Catholic moral theologians and documents of the magisterium use the expressions formal cooperation and material cooperation to refer to agents’ involvement in others’ objectively i
In presenting her teaching on various subjects, the Church often invokes the distinction between formal and material cooperation; in doing so, she also often cites St. Alphonsus Li
In a world ablaze with headlines about cloning, over-the-counter abortifacients, resource shortages in hospitals, withdrawal of feeding from the unconscious, and umpteen other prob
Should political leaders violate the deepest constraints of morality in order to achieve great goods or avoid disasters for their communities? This question poses what has become k
Working together with another on a good project can increase the chance of the project’s success or improve the quality of the product, decrease the amount of effort each needs to
Co-operation problems will often arise in the context of research involving human cells and/or genes. Such problems arise in many areas of our lives, when what we do will somehow c
From the Church’s earliest days, certain Christians, as part of their prophetic witness to the Faith, have dedicated themselves to the care of the sick. Early and eloquent examples
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, having received the opinion of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, has decided that it would be appropriate to publish the present
Suppose that it is wrong for A to act in a certain way, e.g. to defraud a business, or to kill an innocent person. Is it wrong for B to enable or assist A to do that? Here there are really two issues: 1) specifying what exactly enabling or assisting mean, and 2) given that specification, determining the nature and extent of B’s culpability. Assume that conspiring with A to do the thing in question makes one equally culpable, what about cooperating with A, does that make one complicit in the wrongdoing? In thinking about such issues (partly for the purpose of hearing confessions, judging culpability and assigning penances) Catholic moral theologians, following St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) have drawn a distinction between formal and material cooperation with evil. B formally cooperates with A’s action, if B willingly participates in it, either directly by co-acting, or indirectly by assisting it with the intention that the action succeeds. On the other hand, B merely materially cooperates with A’s action if though B does not co-act or indirectly assist, but enables it to occur by, for example, providing A with equipment used in the fraud or killing, or by transporting A to a place where the actions are performed. Here B may not share in A’s intention but nonetheless B has enabled the action. Many further issues remain, for example whether B knew or suspected what A intended to do, or if, though B did not know or suspect this it was negligent of B not to have considered the likelihood or possibility of this. Although this may seem abstract it is very important in determining whether and to what extent an agent may be morally guilty.