Moral Theology: A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern AuthoritiesCallan, Charles J. (Charles Jerome)
Religion
Moral Theology: A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities
Callan, Charles J. (Charles Jerome)
Christian ethics -- Catholic authors
202. Sins that are multiplied numerically within the same species are
committed in three ways: (a) by purely internal acts, that is, acts
that are completed within the powers of the soul and do not tend to
execution in some external act (e.g., unbelief, envy, pride, delight in
the thought of sin, etc.); (b) by internal acts that are not completed
in the will, but tend to execution in some external act (e.g., the
purpose or desire to injure another, to lie, etc.); (c) by external
acts that are performed or neglected by the bodily faculties under
command of the will (e.g., theft, quarrels, lies, omissions of duty,
etc.).
203. Acts may be numerically one or many in two ways.
(a) Physically, there is one act when the agent moves or puts into
action a power of the soul or body only once (e.g., to steal from a
church). Physically, there are many acts when the agent exercises
different operative faculties, or the same one different times (e.g.,
to put one’s hand many times into a money box in order to steal the
entire contents).
(b) Morally, there is one act when a single physical act does not
contain more than one species of morality, or when several physical
acts are united as parts of one whole by reason of the intention of the
agent, or the nature of the acts themselves. For example, the wish to
steal is morally one act. The intention to steal, the decision to use
certain means to accomplish this intention, the various attempts made,
and finally the carrying out of the plan--all these form morally but
one act, since the acts that follow are only the development of the
original intention. Similarly, several curses hurled at another form
morally one act, if all are uttered under the influence of the same
passion of anger. Finally, acts of spying on another, of entering his
house without permission, and of taking his property unlawfully, are
morally one act, because the first acts are naturally the preparation
for what follows.
204. Morally, there are several acts when a single physical act
contains several species of malice (as when one steals from a church),
or when there are several physical acts not united by any bond of
common purpose or natural subordination (as when one steals on
different occasions because an opportunity suddenly presented itself,
or as when one misses Mass on different Sundays).
205. Objects of acts may also be numerically one or many in two ways.
(a) Physically, an object is one when it has its own proper
individuality different from that of others. Thus, each coin in a
pocket-book is physically one thing, each member of a family is
physically one person. Objects are physically many, when they include
more than one distinct thing or person. Thus, physically a pocket-book
contains many objects, as does also a family.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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