NATURAL LAW Flashcards
Aquinas's Natural Law
Who came up with the idea of Natural Law?
Thomas Aquinas
What type of ethical theory is natural law?
It is deontological and absolutist.
What is the synderesis rule?
The innate principle or natural disposition directing a person towards good and away from evil.
What are the five primary precepts?
Preservation of life
Ordered society
Worshipping God
Education
Reproduction
What are secondary precepts?
More specific rules that can be deduced from primary precepts. Example: killing is wrong. Seconfary precepts have some flexibility, they need to be considered how they apply in each situation in life.
Quote about the precepts
‘This is the first precept of law, that “good is to be done and pursued, an evil is to be avoided”. All other precepts of the natural law are based upon this.’ - Aquinas
Why can Natural Law be seen as helpful to humans ethical nature?
- The primary precepts seem fairly universally important
- It is absolute, it is clear and easy to follow
- Puts humans at the centre of creation
- Quite flexible
Why can Natural Law be seen as unhelpful to humans ethical nature?
- Few people would agree on all primary precepts
- Real life experience shws this kind of absolutism to be quite dangerous
- Is anthropocentric (and therefore arrogant and out of touch)
- Is vague because of flexibility
What are the four tiers of law?
- Eternal Law (God’s knowledge of right and wrong)
- Divine Law (Law revealed by God through commands and teachings in scripture, e.g 10 commandments)
- Natural Law (Moral thinking that we are all able to do)
- Human Law (Government law, customs and practises of society)
What is the doctrine of double effect?
If a morally good action has a morally bad side-effect, it is ethically okay for the morally good action to occur as long as the negative side effect isn’t intended.
Why can Natural Law be seen as a helpful way of making moral decisions?
- Primary precepts are not particularly controversial
- Natural Law leads to a belief in certain rights that exist regardless of context
- Natural law affirms the importance of reason; humans are made in God’s image and possess rational capacity to work out right and wrong
Why can Natural Law be seen as an unhelpful way of making moral decisions?
- It can be argued that basic goods vary far more across societies than is generally realised
- As an absolutist theory, natural law can at times appear too legalistic and fixed on obeying the rules particularly when there is an obvious negative consequence
- Natural Law commits naturalistic fallacy of observing what happens.
What is naturalistic fallacy?
The mistake of defining moral terms with reference to non-moral or natural terms.
What did Aquinas believe about telos?
Believed there is a fixed human nature. We are made in the image of God and have a clear telos
Natural law is right to base ideas of right and wrong on telos:
- If Aquinas is right that there is an essential human nature, then there is really is a good for all humans that they should strive towards
- While Aquinas supports telos with reason, divine command theory, makes a similar point via revelation: the bible reveals ‘the plans and purposes that god has for human beings’ (Jeremiah 29:13)
