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Ethics > Natural Law > Flashcards

Natural Law Flashcards

1
Q

Telos for aquinas

A

Humans have unique ability to reason so by using this were are flourishing or eudaemonia and that is human telos

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2
Q

What is the main moral rule for aquinas

A

Synderesis

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3
Q

Syderesis

A

Natural human inclination to want to do good and avoid evil

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4
Q

Primary precepts

A

five self evident rules humans should follow

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5
Q

WORLD

A
  • Worship god
  • Ordered society
  • Reproduce
  • Learn, education
  • Don’t die, preserve life
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6
Q

Whats the problem with the primary precepts

A

General statements and don’t tell people how to act

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7
Q

Secondary precepts

A

More specific rules that can be deduced from primary precepts, applied situationally

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8
Q

Example of primary and secondary precept interaction

A

Primary precept of preserve innocent life would mean secondary precept of don’t kill other humans

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9
Q

What is the hierarchy of the four tiers of law

A

Eternal Law
Divine Law
Natural Law
Human Law

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10
Q

Eternal law

A

Law known in the mind of god and his wisdom and reflected in his creation, unfathomable to humans

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11
Q

Divine law

A

Law revealed by god in revelation. Scripture like Ten Commandments, teachings of Jesus

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12
Q

Natural law

A

Moral thinking all humans can do with the god given ability of reason, to work out moral rules needed to achieve our purpose

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13
Q

Human law

A

The customs and practices of a society devised by governments and society, should align with reason from natural law

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14
Q

How does Aquinas view of secondary precepts differ to the Catholic Church

A

Aquinas sees them as flexible possible applications rather than absolute rules, Catholic Church places absolute manualist rules like rejection of artificial contraception

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15
Q

How does John Finnis interpret natural law

A

with his Aristotelian idea of phronesis which suggests there are basic goods of human flourishing like knowledge, leisure, work. From these we can put down more specific rules like desiring common good for all.

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16
Q

Phronesis

A

Ancient Greek term meaning wisdom, referred to mainly as practical wisdom and moral decision making

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17
Q

Reasons why natural law is helpful in moral decision making

A
  • Primary precepts are all good values that all societies value
  • Absolutist which provides a lot of clarity in judgements, removes error of interpretation
  • It is a remarkably flexible absolutist approach
  • Affirms importance of human reason, with imago dei
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18
Q

Reasons why natural law is not helpful in moral decision making

A
  • Basic goods actually vary a lot across different societies, especially when put into practice as secondary precepts
  • Absoloutists so too legalistic and fixed on rules, HIV in Africa as catholic teaching opposes contraception
  • Naturalistic fallacy of observing the world and deciding what should help, determining moral values from non moral terms
  • Contradicting elements in the clarity of primary precepts and the flexibility of the secondary
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19
Q

How was Aquinas an essentialist

A

He believed there was a fixed human nature, humans are made in gods image with a clear telos that it is morally right for humans to fulfil

20
Q

How is Sartre an existentialist

A

Objects have a fixed nature but humans do not, humans could only have purpose if made by god but Sartre was atheis. Humans act in bad faith, denying ourselves freedom in binding ourselves to a purpose that doesn’t exist

21
Q

What is Sartre’s example of existentialism

A

Cafe waiter over exaggerates his movements he plays the role of the waiter as if it is his essence, his essence can change he can switch jobs

22
Q

Reasons why NL is right to base ideas of right and wrong on telos

A
  • An essential human essence gives all humans a purpose to strive for
  • Bible reveals plans and purposes that god has for all human beings
23
Q

Reasons why NL is wrong to base ideas of right and wrong on telos

A
  • Aquinas makes error of assuming all humans have the same purpose
  • Existentialism disputes whether humans have any purpose
  • Evolution suggests that purpose is a human construct projected onto the world
  • Telos has some things as natural to humans and others as unnatural
24
Q

How does Aquinas contradict himself and recognise humans may have different purposes

A

Priests and monks were sworn to celibacy so cant reproduce

25
Q

Interior Act

A

The motive

26
Q

Exterior Act

A

The view of the action from the outside

27
Q

For aquinas what does an act need to be good

A

Good interior and exterior act for the whole action to be considered good

28
Q

Doctrine of Double effect

A

Actions may produce multiple effects with some bad, as long as one intends the good effect then they cant be held responsible for the bad effect

29
Q

What is Aquinas example for the doctrine of double effect

A

Self defence against an assailant had the good intent and good effect of saving your own life, however the unintended secondary effect was the death of the assailant

30
Q

Double effect in abortion

A

A women’s life is at risk if she continues with a pregnancy so a doctor may perform an abortion which is the action, with the intention of saving the mothers life which is the good effect, but the bad effect of ending the life of the foetus

31
Q

Strengths of the double effect

A
  • Allows a good degree of flexibility
  • Recognises complexity of real life situations, so allows for some manipulation of rules to solve
    —–>Kant doesn’t allow for this
32
Q

Weaknesses of the double effect

A
  • Impossible to judge a persons intentions and impossible to ever know
  • Difficult to know how far to press the idea of the double effect into areas that may result in a slippery slope like euthanasia
  • creates internal controversies in an otherwise clear reasoned approach
33
Q

What do stoic philosopher believe about the orientation of creation

A

World is an ordered place created by god who left behind divine reason within humans so it is logical for humans to live in an ordered life.

34
Q

What did Aquinas believe about human orientation

A

People are created by God with the ability to reason and orientated towards the good with principle of syneresis and correct reason

35
Q

How does Aquinas follow socrates about human orietnation

A

Suggests no one ever wilfully performs a wrong action, they instead make a reasoning error in pursuing an apparent good rather than a real one

36
Q

real good

A

Actions which are intrinsically good and consistent with natural law

37
Q

Apparent good

A

An action which someone may mistake for a real good when they haven’t reasoned correctly

38
Q

Aquinas example of real and apparent goods

A

A man having an affair reason was flawed as he thought that the pleasure he would gain was good, but he is mistaken as pleasure is an apparent good

39
Q

Reasons why humans have an orientation towards the good

A
  • stoicism and pale appeal to order present in creation and reflect this to humans
  • Humans do want to live well and aim for goodness, may miss this but the aim is always good
  • Gives dignity and responsibility to humans by allowing them to reason
40
Q

Reasons why humans do not have an orientation towards the good

A
  • Modern evolution suggests world is random chance and not sculpted to have order, Dawkins blind watchmaker
  • Augustine has humans as fallen and corrupted and unable to use reason to make good moral decisions
  • Aquinas is overly optimistic about humans capacity to reason in the image of god
  • Real and apparent goods is naive as many humans willingly commit bad acts, can be used to justify awful acts like the holocaust
41
Q

How does GE Moore criticise Aquinas

A

Goodness is unnatural so cant be defined with reference to nature, this is the naturalistic fallacy. Cant derive an ought value from a fact, natural inclination to care for others doesn’t mean I have t care for all people

42
Q

How does Kai Nielsen criticise Aquinas

A

cultural relativism as differing moral standards in differing societies challenges the idea of a common universal natural law

43
Q

Why does the religious nature of natural law weaken it

A

It presupposed a good god who has the best interest of creation at heart, many don’t believe in god but aquinas is reliant on the idea with imago dei.

44
Q

why is natural law contradictory

A

It can be perceived as relativist in parts but also deontological which makes it hard to perform in practice

45
Q

What does Peter Singer point out about Natural Law

A

It upholds sanctity of human life to a detrimental end that can cause someone with a delibatating illness to have to live on and suffer not allowing for euthanasia

46
Q

Example of flaws in the double effect

A

Harold shipman killed 215 patients with lethal doses whilst appearing to be administering pain relief, his intention was impossible to know which allowed for murder of 215 people

Ethics (9 decks)

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