Goodness

Most simply, the desirability, value, or moral worth of a thing or action. Generally, that which is good is that which has the attributes that makes a thing of its nature desirable or fulfills its function. In the moral context, the specific content given to the concept of ‘goodness’ is not self-evident, but tied to one’s philosophical and/or theological presuppositions regarding the good . In classical scholastic thought, for example, goodness corresponds to being. St. Thomas Aquinas saw goodness, ultimately, as nothing other than being itself seen under the aspect of its desirability (Summa Theologica I, Question 5, Article 3). He considered our desire for what is good to be co-natural to us, i.e., an integral part of our nature as human beings. Conversely, Aquinas never considered any creature or thing to be evil per se ; rather, only to the degree that it falls short of its potential or proper fulfillment.

In Catholic moral thought, every created thing is considered good in so far as it exists, and in so far as it fulfills the potential for which it was created. Accordingly, human beings are good because of their inherent created worth, i.e., their human dignity, whereas human actions are good either because they lead the agent to his or her proper fulfillment or they respect the inherent dignity of other creatures. Since, according to Catholic teaching, every human person has inherent value independently of any judgments of value that we may assign to individuals, the Ethical and Religious Directives recognize an objective moral order that obliges us to respect human dignity in all of our actions.

Aquinas considered human actions to be evil to the degree that the choice fails to correspond to the agent’s proper fulfillment, or to the degree that the action fails to properly respect another’s inherent human dignity (see also intrinsic evil). Aquinas also believed that human beings did not co-naturally desire evil. Rather, he thought that we only had the capacity to desire and to choose what is good--whether that good was real or merely apparent . Evil actions were merely the result of the agent having convinced him or her self that an evil action was actually good and then seeking this apparent good. Thus, Aquinas believed that "do good, avoid evil" was the self-evident first principle of practical reason. This view of goodness relies on a metaphysical realism that posits a necessary connection between reality and the way we perceive it (as opposed to skepticism, which denies any such necessary connection).

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