FPPR

The human person has a natural inclination to preserve himself; for he sees his existence as basically good. Human existence is a rational animal kind of existence. It is good to be as a
created in the image and likeness of God, in the image of knowledge and love (intellect and will).

This human person desires to know this for its own sake. Knowing is a mode of existing. In knowing anything, one becomes what one knows
("the intellect is in a way all things"). Knowledge is a kind of self-enlargement. His ultimate purpose in life clearly has something to do with knowing, which is his highest activity and, according to Aquinas, "the highest mode of having".

This human person has a natural inclination to behold the sublime, to see it, to intuit it, to contemplate it. And so he visits art museums, gazes at the sunset or the face of a child, and he even contemplates divine providence. He intuits that his ultimate purpose is somehow connected to this.

Man is a maker. He brings all his sense and intellectual powers to bear upon the project
of producing works of art, or playing games for its own sake.

The human person inclines to harmony between himself and others. He is born into a family and discovers himself through others, such as his parents and siblings. He tends to establish friendships. But he is glad to "see" his friends, to "hear" their voices. Ultimately, he wills to share the good that has come to him.

Man aspires after what is higher than himself. The human heart is restless, and it will remain so until it rests in the vision of God. He seeks to know the "whole of reality", that is, to possess the bonum universale (the universal and total good).

Man is inclined to give himself completely to another. This type of giving of oneself is a revealing of oneself to the other. One allows oneself to be known, and one gives oneself in order to be known by the other in a way that is exclusive and thus closed off to others with an openness to new life and family.

Man seeks to exist most fully. Man is inclined to bring about a more intense unity within himself, namely harmony between his actions and his character as well as his will and his passions.

Good is to be done, and evil is to be avoided

You determine the kind of person that you are (character) by the choices that you make.
If I do evil, I become evil, at least in part. If I choose to kill, I become a killer. If I choose to lie, I become a liar. By doing evil to achieve good, I still become evil to the degree that I will it.

The human person is to be loved for his own sake. He should never be treated as an instrument, but as a basic human good. To use a person is to treat him as an instrumental good.

For example, if a person has been waiting in line longer than you, he ought to be served before you regardless of the fact that you know the person behind the counter. But sometimes preferential treatment does not violate equality or fairness. For example, you might have been waiting an hour in the emergency room with a broken arm, but it is not a violation of fairness that the person suffering a heart attack was not required to wait, but was attended to before you.

Man is a social animal, and many goods can only be achieved through cooperation with
others. It is good to recognize our limits and need for others. Acting individualistically for human goods will fail to instantiate them.

Children behave on the basis of
emotion. Maturity is about learning to behave rationally. A morally mature person does not merely respond to emotion, but rationally considers the course of action to which his emotions are propelling him. In this way, he allows his emotions to move him, but not determine him. Emotion can help in the execution of reason's command, but only brute animals are determined by their sense appetites. The human person ought to determine himself via reason.