“Methods of Ethical Inquiry”

In 1966, Grisez began the research for his book on abortion, and at once noticed that almost everyone arguing for its legalization presupposed a questionable ethical methodology. For presentation at the 1967 meeting of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, he therefore prepared this brief paper, which was his earliest systematic attempt to describe and criticize the method of moral judgment that he later called “consequentialism.” The presentation was published in the Association’s Proceedings: copyright © The American Catholic Philosophical Association 1967, all rights reserved.

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“Against Consequentialism”

In his books on contraception and abortion, Grisez began criticizing the method of making moral judgments that came to be called “consequentialism,” and later was called “proportionalism.”After Richard A. McCormick, S.J., gave a lecture, “Ambiguity in Moral Choice,” at Marquette University in 1973, Grisez obtained the text and wrote McCormick criticizing it. Paul Ramsey, a non-Catholic professor of Christian Ethics at Princeton University, also disagreed with McCormick’s emerging view. The two decided to publish a book on the issues McCormick had raised by enlisting Grisez and others to write substantial essays, pro and con, and combining those essays with a critical essay by Ramsey, McCormick’s reply to all the essays, and the reprinting of his lecture that initiated the discussion.

Grisez welcomed the invitation, agreed with the editors on a plan for his essay, and delivered it by their deadline. While it was quite long and highly critical of “Ambiguity in Moral Choice,” the editors accepted it for publication in the volume. When Ramsey and McCormick finally assembled everything, however, they were unable to find a publisher. Eventually, they published only their own pieces and a few shorter ones in Doing Evil to Achieve Good: Moral Choice in Conflict Situations (Chicago, Ill.: Loyola University, 1978).

Grisez revised his essay, and published it as an article in The American Journal of Jurisprudence. It is copyright © The University of Notre Dame 1978, all rights reserved.

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The unrevised manuscript Grisez had prepared was never published. He now makes it available, copyright © Germain Grisez 2010, all rights reserved.

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If inconsistencies are discerned between “Against Consequentialism” and the unrevised manuscript, the published work should be assumed to present Grisez’s more considered view. His later and more decisive critique of McCormick’s consequentialism or proportionalism is in The Way of the Lord Jesus, volume one, Christian Moral Principles, chapter six, not least in the appendix to that chapter. Although consequentialism or proportionalism was later examined and found wanting by Pope John Paul II in Veritatis splendor, 75–83, McCormick and other theologians who had adopted that approach claimed that the encyclical misrepresented their view.

“Choice and Consequentialism”

While awaiting publication of “Against Consequentialism,” Grisez reworked the central argument of that lengthy treatise into a brief presentation for the fifty-first annual meeting of the American Catholic Philosophical Association on 16 April 1977 in Detroit, Michigan. The presentation was published in the Association’s Proceedings: copyright © The American Catholic Philosophical Association 1978, all rights reserved.

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“Catholic Faith and Intrinsically Evil Acts”

In 1977, a group including Grisez founded the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars for mutual support in their efforts to promote renewal in the Catholic Church in accord with a sound understanding of the Second Vatican Council. The first annual convention of the new organization was held in Kansas City. At a plenary session on 28 April 1978, Grisez for the first time argued theologically against consequentialism in defense of traditional Christian morality. With other papers delivered at Fellowship conventions over the years, that one was republished in a 2001 anthology, from which the text available here is drawn: copyright © The Fellowship of Catholic Scholars 2001, all rights reserved.

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“Christian Moral Theology and Consequentialism”

In 1978, Grisez suggested to William Cardinal Baum, Archbishop of Washington, that he challenge theological dissent, which had continued for a decade, by sponsoring a workshop on the principles of Catholic moral life and arranging for it to be held early the following summer at the Catholic University of America. Cardinal Baum accepted the suggestion and asked Rev. Ronald Lawler, O.F.M.Cap., and William E. May to organize it. The workshop was held 17–22 June 1979, and was well attended; among others, Cardinal Josef Ratzinger was present as Cardinal Baum's guest at some sessions, including the one at which Grisez read his paper.

On this occasion, Grisez only summarized the argument against consequentialism, but pointed out the wider and less obvious implications of adopting consequentialism as a method for supporting dissent from Christian moral teachings. The paper is copyright © Franciscan Herald Press 1981, all rights reserved.

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“Moral Absolutes: A Critique of the View of Joseph Fuchs, S.J.”

Regarding Joseph Fuchs, S.J., as the most able of the dissenting moral theologians, Grisez carefully studied Fuchs’ essay, “The Absoluteness of Moral Terms,” when it appeared in 1971 in Gregorianum, and briefly dealt with it, among many other dissenting works, when treating theological dissent in Christian Moral Principles. However, having made over one hundred pages of notes on that important essay, Grisez hoped eventually to publish a detailed critique of it. Due to its ongoing relevance, Curran and McCormick had included it in an anthology, Moral Norms and Catholic Tradition, and Fuchs himself had republished it in a 1983 volume along with other essays. So, when Msgr. Carlo Caffarra, President of the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, invited Grisez to contribute a substantial article on a topic of his choice to the Institute’s new journal, Grisez proposed to do a critique of the view of Joseph Fuchs. The article is copyright © Istituto Giovanni Paolo II 1985, all rights reserved.

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“Are There Exceptionless Moral Norms?”

For many years, the Pope John XXIII Medical-Moral Research and Education Center held an annual workshop to which it invited the Catholic bishops of the United States and certain other nations and in which many of those invited participated. The 1990 workshop dealt with exceptionless moral norms, and Grisez was invited to present the case in defense of them. In this paper, he briefly summarized much of his previous work on the subject and provided a brief but well-balanced bibliography of scholarly arguments on both sides. This presentation and the discussion that followed it are published here; they are copyright © The Pope John XXIII Medical-Moral Research and Education Center 1990, all rights reserved.

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