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ETHICS > 1. NML strengths and weakenesses > Flashcards

1. NML strengths and weakenesses Flashcards

1
Q

ST : universalisability (Faith + reason)

A

The application of Natural moral law also unites monotheistic religions such as Islam, Roman Catholicism and Orthodox Judaism on views such as euthanasia and abortion - creates a point of dialogue between religions. This is attractive in a world of political strife and disharmony.

- Some people view Aquinas as the father of democracy, by this they mean that all individuals and groups in society work in harmony with each other.
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2
Q

ST: Human life (CHN)

A

Values the preservation of life and harmony within society - sanctity of human life is central to its teleology

principle of sanctity of life is deeply rooted n islam - “And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden’

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3
Q

ST: St Paul (faith + reason)

A
  • St Paul’s writings to the Romans support Aquinas’s views on God’s law.
    He explains how both Jews and Gentiles are under this law.
    The jews are under the laws of the Torah, the first five books of the old Testament which include the ten commandments.
    • St Paul’s writings to the Romans support Aquinas’s views on God’s law.
      He explains how both Jews and Gentiles are under this law.
      The jews are under the laws of the Torah, the first five books of the old Testament which include the ten commandments.
      -you shall not murder
      -you shall not commit adultery
      -you shall not steal
      relate to NML
      These were sent by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and are part of God’s law. -(for all humanity)
      ‘what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their conscience also bears witness’ Paul finds it impossible to separate morality from the material creation of the universe.
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4
Q

ST: anything goes (deontological)

A
  • It places importance on a telos that is not hedonistic in character. Pope Benedict states that Natural Law gives a counterbalance to modern materialistic and hedonistic trends in society - We do not fall in to the post modern position of “anything goes” type of ethics. This means that there are natural rights that can be agreed upon as well e.g the right to education.
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5
Q

ST: Deontological

A

motive matters rather than unpredictable consequences;
- Deontological rules that are absolute and make it clear what is right and wrong- not individualistic and subjective; protects the sanctity of life.

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6
Q

ST: science (reason + faith)

A

based on empirical evidence and use of reason so scientific approach to ethics to discover the human telos. ;

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7
Q

ST: Finnis (faith + reason)

A

Finnis - natural law is grounded in the objective, intrinsic values that are part of the natural world, rather than in the commands of a deity.

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8
Q

ST: Grotius (faith + reason)

A
  • you could be an atheist and believe in natural law e.g. Hugo Grotius ‘What we have said about Natural Law would still have great weight even if we were to grant that there is no God’
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9
Q

ST: Equality (CHN)

A
  • It has grounds in human rights and equality - it punishes acts such as rape, torture, murder regardless of consequences - no crimes of passion
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10
Q

ST: D o Double effect (no too deontological and absolute)

A

outcome is an unintended side effect of a good intention.- synaeresis rule

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11
Q

ST: Dostoevsky (deontological)

A

In Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov,” - “If God is dead, then everything is permitted.”
This quotation highlights that if there is no God to provide a moral framework, then everything becomes permissible, and there is no basis for distinguishing right from wrong.

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12
Q

ST: Rachels (CHN)

A
  • James Rachels in The Elements of Moral Philosophy / sacred cow example
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13
Q

ST: Thomas Hobbes (Deontological)

A
  • Thomas Hobbes saw human nature as dangerous.
    life is ‘SOLITARY, POOR, NASTY, BRUTISH, AND SHORT’ Human nature has to have contracts drawn up as laws otherwise people would be far too destructive.
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14
Q

WE: Artificial (deontological + absolute)

A
  • Keeping someone alive if they are severely suffering by using modern medicine and artificial means, does not seem very natural
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15
Q

WE: Karl Barth (CHN)

A

Natural law not only limits human beings but it also restricts what God can do. He argued that human nature is corrupted by original sin and, therefore it is impossible for humans to act morally without god’s grace

Karl Barth: Laws are “Work of the devil”

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16
Q

WE: Kai Nielson (CHN)

A

Kai Nielson states that there is no common human nature.

CHN runs contrary to modern studies of human behaviour. He states that human beings have ‘different hardwiring’ - ‘there is no such thing as an essential human nature which makes man man’ e.g. eskimos killed members of their family who would be a burden during the winter - hard to believe that these people shared a common human nature with us

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17
Q

WE: Peter Vardy (too absolute)

A
  • Peter Vardy argues that individual moral problems do not fit easily into the Natural Law framework.
    Puzzle of Ethics - Aquinas states that every drop of semen should aim towards reproduction - yet in reality this isn’t necessary to maintain the human species. Aquinas ignores that sex could be useful in maintaining the relationship between man and woman.
18
Q

KEY ISSUES

A

KEY ISSUES
* IS IT HELPFUL BECAUSE IT IS BASED ON CHN
* IS IT HELPFUL BECAUSE IT IS EMPIRICAL
* IS IT HELPFUL BECAUSE IT COMBINES FAITH AND REASON
* IS IT HELPFUL BECAUSE IT IS DEONTOLOGICAL

19
Q

ITS HELPFUL BECAUSE IT IS BASED ON CHN

A

Values human life
Equality
Rachels

20
Q

ITS NOT HELPFUL BEING BASED ON CHN

A

Karl Barth
Kai Nielson
Curran
Bible
Hans Kung

21
Q

ITS HELPFUL BECAUSE ITS EMPIRICAL

A

x

22
Q

ITS NOT HELPFUL BECAUSE ITS EMPIRICAL

A

Dawkins
Leiser

23
Q

ITS HELPFUL BECAUSE IT COMBINES FAITH AND REASON

A

St Paul
Science
Dawkins

24
Q

IT DOESNT NEED TO COMBINE FAITH AND REASON

A

Finnis
Grotius
William of Ockham Russel

25
Q

ITS HELPFUL BECAUSE ITS DEONTOLOGICAL AND AND ABSOLUTE

A

Morality
Doestoyevsky
Hobbes

26
Q

ITS ACTUALLY NOT VERY ABSOLUTE

A

(not actually very deon/ absol) doctrine of x2 effect
Bishop Dowling

27
Q

ITS NOT HELPFUL BECAUSE ITS DEONTOLOGICAL AND AND ABSOLUTE

A

Peter Vardy
Artificial
robotic + cold
Mackie
Jesus
Kelly

28
Q

WE: Robotic + cold (deon/ absol)

A
  • The rigid laws ae not loving as they do not allow humans any freedom. NML limits abortion even as a result of rape, it is therefore cold and robotic.
29
Q

WE: commits naturalistic fallacy (based on empirical evidence)

A
  • NML commits G.E Moore’s Naturalistic fallacy;
    1. This claims that you cannot jump from an ‘is’ to an ‘ought’ - this means that we cannot look at empirical evidence from the world around us and draw value judgements from these. For example one cannot look at the evidence that we have reproductive organs and then conclude that we should reproduce and not use artificial contraception. This is because reproductive organs can have more than one purpose- they can be used to express love for example in which case homosexuality is completely acceptable and so is the use of artificial contraception. Therefore is the empirical evidence in the universe is not designed with a single telos in mind then more than likely nor is the universe.
30
Q

WE: William of Ockham (Combined faith and reason)

A

William of Ockham - faith matters more than human reason. We should not be expectant that if we follow NML we will go to heaven because we cannot predict or control God’s actions.

31
Q

WE: Russel ( Based on faith + reason)

A
  • Russell- universe is “Brute fact”; People not innately seek good but evil- Modern physics shows there is a lot of randomness and choas in the universe - such as Brownian motion which is the seemingly random movement of small particles, such as dust or pollen, when suspended in a fluid or gas.
32
Q

WE : Cultural relativism Mackie (deontological) +weak weaknesses

A

In his book Ethics: Inventing right and wrong (1977) states that each institution has an acceptable code of rules and
they can also be described from the inside “don’t break your promises John” The command
not to break a promise here depends on the rules of the institution having been accepted in
the first place.
The rules are not hard and fast facts. They are accepted to varying degrees by all those within the institution.
Mackie is a naturalist as he thinks the rules can be observed
but they are not absolute but rather based on tradition and social expectation.

Normative cultural relativism - it’s not your beliefs but moral facts themselves that differ from culture to culture.
WEAK - This means no culture can actually be morally wrong e.g. Nazis
WEAK - Moral Progress is void
- never any reason to change anything within a culture

33
Q

WE: Jesus (Deontological + absolute)

A

NML is Christian yet Jesus opposes legalistic morality in the New Testament. Joseph Fletcher argues that Jesus rejected the Pharisaic Law approach that natural Moral Law is very similar to.

34
Q

WE : Kelly (deontological)

A
  • Kelly argues that a person is the author of their own actions, actions do not have moral value in themselves.
35
Q

WE: Dawkins (faith + reason) / (empirical evidence)

A

Dawkins claims that the universe has no grand designer behind it.
-
Dawkins - we are only programmed to survive - not achieve summum bonum or be moral - we are just ‘survival machines’ with ‘selfish genes’

36
Q

WE: Curran (CHN)

A
  • Curran argues that the CHN view is inadequate for addressing the complex moral challenges that face contemporary society. He suggests that a more nuanced and contextual approach is needed, one that takes into account the diversity of human experience and the complexities of modern life. Some things in the world do not appear to have a single telos such as art and music - have evolved and so it is wrong to make ethical judgements based on a fixed telos. For example in the same way society has changed its views on the status of women. Whereas at one time it was seen that it was natural for women to reproduce based on their natural telos and stay at home now they work etc. Their status has changed and evolved.
37
Q

WE: Bible (CHN)

A
  • The idea that humanity has one common purpose is not supported by the Bible. God has different plans and purposes for different people and so then it becomes hard to apply Natural Moral law. For example, in the Book of Jeremiah God tells Jeremiah that his purpose is to be a prophet whereas Mary has been told she is to give birth to the Son of God.
38
Q

WE: Mass shooters (CHN)

A

-Aquinas was too optimistic in his view on human nature. There is evidence to suggest that not everyone is naturally inclined towards doing good Mass shooter in Oregon, who reportedly left behind a manifesto in which he expressed a desire only to become famous and to surpass the notoriety of previous mass shooters.

39
Q

WE: Hans Kung (no CHN)

A

Hans Kung in his book wrote that to think of the idea of natural is “Naïve…static, narrow and completely unhistorical”.

40
Q

WE: Leiser (empirical evidence)

A
  1. Leiser. He gives an example of the screw driver which is used for many purposes. In the same way so are the sex /reproductive organs and therefore he claims that Aquinas is wrong to claim that there is a telos to the universe and things within it.
41
Q

ST: Bishop Dowling (Deon/ Absol)

A
  • Not as rigid as it first seems - whilst the primary precepts are unchangeable - the secondary precepts may change in certain circumstances. E.g. Bishop Dowling who provided contraception in sexually diseased African communities

ETHICS (14 decks)

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