Natural Moral Law

Question 1

What is humanity’s telos?

Answer 1

St Thomas Aquinas states that our human telos is to reach God, to do this we must uphold the 5 primary precepts
Telos comes from Aristotle’s idea of a final cause, which all things have, and that is the thing’s purpose

Question 2

What are the four tiers of law?

Answer 2

1. Eternal Law - Principles that control the entire universe, only known by God
2. Divine Law - Principles and Laws given to humanity by God through the Bible, eg Ten Commandments
3. Natural Law - Laws discovered through use of human reason
4. Human law - Laws made by humans to govern humans

Question 3

Key Quote from the Catechism about NML

Answer 3

“It is a necessary foundation for the erection of moral rules and civil law”

Question 4

St Paul on NML

Answer 4

“Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law”

Question 5

What is the key precept of NML

Answer 5

The synderesis rule - “seek out good and avoid evil”

Question 6

What’re the 5 primary precepts?

Answer 6

preserve life
reproduce
educate the young
worship god
live in an ordered society

Question 7

What are secondary precepts?

Answer 7

Any human law that upholds any of the primary precepts

Question 8

What is the doctrine of double effect?

Answer 8

The idea that if the intended outcome of an action is good, any other bad, unintended outcomes are excused

Question 9

Strengths of NML:
Reason
Objective
DE
Evolutionary Neuroscience

Answer 9

The reliance on reason, which the majority of humans have and value, makes NML universal
It is an objective theory, and so it is easy to understand if some things are right or wrong
Doctrine of DE gives NML a degree of flexibility
Evolutionary Neuroscientist suggest that some parts of our ethical ideas have a genetic basis, this supports TA’s ideas that we have naturally instilled ethical principles

Question 10

Weaknesses of NML:
Atheists
Naturalistic Fallacy
Jesus’s teachings

Answer 10

Atheists are unlikely to follow NML as it depends on belief that God created the universe and the moral law within it, and that a human’s telos is to reach God
Aquinas commits the “naturalistic fallacy”, which is when someone assumes just because something is, it ought to impact other spheres. eg “Go fourth and multiply” IS written in the Bible, but that doesn’t mean all humans OUGHT to go and do it (precept of reproduce)
Jesus taught of a more subjective ethical theory based off loving thy neighbour, this is more similar to situation ethics than NML