Natural Moral Law Flashcards
What approach does Aristotle take?
Teleological.
What are Aquinas’ four-fold division of law?
Eternal Law. Divine Law. Natural Moral Law. Human Law.
What is Aquinas’ extract that lists three primary precepts?
What human reason has in common with all other substance. What humans have in common with other animals. What humans have uniquely as rational beings.
What are the primary precepts?
Preservation of innocent life. Reproduction. Education of children. Worship God. Living in an ordered society.
What is the nature of the act condition?
The action must either be morally good or neutral. Acts such as intentionally killing an innocent person are never morally allowed.
What is the means-end condition?
The bad effect must not be the means by which the good is achieved.
Explain the right-intention condition.
The right intention must only be to achieve the good effect.
Explain the proportionality condition.
The good effect must be equivalent in importance to the bad effect.
Give an example of using the double effect.
The use of morphine to control pain for terminally ill patients.
Who challenges the method of double effect?
Aquinas.
How does Aquinas challenge the double effect?
Aquinas forbids suicide, but in the case of a soldier who sacrifices his o intend to sacrifice his life to save his comrades, double effect would require him not to intend to sacrifice his life.
What did Aquinas say about lying?
It is not lawful to tell a lie in order to save someone from any danger.
What is the modern proportionalism account of NML?
In order to decide whether an act is immoral, the intention of the moral agent has to be considered.
There cannot be any acts that are intrinsically evil. We can only find out whether is morally right or wrong by looking at the value/ disvalue of the abortion and the agent’s intention in wanting to bring about an abortion in a situation.
What is a strength on proportionalism?
It’s based on common sense.
What is stoicism?
It viewed that the world as an ordered place arranged by nature or by the Gods. In the best possible way.
