THESIS 1 MORAL PHILOSOPHY VS MORAL THEOLOGY

Morality is the belief of perceiving what is morally right and wrong. It is derived from the
words mos, moris and moralitas which mean customs and manners. These customs or
manners are the basis that morality is using in identifying the actions that are good or
evil. There are two subdivisions under the concept of morality: Moral Philosophy and
Moral Theology.

First, I will tackle about what Moral Philosophy is. Philosophy is also known as ethics
which came from the words "ethos" and "ethicos" meaning character or custom. So
Philosophy or Ethics is the practical and normative science that is based on reason
alone which studies human acts and provides norms for their goodness and badness.
Practical science ang philosophy for it deals with the knowledge that can be applied to
human action. At the same time, it is also a normative science for it establishes norms
and standards in regulating and directing human actions. It is based on reason alone.
So in a certain situation, philosophy does not subscribe to the "revealed truth" that the
second subdivision which is Moral Theology has.

An individual can determine the goodness and badness of one's behavior even if he/she
is a nonbeliever of God. Moral Philosophy is changing because like what has
mentioned, it is solely based on a person's reason and intellect and thus alone also
changes just like an individual's perception.

* Example: But in the view of Moral Philosophy, this action is considered morally right or
good for it is practiced in other countries without considering the divinity of the same sex
marriage.

In moral theology, the basis of morality are reason, God, faith, divine revelation and
revealed truths. Religionists contends that there can be no morality without God. Since
God is the main source to identify if an action is right or wrong. For instance in the
context of Christianity, when a person disobeys the commandments of God, the action
is already considered as morally wrong. In addition, moral theology is unchanging
because morality is fixed on the divinity of God and the revealed truths.

An example of this is same sex marriage. Based on moral theology, this action is
morally wrong since it disobeys or contradicts God's commandments.

*context of Christianity

These are two distinct disciplines explaining the view of morality. Moral Philosophy is a
normative science which is based on the perception of morality in these standards that
mainly considers the reason or the intellect of people. While in the view of moral
theology, the basis of morality is not on reason alone but this concept also includes
God, his divine revelation and revealed truths.