Ch 4 Natural Law Flashcards
What is Natural Law?
Natural Law is the general view that moral rules and principles are objective, absolute and universal truths that can be discovered in the nature of things and in the structure of life itself through the use of reasoned reflection.
laws built into the nature of life itself, and knowable to all people.
Where is Natural Law dominant and who popularized it?
Such a paradigm has been so dominant throughout the entire history of the Christian moral tradition, especially during the Medieval Period, courtesy of Christendom’s greatest thinker—St. Thomas Aquinas.
What is the natural law paradigm?
To know and understand what morality demands, of what we ought to do and not do, we need only to look to nature, specifically human nature — and ask what it demands from us human beings who are gifted with knowledge and freewill.
The moral law is accessible to human reason (natural reflection) as well as experience. It is reason or even “common sense” itself that determines what we ought to do and not to do. And since reason is universal (true to all), it applies also universally to all human beings, regardless of their social and cultural differences and upbringing.
interpretation
What is the Stoics’ interpretation of natural law?
The whole of the universe as governed by certain immutable laws that exhibit rationality. Nothing in the world, therefore, happens by chance. Everything has its own end or purpose — a reason for its own being (here, even the great Aristotle is obviously influenced by this thinking).
What is ‘logos spermatikos?”
Human beings have a diving spark or a “rational seed” that enables us to discover the essential eternal laws that governed the whole cosmos that are necessary in the attainment of individual happiness and social harmony.
“Rational seed or logical sperm”
What is the attitude carried out by the Stoics?
We cannot change the way things are, simply because that’s what they are, nothing more and nothing less, the idea that things cannot be other than they will.
fatalism
Interpretation
What is the Aristotelian conception of natural law?
Natural law according to Aristotle is everything that exists in nature serves some particular and specific purpose and that we can never fully understand a thing (anything, in fact for that matter) until we understand what it is for, or what its purpose for.
Natural law for Aristotle is ________.
We can learn by nature what we ought to do and not to do because nature intends that certain things be done or not done.
An action is right if it serves its purpose.
(e.g. an acorn will grow into an oak tree because that is their purpose)
According to Aristotle, the essence of a thing is __________.
an activity, something that the thing does. This, he understands as its essential characteristic function, that is, that which it does uniquely or better than other things.
This is why, so as to concretely illustrate—the essence of the heart is to pump blood; nothing else in the body can perform this function. It is unique that no one else can do it except itself.
What is the natural law for us humans according to Aristotle?
The thing that humans can do that others cannot, or that particular and specific function or activity which human being does uniquely or better than any other being in the world is what Aristotle calls as the very characteristic that makes man truly human, which is the capacity to think, our rationality and intelligence.
What is being good according to Aristotle?
To be good therefore is to be reasonable. To be reasonable is to act in accordance with our nature, which is our rationality. To be good is to be rational in our actions and conduct.
To exercise our capacity to reason. To be reasonable in our conduct.
What are the 4 basic ideas of Aristotle’s conception of natural law?
- Everything in nature has a purpose.
- Everything in nature has an essential nature—certain features that constitute its defining features.
- Everything in nature has its proper good.
- Something’s natural purpose. Its essential nature, and its proper good are intimately related.
What is law?
A rule or norm which governs nature and or/actions of things.
any constant way of acting or reacting any directive rule of activity
Interpretation
What is the Thomistic influence on natural law?
What is law according to St. Thomas Aquinas?
An ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by one who has the care of the community”.
a command or directive from a legitimate authority.
How does a law differ from a plea or advice?
A law in the above sense differs from a plea or advice since it requires obedience on the part of those who are expected to follow it. This sense of obligation renders a law with an element of force or power.
A law is a kind of imposition which necessitates obedience on the part of the subjects.
What are the essential elements for a law to be reasonable?
Essential Elements for a Law to be Reasonable
For a law to be reasonable, it must contain the following elements.
1. It must be just.
- It must be honest.
- It must be possible to fulfill.
- It must be relatively permanent.
- It must be promulgated.
- It must be directed to the common good.
- It must be promulgated by one who has the care of the community
Essential Elements for Reasonable Law
“It must be just”
law should not command what is morally wrong or evil. It must promote and uphold the inherent rights and dignity of every human person.
Essential Elements for Reasonable Law
“It must be honest”
law should not contradict in essence to any higher law. It should also be consistent within itself.
Essential Elements for Reasonable Law
“It must be possible to fulfill”
law should be easy to follow it without extreme difficulty for its people.
Essential Elements for Reasonable Law
“It must be relatively permanent”
a law, once established and enacted, should be more or less stable. it must be something that continues to be binding on the subjects, unless repealed or amended with good reason by the legitimate authority or its proper or rightful representatives.
law should continue to exist/be binding unless it is revoked
Essential Elements for Reasonable Law
“It must be promulgated”
law must be made known and publicized to them in a language or manner that is understandable so that the public can comply with it.
Essential Elements for Reasonable Law
“It must be directed to the common good”
law should promote the general welfare rather than just serve a few individuals. law should always be for the good of all or the entire community.
a law that only benefits the elite cannot be a fair law
Essential Elements for Reasonable Law
“It must be promulgated by one who has the care of the community”
law should be enforced or established by a competent and legitimate authority
may be single or a group of persons
