Natural Law

Question 1

Aristotle’s telos

Answer 1

• Aristotle considered something to be good if it fulfilled its ‘telos’
• Somethings telos can be determined by observing the way it behaves
• This can be applied to humans

Question 2

Nicomachean ethics

Answer 2

• Contains Aristotle’s fullest accounts of his ethical thinking.
• Human goodness lies within fulfilling one’s telos, hence, flourishing

Question 3

Aristotle’s function argument

Answer 3

• All beings have a variety of functions
• Humans have more functions than plants and other animals
• If a human is fulfilling its functions it can be said to be flourishing

Question 4

According to Aristotle, to ‘flourish’ a human must;

Answer 4

• Live healthily
• Contribute peacefully to society
• Work and prosper
• Use their rationality
• Has children
• Passes on wisdom

Question 5

Stoicism

Answer 5

• Proposed that the world was ordered by nature or Gods in the best way possible
• Emphasis on the rational over the emotional
• Influenced natural law thinking

Question 6

Cicero

Answer 6

• Believed there is a ‘true law’ that is in agreement with nature
• Everlasting and unchanging throughout time

Question 7

Contribution to natural law from Aristotle, Stoicism and Cicero

Answer 7

1) Aristotle - Telos
2) Stoicism - Reason
3) Cicero - human nature

Question 8

Natural law

Answer 8

A moral code existing within nature, based on the idea that there is natural order to the world

Question 9

Synderesis

Answer 9

• The idea that all humans have a natural tendency to do good and avoid evil
• Reason tells us we would not want to live in a world where theft or murder is permitted

Question 10

Primary Precepts

Answer 10

• Using observations of human nature, Aquinas deduced some examples of how natural law can be applied, called the primary pecepts;
• Preservation of innocent human life
• Reproduction
• Nurture and education of the young
• Peaceful society
• Worship of God

Question 11

Secondary precepts

Answer 11

• Deduced through reason from primary precepts
• Less set than primary precepts and require reason to apply
• Aquinas saw secondary precepts as possible applications of NL rather than set rules

Question 12

Aquinas’ telos

Answer 12

Aquinas believed human telos is to become more in the image of God- or to become more like God.
This can only be achieved in heaven and not on earth

Question 13

Aquinas and intention

Answer 13

• Aquinas was more concerned with the intention of an act than the act itself
• A good external act is compromised by a bad intention
• You cannot do a bad act for a good reason

Question 14

The four tiers of Law

Answer 14

1) Eternal Law
2) Divine Law
3) Natural Law
4) Human law

Question 15

Eternal Law

Answer 15

• The eternal, immutable and absolutist plan by which God governs all things
• Un-knowable to humans
• Can be only partly known through divine law

Question 16

Divine Law

Answer 16

• God reveals certain aspects of eternal law through divine law.
• Commands and teaching contained in the Bible

Question 17

Natural law (as one of the four tiers of law)

Answer 17

• Natural laws allows humans to access eternal law through the application of human reason
• It allows one to access God’s law even if they have never heard of Christianity.

Question 18

Human Law

Answer 18

• Laws created by humans in order to keep society functional, deriving from Natural + Divine law.
• Necessary because people do not always use their reason before taking actions
• Can be ignored if a law counters the other tiers of law.

Question 19

Decalogue meaning

Answer 19

Another word for the ten commandments

Question 20

The double effect

Answer 20

• The idea that an act may be moral even if it has bad side effects.
• The intention of the act must be good.

Question 21

Conditions for double effect

Answer 21

• The intention must be purely good
• The effect should not be the means by which the good effect is achieved
• The good affect should be at least as important as the bad affect

Question 22

Natural Law Strengths

Answer 22

• Clarity: NL provides clear principles to live by, while still maintaining a degree of flexibility in double effect
• Universal: Most societies agree that the ideas behind the precepts are desirable goods
• Rights and values: NL places high value on human life and rights

Question 23

Natural Law criticisms

Answer 23

• No universal telos: It may be wrong to assume we all have the same purpose.
• Narrow view of Telos: Even if we have a telos, it is unlikely it is universal. People have different views of what is natural to them
• Commits Naturalistic fallacy: assumes because something happens (e.g reproduction) it is morally correct and should happen
• No Telos: There may be no purpose to human life. Existentialist Sartre agrees.