Vatican: Metaphysics Crucial for Priests

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I’m really interested in your thoughts about this article:
The document, issued this week and titled, “Decree on the Reform of Ecclesiastical Studies of Philosophy,” was approved by Pope Benedict in January. It says that in the face of the explosion of modern moral and philosophical relativism, priests must be all the more conversant with the philosophical disciplines, particularly with metaphysics…
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…A correct metaphysics, said Dr. Camp, is of tremendous significance in the fight against abortion and other attacks on human life. She told LSN the declaration comes none too soon, and that a vast misunderstanding or corruption of metaphysics is at the root of most of the modern problem.
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Metaphysics is the study of the most fundamental questions of existence and its nature, she said. It is these ideas that are most fundamentally under attack in what have become known as the Culture Wars.
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“Without metaphysics no study of ethics is possible. Metaphysical formation gives us the basis to fight for the culture of life.” Issues such as the nature of the human being, the “unity of soul and body” and “how to distinguish what we are from what we do” are all metaphysical questions, she said.
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In order to help a priest address the life and family issues, a correct understanding of metaphysics is “simply indispensible.”
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Do you agree or disagree with the part I bolded?
 
praxising said:
I’m really interested in your thoughts about this article:

Do you agree or disagree with the part I bolded?
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I agree that the study of objective morality - that is to say moral truth - is impossible without metaphysics, because we first have to understand what existence is most fundementally, before we can talk about the teleological ends or goals that will fullfill human nature. But ethics today is just a word thats been watered down to mean “how can we best get along with eachother”. It has nothing to do with whats trully moral.
 
Yes, without metaphysics, or to be more specific, without meta-ethics, a comprehensive study of ethics is not possible.
 
MindOverMatter2 said:
But ethics today is just a word thats been watered down to mean “how can we best get along with eachother”. It has nothing to do with whats trully moral.
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I think that is why the Vatican issued this directive, to better equip a pastor to deal with that and be make to make the distinctions clear to his parish.
VeritasSeeker said:
Yes, without metaphysics, or to be more specific, without meta-ethics, a comprehensive study of ethics is not possible.
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I’d be really interested in a definition of “meta-ethics.”
 
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