1.1 Natural Law Flashcards
COMPLETED
1
Q
who was Aquinas’ inspired by for natural law?
A
- inspired by Aristotle, everything in the universe has a telos or purpose as its final cause
- for Aristotle human’s telos is eudaimonia
- he was also inspired by the Stoics who beleived the world was arranged by the gods in the best way possible
- we have a divine spark within us that allows us to understand the universe
- the path to happiness was to accept the natural order of things
- Aquinas used their idea of reason, that the world is ordered and rational and we have the capacity by God to understand it
2
Q
what are Aquinas’ four tiers of law?
A
- eternal law: law in the mind of God, moral truths unfathomable to humans
- divine law: law revealed by God through revelation
- natural law: moral thinking everyone is capable of by reflecting on human nature and synderesis
- human law: the customs and practices of society
3
Q
what is the doctrine of double effect?
A
some actions both uphold the precepts and go against them. For Aquinas, the only effect that matters is the one that was intended. E.g. in self-defence if you killed someone else.
4
Q
what are some general weaknesses with natural law
A
- the naturalistic fallacy: observing what commonly happens in nature and then arguing this is what must happen. Aquinas does this with telos and moral terms
- the whole principle of telos can be questioned (same scholars as Aristotle) and for Aquinas if there is no God there is no telos
5
Q
what are real and apparent good
A
- synderesis, people have a natural inclination towards the good
- when people commit a wrong action it was because they were misguided in the good they pursued
6
Q
John Finnis
A
- Contemporary legal philosopher
- His approach to natural law is more based on Aristotle’s than Aquinas’
- He believes some things in life such as friendship, religion, play and work are goods, from these we can infer human requirements such as pursuit of basic goods for all and human purpose
- From these moral principles can be drawn
- This allows for a more modern understanding of natural law that is more flexible than a lot of Catholic interpretations of Aquinas
7
Q
Hugo Grotius
A
- 17th century Dutch legal philosopher
- Argued natural law would still apply even without a God even though he was religious
- He thought there should be an international law based on Natural Law and developed Aquinas’ just war theory
8
Q
Germain Grisez
A
- contemporary Catholic theologian
- his work with Finnis has been instrumental in reviving natural law theory in contemporary ethical discussions
9
Q
Jeremy Bentham
A
- a classical critic of natural law
- his utilitarianism is a stark contrast to natural law’s deontology
- he dismissed natural rights as ‘nonsense upon stilts’
- criticised the underlying principles of natural law
10
Q
H.L.A Hart
A
- critiqued natural law from a positivist standpoint
- he argued for the separation of law and morality
- he therefore challenged the natural law position that legal systems derive their authority from moral principles
11
Q
Alasdair MacIntyre
A
- he didn’t directly criticise Aquinas
- but in his book ‘after virtue’ he criticises the enlightenment’s use of natural law theory from a virtue ethics perspective
- he calls for a return to Aristotelian ethics
12
Q
Hume
A
- also criticised the foundations of natural law
- claimed that moral principles could not be derived from nature
- the ‘ought-is’ criticism
13
Q
Nietzsche
A
- claimed natural law was based on outdated assumptions about the universe
- he instead advocated for a more individualistic and subjective approach to ethics where individuals create their own values
14
Q
John Rawls
A
- criticised natural law in his book ‘a theory of justice’
- argued it failed to account for the diversity of moral beliefs and cultural differences between people
- he advocated the ‘veil of ignorance’ theory of justice
