Natural Law Flashcards
what are the primary precepts (aquinas)
to reproduce to learn to live harmoniously to worship to preserve life
what happens if we are fulfilling the primary precepts
we are fulfilling our god given nature
examples of secondary precepts
marriage is good homosexulaity is wrong abortion is wrong medicine is good etc
what is the hierarchy of law
eternal law
divine law
natural law
human law
what is synderesis
the process of working out secondary precepts from primary precepts
why do human sin
aquinas believes we dont do evil we simply fall short of our purpose. and synderesis must have gone wrong somewhere as long as your intention was to do good it doesnt make you evil
what is double effect
your intention was to do good (1st effect) but you end up breaking a precept as a consequence. as your intention was to do good you have not technically committed a wrong act. you are not admitting you are wrong
whats proportionalism
you feel it is necessary to commit a wrong act because the problem you are trying to solve is great enough (in proportion) to the act itself. what youre doing is wrong but necessary, you are admitting you are doing wrong but its necessary
whats aristotles 4 causes and what do they mean
material (what its made of)
formal (shape)
efficient (how its made)
final (its purpose)
what are strengths of aquinas natural law (4)
the primary precepts make a more equal society
you flourish (achieve eudaimonia) if you behave as you were designed to do
you have a motivation because you were designed for a purpose
proportionalism is flexible
weaknesses of aquinas natural law
its outdated
its not flexible, abortion is ALWAYS wrong whatever the circumstances
‘worship’ is open to interpretation
seems like there is only 1 natural order whereas peoples are different
god seems to have badly designed things in the world (eg ebola) so maybe he got human nature wrong too
