Natural Law

Question 1

What are Aquinas’s four tiers of law?

Answer 1

Eternal law
divine law
natural law
human law

Question 2

What is the meaning of each of Aquinas’s four tier law?

Answer 2

Eternal law
 -God
divine law
 -ten commandments, Bible - revealed by god.
natural law
 - The moral law of God within human nature that is discoverable through the use of reason
human law`
 - The laws of nation

Question 3

Eudaimonia

Answer 3

Eudaimonia is the final end = happiness.

Human flourishing or happiness, idea put forward by Aristotle

Question 4

criticisms of aristotle telos

Answer 4

o Happiness is subjective, not an absolutist concept.

o We do not all appear to have a common human reason e.g. those who are mentally handicapped

o His definite separation between emotional and intellectual reasoning in moral decisions is unrealistic.

Question 5

primary precepts

Answer 5

o ‘There is in man a primary and natural inclination to good’
o Need our rational faculties to work them out
1. Preservation of life
2. Ordering of society
3. Worship of God
4. Education of children
5. Reproduction

Apply these to society in form of secondary precepts, e.g. no homosexuality

Only real goods are in line with the PP
distinction was made between ius and lex, RCC has made NL a lot more lex, Quinas used ius

Question 6

secondary precepts

Answer 6

o More flexible, allow us to move towards ultimate goal of eudaimonia.
o Works because we are rational beings.
o E.g.
o Do not murder for preservation of life

Question 7

double effect (4 conditions that justify it)

Answer 7

In medicine, a doctor may prescribe pain relief that shortens life.
• Intention is to remove suffering, not kill.
• We need to consider both intention and results of an action.
• 4 Conditions in order to justify double effect:
o The act must not be evil in itself
o The evil/good that comes from the act must be at least equal, preferably the good will outweigh the bad
o The intention of the agent must be good
o A proportionately serious reason must be present to justify allowing the indirect bad effect
• Aquinas insists on proportion, circumstances have to be serious before we do something with bad side effects e.g. a risky operation

Question 8

Apparent good (Aquinas)

Answer 8

Apparent goods aren’t real goods and they come about when we aren’t reasoning correctly. For example abusing drugs or cutting as a self harmer is a apparent good. It is derived from our fallen nature and does not help us flourish or become closer to perfection

Question 9

Naturalistic fallacy (weakness for Aq)

Answer 9

Just because we do good acts it doesn’t mean we should do them. If we don’t we are not evil, as a good act is something you add to the world not get from it (G.E Moore, similar to what Hume said)

Question 10

Aquinas

Quote

Answer 10

Quote:

‘Acts are good or bad in themselves and we need to use our reason correctly’

Question 11

Aristotle’s Purpose

Answer 11

Human’s goal (telos) is Eudaimonia.

Question 12

Aquinas’ Purpose

Answer 12

The Final Cause is achieved when something does what God intended it to do. Humans are intended to seek union with God; in doing this they can achieve perfection.

The purpose of morality is to able us to reach our (telos) which is being closer to god.

Question 13

The principle of Practical Reason

Answer 13

The assumption that, by nature, we seek to do good and avoid evil- or have an innate knowledge of first principles (the primary precepts).

Question 14

Real Good

Answer 14

Acts done from human reason which correspond to the natural law.

Question 15

interior and Exterior Acts

Answer 15

your intention (e.g. to help someone who’s starving) might be good, but your action (stealing bread) might be wrong. Both interior and exterior are important.

Question 16

external act

Answer 16

action itself, it could be moral, immoral or amoral

Question 17

internal act

Answer 17

motives or intentions; the motive must coincide with Aquinas’s cardinal and/or theological virtues

Question 18

Aquinas said God designed us …..

Answer 18

with a specific purpose which could be discovered through reason. He said that acting accordance with reason was the same thing as acting in the way a
Christian would act. He did believe that humans are immortal though, and argued that natural law had to take account of this.

Question 19

Strengths Of Natural Law

Answer 19

Rational - Natural Law uses practical reason, it is a common-sense approach.

God - Doesn’t require belief in God, as it is based on empirical observations of our nature.

Objective - Natural Law gives us rules that are true independently of our individual thoughts and desires.

Purpose - The world has meaning, purpose and values.

Flexible - allows for secondary precepts to vary according to culture, as they are the practical working out of the universal primary precepts.

Double Effect - gets around problems of conflicting secondary precepts.

Instinctive - Natural Law’s rules are in line with our instincts and intuitions.

Virtues - Focuses on human virtues and excellence - the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, and theological virtues of faith, hope and charity

Thriving - Helps humans achieve health, happiness, friendship etc.

Human Dignity & Rights - Values human life highly.
Consequences - Doesn’t consider consequences. (Bernard Hoose and Proportionalism) and protects the absolute nature of human rights.

Absolute - Our ‘post-modern’, secular society has lost all sense of objective values and truth. Pope Benedict calls this the ‘dictatorship of relativism’.

Autonomy - Natural Law allows the individual, using reason, to work out for themselves what is objectively right and true, not relying on religious authority, scripture or tradition.

Reliable - Predicting consequences is not reliable. Natural Law gives us rules that we see in societies throughout the whole world e.g. Do not kill.

Weaknesses Of Natural Law

Question 20

Weaknesses Of Natural Law

Answer 20

Too simplistic - Humans do not have a single ‘fixed’ human nature.

God - Requires belief in God, as it relies on a God-given purpose

Outcomes - Leads to immoral outcomes e.g. not allowing contraception led to spread of AIDS and overpopulation in Africa

Purpose - The idea of ‘purpose’ in nature can be explained by science (evolution and natural selection).

Cultural Relativism - Nielsen questions the unchanging nature of Primary Precepts in Natural Law, using Cultural Relativism. Gareth Moore argues our nature is a product of culture and society.

Double Effect - brings in consequentialism through the back door. You are allowed to do some terrible things because of double effect, and at other times you can’t do really helpful things.

Agape - Jesus was opposed to legalism, and broke rules in order to do the most loving thing.

Too optimistic - It has a too optimistic view of human nature. Augustine disagrees (original sin), as does Calvin (total depravity).

Unholistic - Vardy/Grosh - Aquinas’ view of human nature is unholistic and over-simplified

Unreliable - Scripture is more reliable than reason, as reason leads to corruption.

Consequences - Doesn’t consider consequences. (Bernard Hoose and Proportionalism).

Conflicting rules - As with any absolutist theory, what if two universal rules come into conflict with each other?

Impractical - Predicting consequences works, and is the best way of deciding what will do the most good.

Out-dated - Natural Law is stuck in the past, enforcing traditional views that are out of touch with 21st century society. This leads to homophobia, intolerance of other cultures etc.

Naturalistic Fallacy - how we are is not the same as how we ought to be. Just because sex produces babies, this doesn’t mean that every act of sex ought to be open to procreation.

Question 21

Weakness = Karl Barth thought that Natural Law relies too much on…..

Answer 21

reason, as human nature it too corrupt to be trusted, and not enough on the grace of God and revelation in the Bible.

Question 22

Natural Law depends on defining what is good, but according to G.E. Moore …..

Answer 22

, this commits naturalistic fallacy. Moore argues that goodness isn’t analysable and unnatural and so cannot be defined by any reference to nature. Aquinas argues that humans are socials and it is part of our nature to want to live peacefully in the company of others and to care for them. He then goes on to agree that as this ‘property’ of caring for others is part of our human nature, it must be good. Moore criticises this by saying: ‘You cannot derive an ought from an is’ – so it may be a fact that I have the natural inclination to care for others, but that does not mean that I ought to care for them. In reality, we do not make divisions between facts and values in the way we experience the world – because we are moral beings we unite these together.