_published_time":"2020-01-30T04:11:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":232,"height":340,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1278\/2020\/01\/stained-glass-4702215__340.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"William Hemsworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@w_hemsworth","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"William Hemsworth","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/","name":"Understanding the Principle of Double Effect to do the Most Good","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-01-30T04:11:57+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-30T04:11:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#\/schema\/person\/5604e1670ca722f23378e469efcf43d4"},"description":"Over the course of our lives we will be faced with many difficult decisions.\u00a0 These decisions may be life altering and may change us forever. In the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/2020\/01\/principle-of-double-effect\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Understanding the Principle of Double Effect to do the Most Good"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/","name":"The Pursuit of Holiness","description":"To Become a Saint is the Ultimate Goal","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#\/schema\/person\/5604e1670ca722f23378e469efcf43d4","name":"William Hemsworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50f85b7354bae694ccf31c6b821a2d21?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50f85b7354bae694ccf31c6b821a2d21?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"William Hemsworth"},"description":"I am a Catholic convert and my goal is to spread the truth of Christ and His church. This column aims to aid you in your pursuit of holiness. This is done by looking at scripture and the lives of the saints. It is my prayer that it helps in some small way.","sameAs":["www.facebook.com\/williamhemsworthauthor","https:\/\/twitter.com\/w_hemsworth","brandygrenier"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/author\/whemsworth\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4296"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thepursuitofholiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}