Note EQ — Chapter XXIV · MALE CHASTITY

Since men’s deviation from the strict path of chastity jeopardizes the very existence of the race, sexual morality must be binding upon all men, under all conditions without any regard to the original reason for the establishment of the moral law. A law, in its nature, can not acknowledge any exceptions. There may be a case where infection could be excluded with absolute certainty, just as there may be a case where the father’s doubt would have no consequences for the child. Embezzlement is also sometimes allowed and even a duty, as Cicero shows in “De Officiis,” “Si gladium quis apud te sana mente deposuerit, repetat insaniens, reddere peccatum sit officium non reddere.” In a remote future, under communism, as Mardach paints it, all the reasons for male or female sexual morality may become non-existent. Then the standard will surely change. But in our present state of society one standard of morality must be established for men and women, from which no one should have a right to deviate, no matter even if the reasons for the standard are not applicable in the particular case.