Natural moral law Flashcards
Deontology
The approach in Ethics in which rightness and wrongness of an act is judged by its conformities to rules, duties and obligations.
Telos
Purpose or end goal
Deontological
Always focusing on the right action
Teleological
Focusing on the consequence of the action
Character-based
Focus on “what person I should be?” rather than “What should I do?”
What is Natural Moral Law?
Natural law goes back to Aristotle, and his theory of Telos; the belief than everything in life has an end goal. Aquinas Christianised this idea, adding that it is the Christian God who sets laws and the Telos of all things and it’s the source of Christian moral principles.
Key Philosopher: St Thomas Aquinas
13th century theologian
Influenced by Aristotle
Believed humans can use God given nature to make moral decisions
Aquinas theorized God made us “pre-loaded” with reasoning, known as the natural law.
God wants us to want good things.
God has ordained natural law for us.
Humans desire 5 basic goods.
Aquinas quote
“The light of reason by nature in every man, to guide him in his acts towards the end.”
5 basic goods
- Self-preservation
- Reproduction
- Educate offspring
- Live in a society
- Seek God
Reasoning
Everything has a God-given purpose known through reasoning. Aquinas says our purpose is to honour God. This is a deontological theory, focusing on duties and intent.
Aristotle quote
“The natural is equally valid everywhere.”
Eternal law
Laws that exist within the creation because God put them there.
Divine law
Revealed principals of morality from God e.g. the Bible
Natural moral law
God’s eternal law that humans can understand through the application of reason
Human law
Formulated by humans based on the above 3 types of law.
Quote on NML
“That good is done and pursued and evil is to be avoided.”
Agent
The moral agent- the person involved in making an ethical decision.
Synderesis
The innate principal in the moral consciousness of every person which directs the agent to good and restrains him from evil. This directs our conscience and if humans apply God given reason it will lead to the right actions.
Human nature purpose and reason
Human purpose to achieve union with God.
According to Aquinas God has made all humans in his image, and we all have the ability to reason.
God has written moral laws into nature. Humans use their God-given reason, to observe nature and work out these moral laws.
All humans have natural inclination/desire to do good and avoid evil.
Quote on reasoning
“To disparage the dictate of reason is equivalent to condemning the reason of God.“
Cultural relativism
The view a persons belief should be judged in the context of their own culture
Synderesis rule
Aquinas maintained there was a basic main precept within which all natural laws play a part. The synderesis rule directs our conscience to apply our God-given reason in order to lead to right actions
Eudaimonia
Ultimate happiness through union with God
Beatic vision
The telos of humanity is beatic vision, which is the ultimate direct, self-communication of God to humanity, and Beatic vision is the way to salvation
Primary precept
W= worship God
O= ordered society
R= reproduction
L= learn (educate offspring)
D= defend life (self-preservation)
Quote on primary precepts
“Natural law is the same for all men… there is a single standard of truth and right for everyone… Which is known by everyone…“
What human reason has in common with all other substances?
The drive to preserve life
What do humans have in common with other animals?
The desire to reproduce and care for their offspring
What humans have uniquely as human beings?
To know the truth about God.
Secondary precepts
Rulings about things we should or shouldn’t do because they do/don’t uphold primary precepts. These are established through reasoning.
Intrinsic good
Something that is ethically good in and of itself
Virtue
A quality, trait or disposition in a person, held to be of moral value
Quote on mistakes in NML
“Since all have sinned and fallen short of God“
Real and apparent goods
Aquinas believes human nature was essentially good, as natural law is within everyone. Human actions that are not in the pursuit of perfection can be explained as the pursuit of an apparent good.
Quote on apparent goods
“A fornicator seeks pleasure which involves him in moral guilt.“
What are the virtues?
Faith
Hope
Love
Quote on virtues
“The theological virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity.“
Doctrine of double effect
If an action has an effect that goes against human reason but that effect is the accidental and unintended result of an action that follows the precepts so it’s acceptable, even if it is known beforehand
Quote on the DODE
“It is sometimes permissable to do a good act despite knowing that it will bring about a bad consequence.“
Manualism & Catholic Church
In the Catholic Church, it’s traditional to produce manuals to train clergy in applying NML in difficult cases.
The Catholic Church give greater importance to moral rules
Quote on Catholic Church & virtues
“invaded the entire domain of moral life“
Quote on manualism
“The manuals lost sight of essential questions.”
What is proportionalism?
In recent decades there has been a move to simplify NML and make it more applicable to everyday life. Proportionalists such as Bernard Hoose have suggested that Natural Law is not just a list of absolutes. Instead it should take into consideration whether the good consequence of an action outways the bad.
Why is proportionalism mote compassionate?”
In strict application of NML theft would be ok to save a life, but lying to save a life wouldn’t be, whereas in proportionalism lying to save a life is permissable as the good outways the bad.
How is proportionalism different from DODE?
It allows you to directly break any precept as long as the outcome is good and outways the bad of breaking the precept.
Catholic views on proportionalism
Its condemned by the Catholic Church. They believe it denies any action can in and of itself be intrinsically evil. The Church maintains that good consequences do not justify intrinsic evil.
Cardinal virtues
- Prudence
- Justice
- Fortitude
- Temperance
How do virtues help a person to reach the ‘real good’?
They allow the self to fufill it’s purpose and telos.
The four conditions of DODE
- The nature of the act
- The right intention
- The means-end
- The proportionality
