natural moral law Flashcards
what are the origins of nml
aquinas adapted aristotles virtue ethics into Christianity - in particular making the teleological focus of nml eudaimonia through working to achieve beatific vision in the afterlife, use of aristotles doctrine of the four causes, and the cardinal virtues
what is the four fold division of law
eternal law
divine law
natural moral law
human law
what are the primary precepts
preserve life
reproduce
ordered society
education
worship god
when did nml become deontological (rather than primarily teleological)
through manualism in the 17th century
how does aristotle derive the secondary precepts from the primary ones
through the use of Aquinas’s four causes - the final cause of an item or action is its purpose, and fulfilling this is good. for example the final cause of sex is to reproduce, and so sex without the intention of reproduction is morally wrong
actions that go against the primary precepts are morally wrong
how are the secondary precepts more flexible?
they can be culturally relative - e.g. polygamy
what are real and apparent goods?
apparent goods are actions e.g. adultery that may feel good but arent truly as they violate the primary precepts
what are interior and exterior acts?
e.g. giving to charity is an exterior good, but only morally right if the intention is good, making it an interior good. if giving to charity to look good, then merely exterior act + not morally permissable
what are the cardinal virtues?
prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude,
what are the theological virtues?
faith hope and love
what are the conditions that must be satisfied in dode?
the nature of the act - must be either morally good/neutral
means-end condition - cant be a bad means to a good end
right-intention condition - intention must only be to achieve good effect
proportionality condition - the good effect must at least be equivalent in importance to the bad effect
weaknesses of dode
soldier sacrificing himself wouldn’t see suicide as foreseen but unintended - would be praised for intention - so flaw in dode?
many would say intentions = irrelevant, good act = one with good consequences
wouldn’t allow the torture of one to save millions - inaction seems disproportionate
seems to be counter-intuitive, as e.g. doesn’t allow lying to save life
what is proportionalism
pioneered by mccormick, allows more flexibility in difficult situations. states that all actions ontic until take into account the value/disvalue + intention of the moral agent. no intrinsic evils
strengths of proportionalism
been around for long time, part of just-war theory, robust
seems to be based on common sense
used outside nml
weaknesses of proportionalism
condemned by catholic church for saying no intrinsic evils
seems consequentialist; this problematic as hard to calculate/make accurate predictions of value/disvalue
