67. Merit, Demerit, and the Common Good
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Lecture Notes
Main Topics #
Merit and Demerit as Ordered to Retribution #
- Merit and demerit are said in order to retribution, which is made according to justice
- Retribution is owed to someone who acts for the perfection or harm of another (either an individual or the community)
- Not all human acts, good or bad, are ordered toward another individual person, yet all may still have the character of merit or demerit
The Role of the Common Good #
- A person living in society is a part and member of the whole community
- Acts affecting the good or bad of the community redound to the community just as hurting one’s hand hurts the whole person
- When someone acts toward the good or bad of another singular person, there is a twofold reason for merit or demerit:
- According as retribution is owed from that individual person
- According as retribution is owed from the whole community
- Acts ordered directly to the common good are owed retribution chiefly from the whole community, and secondarily from all parts of it
- Even acts ordered to one’s own good or bad have merit or demerit insofar as they bear upon the common good, though not insofar as they are the good or bad of the agent alone
Merit and Demerit Before God #
- Human acts have the aspect of merit or demerit before God in two ways:
- By reason of God as final end: Every act should be referred to God as the last end; acts that cannot be referred to God fail to observe the honor due to God
- By reason of God as ruler of the universe: God, as governor and ruler of the whole universe and especially of rational creatures, has care of the common good and must render retribution for things done well or badly in the community
- Although God cannot be harmed or benefited in himself by human acts, man as far as lies in his power either attracts something to God or exhibits disorder to God by observing or failing to observe the order God has established
- If human acts did not have merit or demerit before God, it would follow that God has no care about human acts—which is manifestly false (Ecclesiastes 12:14)
The Character of Acts as Praiseworthy, Sinful, and Meritorious #
- A good or bad act has the aspect of something praiseworthy or culpable according as it is in the power of the will
- It has the notion of rectitude or sin according to its order to the end
- It has the ratio of merit or demerit according to retribution of justice to another
Key Arguments #
Objection 1: Acts Toward Oneself Cannot Have Merit or Demerit #
Objection: Since merit and demerit imply order to retribution, and retribution is owed only for acts toward another, acts toward oneself (like self-destruction of property) should not merit punishment as acts toward another’s property do.
Response: Although one cannot merit punishment from himself in the strict sense (just as one cannot merit retribution for destroying one’s own property), insofar as any person is part of the community, even acts affecting oneself bear upon the common good and thus have merit or demerit toward the community. One can, in a metaphorical sense, speak of justice of a man toward himself.
Objection 2: Man as Instrument of Divine Power #
Objection: Man in acting is an instrument of divine power, and an instrument merits nothing before the one using it, since the whole action belongs to the user. Therefore, man merits or demerits nothing before God (Isaiah 10).
Response: Man is moved by God as an instrument, yet this does not exclude that he moves himself through free choice. The word “instrument” is not said univocally of a hammer and of a human being. Man, possessing free choice, is an instrument of a different kind than a tool.
Objection 3: Not All Acts Are Ordered to God #
Objection: Human acts have merit or demerit insofar as they are ordered to another. Not all human acts are ordered to God. Therefore, not all good or bad acts have the character of merit or demerit before God.
Response: Man is not ordered to the political community according to the whole of himself, but only according to what pertains to the community. However, the whole that man is, and all that he is able and has, ought to be ordered to God. Therefore, every human act, good or bad, has the aspect of merit or demerit before God from the nature of the act itself.
Important Definitions #
Merit (Meritum) #
The character of a human act by which retribution is owed to the agent from another according to justice, arising from the act’s being ordered to the good or harm of that other (whether individual or community).
Demerit (Deméritum) #
The contrary of merit—the character by which punishment or negative retribution is owed to the agent.
Common Good (Bonum Commune) #
The good of the whole community or society. Individual persons are parts of the community and ordered to it; acts affecting this common good generate merit or demerit even if not directly ordered to an individual person.
Retribution (Retributio) #
The payment or return owed according to justice for acts done well or badly, distributed by one having authority over the community (principally by God as ruler of the universe).
Examples & Illustrations #
Property Destruction and Merit #
- If a man destroys his own property (e.g., smashing one’s own car), he is not punished as he would be if he destroyed another’s property
- Yet Berquist notes instances where families have destroyed their own televisions as a positive family act (e.g., a family throwing a TV off a cliff in South Dakota), suggesting that even destruction of one’s own property can be meritorious or demeritorious depending on its order to the common good
The Allowance Example #
- Giving your mother something from your allowance as a gift is compared to the relationship between human acts and God: one cannot truly “give” anything to God since all one has comes from God, yet the act still exhibits proper order (or disorder) to God
Acts of Authority and Care #
- In any community, the one who rules the community has special care for the common good and is responsible for rendering retribution; God, as governor of the universe and especially of rational creatures, fulfills this role and renders merit or demerit accordingly
Questions Addressed #
Do all human acts have merit or demerit only toward individuals? #
Answer: No. Acts ordered to the common good have merit or demerit even if not ordered to a particular individual person. Moreover, all human acts have merit or demerit before God because God is the governor of the universe and the ultimate end to which all acts should be referred.
Can human acts have merit or demerit before God if they do not change God? #
Answer: Yes. Although human acts do not add to or subtract from God’s perfection, insofar as a person acts, they either observe or fail to observe the order God has established and the honor due to God as final end. Man, as far as lies in him, either attracts something to God or exhibits disorder to God.
Why do acts ordered to one’s own good have merit or demerit before God? #
Answer: Because every human person is part of the universe governed by God. Acts affecting one’s own good redound to the common good; therefore, they have merit or demerit insofar as they bear upon the common good. The whole that man is ought to be ordered to God as his ultimate end.
Pedagogical Remarks #
Berquist notes that this treatment of merit and demerit concludes the discussion of acts proper to man (Questions 6-21). He indicates that the next phase will address passions of the soul—acts common to man and animals—which will require understanding how the term “passion” is carried over from sensible to intelligible realities. He emphasizes the importance of the pedagogical order (manuductio), leading students from what is more known to what is less known, before ascending to more abstract theological principles.