Reflection on Death Penalty

The death penalty is controversial because people disagree about whether the capital punishment system serves justice appropriately. There is no manner in which to agree upon this because everyone's concept of justice varies along with each individual's sense of morality. According to Keenan's book Moral Wisdom "Conscience 'dictates' that we pursuit justice" (35). Therefore, those people that support the death penalty believe in their conscience that it is justice to make a person who has committed a crime of exceptionally high degree to be sentenced to death. However, Keenan notes that conscience can be erroneous, and what matters is what a person's motivation is during the course of moral decision making. The entire concept of the capital punishment system is malicious in that it carries vindictive sentiments towards another individual. As an opponent of the death penalty, I will have to say that I look towards Jesus in the New Testament as a guide in how we as Catholics should follow Him in the moral decisions that we make each day.

Keenan describes Jesus' three greatest virtues as being loving, obedient of God's will, and merciful. If anything, the death penalty contradicts all three of these virtues. A supporter of capital punishment may say that the sentence is justice done in love for the victim and the victim's family. This "love" is negated with the hateful sentiments towards the criminal. The anger that it arouses detains people from being merciful, which is significant in that mercy is what distinguishes Christianity from other religions. As to whether or not taking a life is obedient to God's will, I cannot say because I do not know the answer to that. I think that it is condescending for human beings to assume that they do know the answer and therefore believe that it is acceptable to determine a value of a person's life. I think that only God Himself can determine what the value of a life is and therefore it should be put in His hands whether to end it, however, I do believe that we all share a sense that the criminal has to repent as it is also a significant aspect of our faith. This is why I believe in the alternative of life imprisonment because it is still a manner of protecting our citizens and it allows us to abide by our faith, which encourages us to believe, hope, and love.

Question of Morality

How do I choose to make moral decisions? Although I initially underestimated the difficulty of this question, I find that it requires me to to make an analysis of what significantly drives me as a human being. I believe that in order to establish this as accurately as possible, I must introspect about the diverse aspects of my growth development. I begin with the very person who instilled in me a first perception of what is right or wrong: my mother. As a child, the motivation to act in a manner that was deemed to be "right" originated in my desire to gain approval from my mother, who of course was significant in her status as my sole provider. Because she was my main source of interaction, I mistook morality for an exchange of benefits. I did something that was "good" and my mother would reciprocate by showing me affection. However, once I began to interact with people outside of my home, the simplicity of that idea began to develop into something much more than what I had estimated morality to be. People external to the home do not naturally possess the unconditional love that a parent or family member has for one. Therefore one will find variance within the responses that one receives to an act which an individual might have initially perceived to be "good". It is these social interactions which allow one to transform themselves into a state that is more independent from their parent's ideals, as one modifies these moral foundations which were influenced by their family into ones that also fit into their society's norm. Human experience from both familial and social interactions are significant to how my sense of morality has molded.

As one develops the concept of morality, an effect attributable to the interaction between the home and public setting, it is still a complicated matter as to whether logic or intuition are more significant into what morality entails. I will categorize anything that is learned from human interaction (speech, visual aids, writings, etc.) under logic, and will only refer to the sentimental aspects of the psychical as being categorized under intuition. Logic includes religion, for one would not have the concept of God without some form of education on behalf of another human being (whether it be word of the mouth, scriptures written by apostles, etc). While logic does greatly influence one's conscience, I will have to say that logic would not have significance without intuition. We would not follow instructions blindly from logic as to what is morally correct unless we felt emotionally guided by the information it provides. Although one may argue that children follow parents instructions blindly, it is not so, because from within they are seeking approval from a person whom unconditionally loves them. A child loves the affection which they receive from their parent and in love they try to reciprocate the favor. As Keenan mentions in the first chapter of Moral Wisdom, love is a driving force. Therefore I will have to conclude that intuition is the strongest influence on my moral decisions. My intuition guides me immediately as to whether or not I believe something to be morally right depending on how confident I feel about the logic which I have acquired through human interaction and experience.