philosophical sin

Ultimately from Ecclesiastical Latin peccātum philosophicum, coined around 1600.

philosophical sin (countable and uncountable, plural philosophical sins)

1. (Christianity, dated) Sin that is said to contravene the natural moral order rather than offending God directly, for example because the sinner is ignorant of divine law or does not think of God in the act.

   Coordinate term: theological sin

   • 1910, Walter McDonald, The Principles of Moral Science, page 145:

     For, as incompletely wrong acts, such as philosophical sins, or even theological venial sins,—say, of irreligion or disobedience to God,—render one liable to be punished, but not with the eternal loss of the last end; so it may be that there is a sufficient reward for imperfectly good acts, which, whether it is eternal or only temporary, is something different from the eternal enjoyment of the Infinite Good.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see philosophical,‎ sin.