The Concept of Intrinsic Evil

The starting point of the project that is situated in the field of Theological Ethics is a curious observation, namely that intrinsic evil, a normative term predominantly associated with Catholic sexual ethics, seems to be expanding in its usage so that it is now frequently invoked in other theological disciplines, Church practice, and even interventions of representatives of the Church in public discourse. Broadly described, the term intrinsic evil refers to those acts that are always morally wrong, no matter the circumstances and intention of the agent. The recent development in the usage of the term demands a thorough investigation of the concept behind the term in order to explore its origin(s) and meaning(s) within theological tradition by employing a historical-critical analysis, and to assess its contemporary relevance. Since the project aims at a more thorough understanding of one of the most fundamental concepts used in contemporary theological ethics and the moral doctrine of the Catholic Church, the results of this study might have far reaching implications. At the very least, the study will question the legitimacy of this trend of expanding the usage of the notion of intrinsic evil by determining its methodological (ir)relevancy as a tool of ethical analysis. However, pending the results of the study and a possibility that the concept of intrinsic evil, as well as the theological structure that supports it, might prove obsolete (or in need of a serious re-interpretation), such an outcome will certainly re-ignite the Catholic debate on various issues in both fundamental theological ethics and applied ethics. Furthermore, having a clearer theological concept of intrinsic evil may also be of significant benefit for evaluating Catholic interventions in the political sphere, because this provides a necessary tool for assessing the motives and goals of those that use it. Since there is a good chance that the concept of intrinsic evil cannot survive a closer scrutiny, this project should be seen as a stepping stone in a larger project of finding a more adequate basis for contemporary Catholic sexual ethics and the related engagement of the Catholic Church on these issues in the political sphere.

The starting point of this project was a curious observation that the concept of intrinsic evil, associated mostly with Catholic sexual ethics during the second half of the twentieth century, seems to have become a foundational tool of ethical analysis in Catholic theological ethics. In that process, the concept has also been expanded in its usage so that it is now frequently invoked in other theological disciplines, Church practice, and even politics. Within sexual ethics the concept is usually taken to mean that there are acts or kinds of acts that are always morally wrong, no matter the intention, circumstances, or context in which they are performed. Against that background, the project first engaged with an exploration of historical origins of the concept in theological thought. Although those who employ the concept of intrinsic evil nowadays invoke theological authorities such as Augustine (4th 5th century) and Aquinas (13th century), the term itself was not employed in theological writings until the 14th century. The first significant finding of the project was that the historical development of the concept of intrinsic evil reveals that it is actually an umbrella concept that managed to integrate elements of diverse theological systems. Despite the fact that its appearance on the theological stage in the 14th century was strictly tied to a reference to the material aspect of an act analysis, this conceptual precision was lost in subsequent centuries. Thus, already by the time of Francisco Suarez (16th century) and especially during the manulist period in the Catholic Church (16th 20th century), it became impossible to spell-out the defining characteristics of intrinsically evil acts, i.e. what the concept of intrinsic evil actually means. The second significant finding is that this confusion surrounding the concept of intrinsic evil followed its introduction into official documents of the Catholic magisterium. This is demonstrated in the project by an analysis of these documents which shows the diversity of employed terminology (in reference to the concept), lack of any clear definition of what is meant by these terms, and a heavy reliance on the manualist period writings and their understanding of the specification and evaluation of human acts. Because of this, the thesis that the concept of intrinsic evil is a part of the moral doctrine of the Church is highly problematic. Finally, the third significant finding of the project is the result of an exploration of (theological and other) reasons that prompt various theologians and other writers to keep employing the concept in their works or public actions. These are not only related to ignorance about the historical origins of the concept and its ambiguity, but, primarily, to various traditionalist theological and reactionary political projects within which the concept is used as a symbol of a certain way of thinking, portrayed as an ethical analysis of controversial (i.e. theologically and politically interesting) classes of acts.