Abstract

In the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Vatican II devoted a chapter to “Fostering the Nobility of Marriage and the Family” . We read in the text, as it was brought to a vote in the general session of 16 November 1965 and approved by the overwhelming majority of the council fathers, that spouses must determine the moral character of their activity according to “objective criteria based upon the dignity of the human person” . Among the changes suggested by a number of fathers along with the voting for this text were several concerning the formulation of this personalist standard. According to the rules of the council, no changes could be allowed which would alter the essence of the teaching already ratified by a more than sufficient majority. However, individual formulations in the text could be clarified or nuanced.In the formulation of the “objective criteria” some fathers proposed to say that these are based on the nature and the dignity of the human person and the nature of the acts of the person . Hence the definitive formulation, “objective criteria based on the nature of the human person and his acts”. To explain how the nature of the person's acts is morally relevant, the official commentary on the expression that was used states: “By these terms it is asserted that also the acts must be judged not according to their merely biological aspect, but insofar as they pertain to the human person integrally and adequately considered.” Others asked to mention that these standards apply to the procreative capacities of human nature . The answer was that such an addition would be superfluous, since it is a question of a general principle, one which is applicable not only to marriage and sexuality but also to the entire domain of human activity.To consider the human person in an integral and adequate way, account must be taken of the person's fundamental aspects or dimensions. I discern eight such essential dimensions