Natural Law Flashcards
What does Cicero say about NL’s universal application?
“it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting”
What does Hugo Grotius say about NL’s relationship with religion?
“what we have been saying would have a degree of validity even if we should concede what cannot be conceded”
Where is the biblical evidence for NL?
“the requirements of the law are written on their hearts” St Paul Romans Chapter 2
What does Herbert McCabe say about the manuals?
“the manuals show no serious interest in the development of christian life”
What does Aquinas say about telos?
“the light of reason is placed by nature in every man to guide him in his acts towards his ends”
What does eudaimonia mean?
Flourishing; the goal of human life
What do lus and lex mean?
Lus: the principle of the law
Lex: the letter of the law
What does Thomas Hobbes say about lus and lex?
“right consisteth in liberty to do… law determineth and bindeth one to them”
What does Aquinas say about eternal law?
“the whole world community is governed by divine reason”
Who is blessed in the Sermon on the Mount?
Peacemakers, pure in heart and merciful
What does Aquinas say about the branch of NL?
“participation of the eternal law in the rational creature is called the natural law”
What does Aquinas say about human law?
“human law has the quality of law insofar as it is according to right reason”
What is synderesis and what does Aquinas say about it?
The human ability to use reason to know the primary precepts. “The first practical principles belong to a special natural habit which we call synderesis”
What is the synderesis principle in Aquinas’ words?
“good must be done and evil avoided”
What is prudence & phronesis?
Understanding judgement & deliberation. Phronesis is wisdom.
What is conscientia?
The ability to apply the primary precepts to situations.
What does Aquinas say about the secondary precepts?
“There belongs to the natural law, first, certain most general precepts, that are known to all: and secondly, certain secondary and more detailed precepts which are, as it were, conclusions following from first principles”
What does Aquinas say about the many interpretations of good and right?
“The more specialised the conditions stated, the greater the possibility of exception arising”
What is pragmatism?
Being realistic and actual
What does Aquinas say about the double effect?
“only one of which is intended while the other is beside the intended”
What does Aquinas say about means-end?
“An act might have a good intention but still be wrong if it is not proportional to an end”
What does Anthony Kenny say about double effect?
“it makes a huge difference whether an outcome is intended or merely forseen”
What is proportionalism?
Good actions are measured by how good they are in proportional to bad actions
What does Karl Barth say about original sin and reason?
“the finite has no capacity for the infinite”
