Natural Law📖

Question 1

who was natural law created by?

Answer 1

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Question 2

what were Aquinas’ dates?

Answer 2

1225-1274 AD

Question 3

who was Aquinas influenced by?

Answer 3

Greek philosopher, Aristotle

Question 4

what were Aristotle’s dates?

Answer 4

384-322 BC

Question 5

what type of ethic is natural law and where is it practiced?

Answer 5

religious ethic practiced in the catholic church

Question 6

is natural law teleological or deontological?

Answer 6

both but mainly deontological

Question 7

what does ‘deon’ mean and what language is it?

Answer 7

duty in Greek

Question 8

what does ‘telos’ mean and what language is it from?

Answer 8

end in Greek

Question 9

what does deontological mean?

Answer 9

only the action itself is judged and not the reason for the action

Question 10

what is the purpose of natural law?

Answer 10

Aquinas wanted to illustrate what the end purpose is for humanity and show humanity ways to achieve that end purpose

Question 11

according to Aquinas, what can moral agents use their reason to do?

Answer 11

to work out God’s purpose for humanity

Question 12

who was Aquinas inspired by for the ‘reason’ part of his theory?

Answer 12

Aristotle

Question 13

what did Aristotle believe about reason?

Answer 13

key element of human existence that distinguishes us from the rest of the creation

Question 14

what did Aquinas believe about reason?

Answer 14

he ‘christianised’ this theory and said that the human ability to reason was a gift from God

Question 15

“The moral life is the life…”

Answer 15

“…according to reason.”

Aquinas

Question 16

who was Aquinas influenced by with his theory of the ‘highest good’?

Answer 16

Aristotle

Question 17

what does the term ‘highest good’ mean?

Answer 17

ultimate end purpose

Question 18

what did Aristotle believe was humanities highest good?

Answer 18

Eudaimonia- the pursuit of happiness

Question 19

what did Aquinas argue was humanities highest good?

Answer 19

to become more like God

Question 20

how can humanity develop into the image of God according to Aquinas?

Answer 20

by obeying our end purposes set by God which natural law will reveal

Question 21

what are the ‘four levels of law’ according to Aquinas?

Answer 21

eternal law
divine law
natural law
human law

Question 22

what is eternal law?

Answer 22

the deontological laws that god created that control the whole universe e.g gravity

Question 23

can humans fully know eternal law?

Answer 23

no, we can only see a reflection because human brains don’t have the capacity

Question 24

how can humans see a reflection of God’s eternal laws?

Answer 24

through divine and natural law

Question 25

what is divine law?

Answer 25

laws in the Bible e.g the 10 commandments e.g "thou shall not steal"

Question 26

what is natural law?

Answer 26

law revealed through our god given innate, our ability to think

Question 27

what is human law?

Answer 27

the deontological rules in our society enforced by the police and courts, e.g laws that state that you can't murder

Question 28

what are the 3 types of precepts that Aquinas reasoned out?

Answer 28

key, primary and secondary

Question 29

according to Aquinas what was the key precept?

Answer 29

"Do good and avoid evil"

Question 30

"Natural law is the law written..."

Answer 30

"...on all our hearts"

Question 31

why do we need the primary precepts?

Answer 31

to know what's good and what's evil

Question 32

what were the primary precepts according to Aquinas?

Answer 32

5 human purposes based on humanities natural inclinations, they are permanent, universal and unchanging

Question 33

"there is a single..."

Answer 33

"...standard of truth for everyone."

Question 34

what are the 5 primary precepts? (POWER)

Answer 34

``` preservation of life orderly living in society worship God education reproduction of the human species ```

Question 35

how do we get the deontological secondary precepts?

Answer 35

by reasoning out the primary precepts

Question 36

what happens when you follow the primary precepts?

Answer 36

moral agents will re-stablish a a right relationship with God and gain eternal life in heaven, with God when they die

Question 37

what is a virtue?

Answer 37

an excellence in our character

Question 38

what is a vice?

Answer 38

a weakness in our character

Question 39

how many virtues are there?

Answer 39

7 - 4 cardinal - 3 revealed

Question 40

what are the 4 cardinal virtues?

Answer 40

fortitude temperance prudence justice

Question 41

what are the 3 revealed virtues?

Answer 41

faith hope charity agape love

Question 42

where do the cardinal virtues originate from?

Answer 42

the theories of Aristotle

Question 43

where do the revealed virtues originate from?

Answer 43

the Bible

Question 44

what is an exterior act?

Answer 44

the deontological actions that can be seen e.g helping an old lady across the road

Question 45

what is an interior act?

Answer 45

the intention behind an action e.g the reason behind helping the old Lady across the road

Question 46

according to Aquinas what must we have to be morally good?

Answer 46

both good actions and good intentions

Question 47

what is the real good?

Answer 47

reasoning out and following natural law correctly

Question 48

what is an apparent good?

Answer 48

reasoning out something that's good that is actually bad- using our God-given reason incorrectly

Question 49

did Aquinas think that people actually intend to be bad?

Answer 49

no, he believed that we are all inclined to be good because we have the God-given ability to reason, we can just have an error of reason

Question 50

what do we need to apply natural law to?

Answer 50

abortion and voluntary euthanasia