Summaries / Resúmenes - Studia Moralia

StMor 44 (2006) 41-62BRIAN V. JOHNSTONE C.SS.R.THE SUBJECT-OBJECT RELATIONIN CONTEMPORARY CATHOLIC MORAL THEOLOGY:A REPLY TO JOSEPH A. SELLINGI am grateful for the opportunity to pursue the theme Isought to develop in my article “‘Objectivism,’ ‘Basic HumanGoods,’ and ‘Proportionalism’.” 1 What I offered was an interpretationof a long and complex period and any such account isinevitably a simplification. Different interpretations of thedevelopments in the period are, of course, possible. Thisresponse will have two parts. The first will be a reply to Selling’scriticisms of my article. The second will be a comment on proportionalism.Since Selling sets out to explain this theory atsome length and questions my understanding of it, a specificresponse is called for.Part 1: A General ResponseWith respect to my own interpretation, there are five principalissues which are open to debate. The first is the notion of aunified vision of the world, an example of which, I suggested,can be found in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. The secondis the thesis that there was a move away from this unifiedvision, in Western philosophy in the “modern” period, whichtook the form of a separation or detachment between subjectand object. The third is that there are indications of a similarseparation in Catholic moral theology. The fourth is that differentmodes of moral theology can be situated in respect to thisseparation, and that this enables us to understand them and toexplain the disagreements between them. The fifth is that a unifyingvision could be constructed in terms of “gift,” which could1Studia Moralia 43 (2005) 97-126.