Natural Law

Question 1

What did Aristotle distinguish between?

Answer 1

Aristotle distinguished between natural and legal justice

Question 2

What idea did St Paul explore?

Answer 2

St Paul explored the idea that all people could, within themselves, discern a law. It’s deontological.

Question 3

What did Thomas Aquinas think?

Answer 3

Thomas Aquinas thought that right and wrong are fixed things, and that they are linked to some greater idea of a fixed morality in the eternal law of God.

Question 4

What did Aquinas think about The telos/ultimate end?

Answer 4

-Aquinas thought moral acts were free acts aimed at achieving an immediate end, and an ultimate end.
-He thinks we should pursue this ultimate ending and happiness
-He thinks we shouldn’t do bad for good reasons but we should do good for good reasons.

Question 5

What did Aquinas think about the four tiers of law?

Answer 5

-Aquinas advocated an approach to ethics based on a universal order that all moral rules were based on
-Reason directs us to do good and avoid evil, and all other principles flow from this reason

Question 6

What are the four tiers of law?

Answer 6

-Eternal law
-Divine law
-Natural law
-Human law

Question 7

What did Aquinas think about primary and secondary precepts?

Answer 7

-Aquinas thought that synderesis entailed certain primary precepts
-Aquinas reflected on the purpose of human beings and concluded that synderesis entailed the need to protect life, reproduce, educate offspring, live in society and love God.

Question 8

What did Aristotle think about the Telos?

Answer 8

-Aristotle argues the human being acts to achieve eudaimonia or happiness.
-For Aristotle something is good if it’s fulfilled to the end
-He also believed there is a prime mover responsible for setting it in motion. Aquino developed this and said that God is responsible

Question 9

What did Aquinas conclude about the ultimate end/Telos?

Answer 9

-Aquinas concluded that the ultimate end can’t be found in this world, but only in the supreme and infinite God.
-Aquinas believed that the natural light of reason meant that all human beings sought this end
-Aquinas also cares about the intentions as well as acts
-Good intentions could also lead you away, and your emotion might confuse your moral decision making

Question 10

What does Aquinas believe about eternal law?

Answer 10

-It’s unchanging for all
-Aquinas believes it’s in God

Question 11

What does Aquinas believe about human law?

Answer 11

Aquinas believes that human law is only a proper law if it is good and follows divine and natural law.

Question 12

Examples of primary precepts?

Answer 12

Preservation of life, Reproduction, Educating the young, living in society, worshipping God

Question 13

Examples of secondary precepts for preservation of life?

Answer 13

Being pro life, obeying laws against killing people, supporting cancer research, getting an orphan

Question 14

Examples of secondary precepts for reproduction?

Answer 14

Donate sperm for a sperm bank, surrogacy, Being against abortion, bone marrow babies

Question 15

Examples of secondary precepts for educating the young?

Answer 15

Donating old books/notes, doing talks at local centres, adoption, charity work

Question 16

Examples of secondary precepts for living in society

Answer 16

Random acts of kindness, not littering, life skills for kids, food banks

Question 17

Examples of secondary precepts for worshipping God?

Answer 17

Going to church, praying, evangelism, following the Bible

Question 18

What is the key precept?

Answer 18

To do good and avoid wvil

Question 19

What strong claims did Aquinas make about the importance of reason?

Answer 19

-Divine reason, the reason of God, is something that exists, though it’s impossible for us to fully perceive it.
-Natural laws are universal. Aquinas says natural law is the same for all people

Question 20

What is synderesis?

Answer 20

-It’s the key precept from which all other principles flow
-If a given action is conductive to this end, then we should do it. If it is not conductive to the end, then we shouldn’t do it

Question 21

What are the first five primary precepts that Aquinas made?

Answer 21

1. To worship God: God is the source of eternal law, and God has sent this law to humanity through divine and natural law
2. To live in an ordered society: a lawful one where it is possible to follow all of the primary precepts
3. To reproduce: to ensure that life continues as is God’s intention and as it is necessary for the continuation of society
4. To learn: To teach people about God, his eternal law, natural law, divine law and primary precepts
5. To defend the innocent: life is most precious

Question 22

Is it possible for secondary precepts to vary?

Answer 22

It is possible for secondary precepts to vary as they’re based on the application of primary precepts into circumstances that may differ

Question 23

What are secondary precepts?

Answer 23

-They are deduced from primary precepts. They are applications of the primary precepts into certain situations.
-According to natural law and the primary precepts, human beings were made to live, murder and euthanasia to end life and so are wrong
-It is possible for secondary precepts to vary as they are based on the application of primary precepts into circumstances that may differ

Question 24

What did Aquinas believe about evil?

Answer 24

-Aquinas thought evil was not desirable
-‘No evil can be desirable, either by natural appetite or by conscious will. It it sought indirectly, namely because it is the consequence of some good’
-The reason a man lusts after another man’s wife is not because he thinks it is good to break up marriages, but because he is mistaken about what he truly desires
-The pleasurable desire leads to a disaster, and not what he truly wants

Question 25

What is the doctrine of double effect?

Answer 25

-Aquinas introduced a principle of double effect in discussing whether self defence is permissible
-An example to illustrate this: A man attacks a woman walking home one evening and she uses her mace spray to force him away. He stumbles back, trips on the kerb and falls to the ground, hitting his head. As a result of this he dies
-If taking a life breaks the primary precept then the woman would be wrong for defending herself. Does this mean we could never defend ourselves with a strong force?
-Aquinas says intention matters. Ethical acts are what is important in making moral decisions but he distinguished between interior and exterior acts

Question 26

What is an interior act?

Answer 26

-Interior acts are about our motivation, our intention behind the act- what we want to happen and why we are acting

Question 27

What is an exterior act?

Answer 27

They are the act that is visible- the act that is actually performed.

Question 28

What is advised when an action has 2 effects or ends?

Answer 28

-If it is good (in the example protecting life) and if the intention in self defence is to achieve this aim, then self defence is permissible
-However, the force used must be proportionate
-So for Aquinas’ theory of double effect, the action itself cannot be bad but good or neutral (saving life is good)
-The bad effect should not be the means by which the good effect is achieved (it is the saving of life that saves life, not the taking of life)
-The motive should be focused on the good effect (hoping to save life)
-The good effect should be at least as important as the bad effect (life is in the balance here)