Avant-propos - Studia Moralia

THE BASIC GOODS THEORY AND REVISIONISM 193
tions on this issue: First, the distinction between two types of
moral truths; second, the distinction between the first principles
of the natural law and the secondary precepts that are derived
from them.
A fundamental question that divides revisionism and the
BGT is whether or not specific natural law norms have been, or
even can be, taught infallibly by the ordinary universal magisterium.
In other words, are such norms (e.g., forbidding contraception)
necessary to safeguard and defend the deposit of faith
or revelation? The question is about the appropriate object of
such infallible teachings. According to the BGT, the teaching
prohibiting artificial birth control, for example, “is at least connected
with [revelation] as a truth required to guard the deposit
as inviolable and to expound it with fidelity.” 69 In this sense, the
norm forbidding artificial birth control and similar norms are
“truths of salvation,” i.e., they are moral truths in which the
charism of the magisterium, through the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, is equipped to teach infallibly. JOSEF FUCHS, S.J., responds
to moral theologians (among them could be included GRISEZ and
FORD) who have attempted to argue that such norms are “truths
of salvation;” in so doing, he distinguishes between two types of
moral truths. 70 According to FUCHS, moral truths can be divided
into those that relate to moral goodness and moral rightness;
these two categories of moral truths distinguish the magisterium’s
teaching charism and the nature of its competence. Moral
goodness pertains to the person as such and his or her character,
motive, disposition, etc. Fundamentally, it asks whether or
not the person is open and committed to God’s self-giving love.
It is the vertical dimension of the person that relates to the person’s
salvation. Moral goodness, however, is always realized in
the world of other persons. This is the horizontal dimension of
the person and is designated by moral rightness. Moral rightness
is concerned with the kind of activity that facilitates human
well-being. Strictly speaking, the adjective “moral” pertains to
69
GRISEZ and FORD, “Contraception and the Infallibility of the Ordinary
Magisterium” 287.
70 “Moral Truths – Truths of Salvation?” in Christian Ethics in a Secular
Arena (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1984) 48-67.