Natural Law Flashcards
Aristotle’s telos
- 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
Nicomachean ethics
- Contains Aristotle’s fullest accounts of his ethical thinking.
- Human goodness lies within fulfilling one’s telos, hence, flourishing
Aristotle’s function argument
- 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
According to Aristotle, to ‘flourish’ a human must;
- Live healthily
- Contribute peacefully to society
- Work and prosper
- Use their rationality
- Has children
- Passes on wisdom
Stoicism
- 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
Cicero
- Believed there is a ‘true law’ that is in agreement with nature
- Everlasting and unchanging throughout time
Contribution to natural law from Aristotle, Stoicism and Cicero
1) Aristotle - Telos
2) Stoicism - Reason
3) Cicero - human nature
Natural law
A moral code existing within nature, based on the idea that there is natural order to the world
Synderesis
- 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
Primary Precepts
- 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
Secondary precepts
- 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
Aquinas’ telos
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
Aquinas and intention
- 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
The four tiers of Law
1) Eternal Law
2) Divine Law
3) Natural Law
4) Human law
Eternal Law
- The eternal, immutable and absolutist plan by which God governs all things
- Un-knowable to humans
- Can be only partly known through divine law
Divine Law
- God reveals certain aspects of eternal law through divine law.
- Commands and teaching contained in the Bible
Natural law (as one of the four tiers of law)
- 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.
Human Law
- 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.
Decalogue meaning
Another word for the ten commandments
The double effect
- The idea that an act may be moral even if it has bad side effects.
- The intention of the act must be good.
Conditions for double effect
- 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
Natural Law Strengths
- 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
Natural Law criticisms
- 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.
