Natural law Flashcards
what does aristotle and aquinas believe us humans have
a unique telos that helps us flourish
what is aquinas’ main rule
to do good and avoid evil-synderisis
what are the primary precepts
preservation of innocent life, education, worship God, live in an ordered society, to reproduce
what does aquinas say about the primary precepts
theyre absolute and fixed, we need these rules in order to live a good life
how does aquinas see the world
being created in an order made by God
what are the 4 laws
human,eternal,natural,divine
what is the eternal law
this is the law which is in the mind of God, it is his knowledge of what is right and wrong
what is the divine law
this is the law that is revealed through God. can be found in the bible through the 10 commandments
what is the human law
the customs and practices of society, devised by the government
what is natural law
moral thinking that we are able to do whether or not we had the divine revelation of scripture. all humans have the capacity to consider and work out the moral rules necessary for achieving telos.
what does aquinas say about these laws
they all rely on natural law
what does aquinas say about the secondary precepts
theyre possible applications rather than hard and fast rules
how does the catholic school differ from this
they believe the secondary precepts are fixed rules e.g. the rejection of contraception
how is aristotles view different from aquinas
his main view on telos is eudimonia, aristotle argues that humans need to develop good character traits to enable us to reach eudamonia
what does finnis believe about natural law
finnus uses phronesis- wisdom,to show to suggest there are basic goods of a human flourisihing, from these more specific rules can be put foward such as achieving these basic goods.
what does finnis argue
although we should think about consequences to our actions, we shouldnt think the end justifies the means.
what is satres existentianalism
objects have a fixed nature but humans dont,humans can only have a fixed nature if theyve been made by God. He believes we come into existence first and then we must decide for ourselves what our essence is.
what does aquinas believe about a good act
a good act must have both a good interior and exterior
what does aquinas say about the double effect
For aquinas what matters is the effect intended. Aquinas argues that if you intend a good effect you arent responsible for the secondary bad effect.
what do stoics believe
philosophers such as zeno and aurelius view the world as being an ordered place, God created it and left it with logos(divine reason), the divine spark is within us so us humans must live in an ordered way
what does aquinas believe about the orientation of human beings
humans are created in the image of God, the most important aspect of this is ratio, we have synderisis, hence the ability to achieve good is within us if we reason correctly.
what does aquinas believe about moral mistakes
no one ever makes a deliberately wrong action, they make a reasoning error in pursuing apparent good rather than real good
what is apparent good
thinking an action is good without reasoning properly
what is real good
knowing an action is good and consistent with the actions and principles of natural law
