Natural Law Background Flashcards
Who proposed the idea of Natural Law?
Thomas Aquinas
What is the aim of Natural Law?
To reveal God’s purposes (telos) for humanity, and for humanity to then follow these purposes
What does Absolutism mean?
Actions are good or bad in themselves
Why is Natural Law Absolutist?
Aquinas believed that God made all actions either good or bad
What does deontological mean?
Only the action itself should be morally judged
Does the Deontological argument develop rules?
Yes as if a deontological moral agent believes stealing is wrong, then they will believe all theft is wrong. Therefore we can have a rule stating ‘stealing is wrong’
What key word is linked to Deontological?
Duty
What does Teleological mean?
The action itself should not be judges, instead it should be the ‘end purpose’
Does the Teleological argument develop rules?
No, as the action of stealing can be right or wrong because it depends on the end outcome of the theft
Is Natural Law mostly deontological or teleological?
Deontological-it mostly judges the action and has rules, however there are certain elements of Natural Law that are Teleological
What ideology is Natural Law based off?
The idea that the universe was created by God with an end purpose (telos)
How are Humans linked to Natural Law?
Human beings are a part of God’s Universe and therefore moral agents must too have an ultimate end purpose (telos)
Why did Aquinas design Natural Law?
To illustrate what the end purpose (telos) is for humanity and to show humanity how to achieve that end purpose
Who was Thomas Aquinas inspired by?
Aristotle- the ability to reason was the key existence of human existence, it distinguishes humans from the rest of creation
How did Aquinas ‘christianise’ Aristotle’s idea
he argued that the human ability to reason was a gift from God
