So the 3 fonts of morality basically say that intention, intrinsic goodness, and proportionality of the reasons, makes a thing good. But I was wondering how does one define each of these fonts?
The more usual terminology in moral theology is “object,” “end,” and “circumstances,” and in modern philosophy the corresponding terms are “intention,” “motive,” and “circumstances.” The catechism contains a nice discussion of this topic: see
CCC 1749-1761.
In a nutshell, the “object” or “intention” specifies what the action is, so the object of an action answers the questions “What are you doing?” and “Why would one do that?” In the suicide example, what you are doing is holding a gun to your temple, and the reason one would do such a thing is blow one’s brains out.
The “end” or “motive” specifies the further reasons that make the action attractive or desirable. In the suicide case, someone might do it because life is terrible, or someone else might do it for fun and games (Russian roulette).
The “circumstances” are everything else that goes into an action. For example, some cultures have encouraged suicide as an alternative to a life spent in shame or ignominy.
For instance, I could commit suicide by simply saying "I only want to play with the gun, putting the gun to my temple is not inherently immoral, and maybe I could do it if bored to a point bordering on madness. But the point is, I think this reasoning is specious -don’t you but it seems to be morally right given the 3 fonts. Where did I go wrong?
The object or (remember this is philosophical jargon) intention is not up to us. As the great philosopher G. E. M. Anscombe emphasized, intention is not a magic formula we whisper to ourselves to make our actions good or bad: the intention or object of an action can be found out by reason and cannot be changed just by adjusting our motives. To take again the suicide example: we know why one would point a gun to one’s own head, and that is merely to check out of this life early. Whether one does that in earnest or for play doesn’t really change the fact that the object, viz., checking out early, is bad.
I hope this doesn’t make the topic seem simple, since it really isn’t. To pursue it further you should look into the catechism and some books on moral theology and philosophy. Here are some links to a couple good ones:
Romanus Cessario,
Introduction to Moral Theology
G E M Anscombe,
Faith in a Hard Ground