Natural Law Flashcards
What is natural law theory based upon
Aristotelian teleology:the idea that everything has a true which directs it towards its end goal. However aquinas Christianised this concept
What is divine command theory?
Basing morality solely on what God commands.
-Thomas aquinas rejects this due to ‘ethical idoltary’,which was contrary to the Modus Vivendi (common belief) at the time.
What did Thomas Aquinas want to show?
How faith and reason can work alongside each other - took Aristotles ideas and made them consistent with theological edifice
What does aquinas believe guides us to our telos
Natural law “ultimate and perfect happiness can consist only in the vision of the divine”
What did aquinas believe eudaimonia leads us to
Felicitas (earthly happiness)
-believes we can aim higher than this - to God-like perfection
What are the four tiers of law?
Eternal law— Gods rational plan for all things known as the ’the mind of God’,it has always and will always exist. It contains immutable principles (idea thatwhen God created these laws they are fixed within the world). As we are at epistemic distance-we may not understand some laws
Divine law— Gods law revealed by God through scriptures e.g. in 10 commandments + sermon on the mount. Humans need to use their reason (ratio) to understand divine law. God has revealed this immutable principles through scripture
Natural Law—the moral law of God withung human nature, its discoverable through the use of ratio “the law of God is written on their hearts”. Humans are imago dei (created in Gods image) so they’re capable of discovering eternal law.
Human Law—the law humans made.
