Natural Law Theory Flashcards
What is the main claim of Classical Law Theory?
The content of law is necessarily linked to justice and the concept of justice (morality) are derived from nature (the cosmos, God, etc.)
What is the definition of Moral Realism?
The idea that moral statements have cognitive value; that they are true or false
How can someone be an Anti-Realist but also a Natural Law theorist?
They would believe that morals are not inherent to nature, or that they are made by human reason, but that they still are necessarily linked to law.
What are Aristotle’s four ‘causes’ to understand something?
- Formal cause
- Material cause
- Efficient cause
- Final cause (telos)
To Aristotle, what is the purpose of human beings?
To live well (eudaemonia) in moderation (the golden mean) and in accord with one’s nature.
Explain Hume’s Ought/Is problem.
You cannot derive an ought from an is; you cannot derive a normative claim from a descriptive claim.
What are Aquinas’s four laws?
- Eternal law: God’s ordering of the cosmos
- Natural law: Derived from EL applied to humans
- Human law: Positive laws derived from NL
- Divine law: Concerns of salvation and revelation
Why was Aquinas a Natural Law Theorist?
Because he believed that human laws that don’t conform to natural law are not binding and we have no moral obligation to follow them.
What are the three conditions for a law according to Aquinas?
- Accords with our conscience
- Is for the common good
- Law-makers do not overstep authority and the burdens of law are fairly distributed
What obligation does Aquinas believe we have to the law?
We are morally obligated to follow the law as long as the laws are founded in natural law and the are just.
What makes Natural Law Theory so important?
- Path-breaking influence: is the foundation for many civil rights movements and
- Gives rise to the just gentium (law of peoples)
What separates modern Natural Law theorists from Classical Natural Law theorists?
Modern NLTs only require that morality be essential to law (overlap thesis), while Classical NLTs require that morality be both essential to law and is defined by natural law.
What are the two conditions for traditional Natural Law Theorists?
- Moral validity is a necessary condition for legal validity (all legal norms must be at least morally permissible)
- Moral validity is defined by the natural order; natural law theory in ethics
What is the Overlap Thesis?
The idea in NLT that the law and morality overlap, but are not identical; there can be laws that have nothing to do with morality and moral norms that cannot be enforced or instituted.
What is Error Theory in relation to Moral Realism?
The idea that our theory of morality is a collective mistake, but this collective morality error constrains what is enacted as law.
