Potency and Act (The Collected Works of Edith Stein) by Edith Stein

Author:Edith Stein
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-01-18T16:06:00+00:00

[Natural moral knowledge]

The "normal" man has a natural "sense" for what is right, for the lawful and moral order of the world. According to Thomas, this sense is a natural habit which, quite as much as the principles of theoretical knowledge, is an original possession of spirit. The traditional name for this habit is "synteresis"112 By virtue of this habit we perceive a disturbance in the moral order as such, and from this habit comes the desire to reestablish the balance, to readjust the dislocation. A disturbance of the order of law and morality can be brought about only by free acts.

The restoration must begin at the point where the disturbance originated, I mean in the person who committed the wrong. What a person does is a consequence of what he is. If he does wrong, something must not be right with him. If in practice he puts material goods over human life, he has an intellectual lack or flaw [Mangel] that keeps him from recognizing the right order, or else he has a lack in his sense appetite and in his will that causes him to act against his better judgment. The restoration of the order outside himself for which he is responsible can result from an act that does not come from him, but happens to him, that is, it is a punishment. The order within himself cannot be reestablished without his doing something about it. How should we understand this disorder in the person? Is it a lack in his personal core?

[Expressing what one is]

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