Natural Law Flashcards
1
Q
Aquinas’ view on animals
A
- Aquinas adopted Aristotles hierarchy of souls, which placed humans above animals and plants
- Animals are irrational, so they have instrumental, not intrinsic value
- like all living things, they have a final end and that end is to serve our needs
- any legal penalty for harming an animal was given as compensation for the harm to the owner, not the harm caused to the animal
- Aquinas thought it was wrong to be cruel to animals because of the impact on human relationships
- The OT laws relating to showing consideration for animals, were, in his view, created because cruelty to animals might encourage people to be cruel to one another
2
Q
Application to issues
A
- The view that animals are intended for human use justifies their use for all four procedures set for study
- animals have no right to life
- their suffering would be a matter of concern only when it involved cruelty, but this concern was only because humans might be desensitised in their attitudes towards one another
- using animals for medical testing could be seen as fulfilling the first primary precept- protect innocent life (in this case suffering humans)
- NL would reject any types of cloning that would produce animal/human hybrids or mix genetic materials of different animal species
3
Q
Modern Catholic Views
A
- The Catholic Church has softened much of Aquinas’ approach
- Its view of the world tends to be anthropocentric and so the needs of humans are seen as taking priority
- at the same time, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that animals are created by God with intrinsic value and that ‘men owe them kindness’
- animal testing is permitted because of its value to human well-being but suffering must be kept to a minimum and any testing must be within ‘reasonable limits’
- there is pressure on the Magisterium to denounce blood sports
- the Church opposes any xentransplantation of gametes or of material that would modify the human germline
