natural law Flashcards
cicero natural law quote
“true law is right with reason in agreement with nature”
what does telos mean
end goal/purpose
who established natural moral law
thomas aquinas
is natural law deontological or teleological
deontological
deontological meaning
actions are intrinsically right/wrong
“deon” = duty in greek
focuses on the actions we should be performing
aristotles view of telos
everything in the natural world has a purpose
human telos is to reach eudaimonia
aquinas inspired by
aristotles ideas of purpose
aquinas believes telos is
to become god like
this is done by using reason - ‘gift from god’
the main ethical principle around aquinas’ time promoted
divine command theory
what was divine command theory
divine - god
command - law/rule
essentially God commands what is right and wrong
what was the problem with divine command theory
god could have said anything
doesn’t account for new developments eg IVF
aquinas established another way of ethical thinking and produced
natural law theory
natural law theory proposed (3 things)
- nature decides what is right and wrong
- god made nature but it works on its own, towards its own telos
- ethics come not from God but from nature
Aquinas combines
the science (nature) of Aristotle with God
thomas aquinas believed we use what to make moral decisions
god-given reason
what is god given reason
the belief that god has given humans the ability to cognitively process the difference between right and wrong
four tiers of law (heirarchy)
- eternal law
- divine law
- natural law
- human law
eternal law
laws that exist within nature because god put them there
divine law
law of god revealed to people through Bible - ‘word of god’
(church transmits divine law to people
Particularly the sermon on the mount)
natural law
moral law of god within human nature
everyone has a natural sense ‘that good is to be done and evil avoided’
it directs our conscience and if applied with reason to a situation will lead to the right action