Natural Law Flashcards
What quote does Aquinas use in relation to natural law?
‘To the natural law belongs everything to which a man is inclined according to his nature’
Why is natural law legalistic and absolute in nature?
It provides clear rules on what is right and wrong.
What is a quotes for Aquinas’ view on reason?
‘Reason is the true self of every man, since it is the supreme and better part… reason is, in the highest sense, a man’s self’
What is similar about Aquinas’ natural law and Aristotle’s four causes?
Like Aristotle, Aquinas thought eudaimonia can be achieved at the societal as well as the individual level.
God has designed the telos of human beings so that their interests can be achieved according to natural law.
What are the four tiers of law?
Eternal law
Divine law
Natural law
Human law
What does ‘imago-dei’ mean?
Made in the image of God
What are the primary precepts?
Preserve life
Reproduce
Ordered society
Worship God
Learn/educate the young
What is synderesis?
‘good must be done and evil avoided’
What are the secondary precepts for?
They are the use of conscientia to apply the primary precepts to situations or types of actions.
Examples of secondary precepts for each primary precept?
Preserve life - Do not kill
Reproduce - No contraception
Ordered society - No adultery (stable families)
Worship God - Freedom to practice religion
Learn/educate the young - Right to go to school
What is an apparent good?
Actions that seem good at the time but are actually deceiving
How does reason help to distinguish between real and apparent goods?
Prudence and justice
Normative ethics
The study of the principles, rules or theories that guide our actions and judgement.
Teleological ethics
Actions are right and wrong dependant on the actions and consequences of our actions.
Deontological ethics
The idea that actions are right and wrong in themselves, independently of their consequences.
What is an exterior act?
A physical action that occurs outside of the mind.
What is an interior act?
Our intentions, what we deliberately decide to do in side of our minds.
What does Aquinas say about the link between interior and exterior acts?
An exterior act is only morally good if it was driven by good intention.
What is the doctrine of double effect?
When an action has two side effects, one good and one bad. If the good effect was what was intended, then the action is morally ok ‘besides the intention’.
What is an example that Aquinas uses of the doctrine of double effect?
The act of self defence - he two effects are saving life and killing life, the killing of life can be justified as long as the saving life was intended, as otherwise this would go against the primary precepts.
Strengths of natural law
It is legalistic in nature - clear right and wrongs
It stems from observation of the natural world - makes sense
Gives autonomy to people to be guided by their reason - likely to follow
Idea of a universal law is appealing, allow for global justice
It is absolute, assuming the eternal law exists, it gives clarity on what is right and wrong.
Weaknesses of natural law
If there is not an eternal law then the idea theory falls apart
It commits the appeal to nature fallacy - does being natural automatically make something good?
Our observations of the natural world may not be accurate - they change as science develops.
Human reason is arguably unreliable
It has an overly optimistic view of human nature.
What does Alastair Macintyre say about rationality?
‘Rationality itself, whether theoretical or practical, is a concept with history’ - reason is not fixed or universal but is instead changing with culture and history.
What does Richard B Hays say about reason?
‘Reason itself is always culturally influenced’
