Natural Law Flashcards
Natural Law was first formulated by…
…Aristotle
Aristotle observed…
…that everything has a purpose or telos.
When a human’s telos was fulfilled Aristotle observed…
…human flourishing or eudaemonia.
Aquinas did not see the rediscovery of Greek writings as a challenge to Christianity because…
…it was based upon reason. According to Aquinas properly applied reason would reach the same conclusions as the Bible.
Aquinas’ explanation of finding absolute moral truths.
Both reason and the Bible are God given therefore we can use both to find absolute moral truths.
Since humans are designed “to reflect the image of God” it follows that…
to be natural is to be good.
Primary Precepts
To worship. To learn. To reproduce. To live harmoniously. To preserve life.
Secondary Precepts
An action that fulfils a Primary Precept, eg: marriage fulfils the Primary Precepts to live harmoniously and to reproduce.
Syderesis
The process of using God given reason to work out Secondary Precepts.
According to Aquinas, what is a sinner?
It is natural to pursue perfection, therefore sometimes humans fall short of perfection. This is a sin, but it is only wrongly applied reason, therefore the sinner is not evil.
Double Effect
Sometimes we intend to fulfil a Primary Precept yet we break another as an unfortunate by product by-product.
Proportionalism
More liberal followers of Natural Law will recognise that breaking a Primary Precept is wrong, but in some circumstances absolutely necessary.
Hierarchy of Law
Eternal Law (God's Law) Divine Law (God given Law) Natural Law State Law (can be overruled if any of the above clash)
Deontological because…
…once we have worked out what is right, then it is our duty to fulfil our purpose.
Teleological because…
…our moral behaviour is a means to an end as we strive to reflect the image of God, therefore it is teleological.
