Natural Law Flashcards
(21 cards)
What type of theory is Natural Law?
Deontological
What are the four tiers of law?
The Eternal Law
Divine Law
Natural Law
Human Law
What is the Eternal Law?
The absolute and eternal part of natural law.
It is part of the mind of God, his unchanging reason
God’s law is unchanging and eternal for all societies and cultures.
God plants the eternal law in every persons rational soul
What is the Divine Law?
God also sends out information about the eternal law through the second law [the divine law]
It is the commands and teachings of divine revelation usually found in the Bible
It includes: Beatitudes, Sermon on the mount, parables
This sacred scripture that God reveals is him teaching us how to live
What is Natural Law?
Natural Law allows humans to perceive the eternal law through the application of human reason, even without the bible, instead through reflection on the world
This marks humans apart from animals and makes God’s eternal law accessible to all of humanity
What is Human Law?
Human Law is our response to these messages from God in reason and revelation.
Human laws are the customs and practices of society
Many humans around the world come up with the same type of laws ( protect young and vulnerable, protect life)
Human Law doesn’t cover all moral wrongs, only more serious ones
What does Aquinas say that Human Law must be in order for it to be a proper law?
Aquinas makes it clear that human law must be in accordance with divine and natural law
What is Aquinas’ main moral rule and its name
“Do good and avoid evil” - called the Synderesis rule
What are the 5 Primary Precepts?
Preservation of innocent life
To reproduce to ensure life continues as is God’s intention
Education: humans are intellectual creatures and it is natural for us to learn, particularly about God and his eternal law
To live in an ordered society : a lawful one where it is possible to follow all of the primary precepts
to worship God : we are spiritual beings and we should recognise God as the source of life and live in a way which pleases him
What happens if an act is not in accordance with the primary precepts
They don’t fit the purpose humans were made for and so are bad
What are secondary precepts? Why are they needed?
Secondary precepts are deduced from Primary precepts
They are applications of the primary precepts into certain situations
For example, from the primary precepts of preserve life you can deduce that murder is always wrong
They are needed because primary precepts are general statements that don’t tell us exactly how to act
What does Aquinas thinks happens when humans do wrong - why?
They are mistaken and we’re trying to achieve an apparent good as no one would use their reason to choose to do the wrong thing
How do we achieve real goods
Aquinas says that if we follow the synderesis rule and the primary precepts we will achieve real goods and therefore become closer to God
What does Aquinas say a good act must have for it to be good
Good motive (interior) Looked at as kind action (exterior)
Would giving to charity for the sake of looking good and stealing from the poor be considered equally as bad - why?
Yes - neither of them have a good interior AND exterior
What does “double effect” mean
Some actions have more then 1 effect
Give an example of an action with double effect
Is it acceptable ? - why?
Woman attacked by man
She sprays him to defend her self (effect 1)
He falls and dies (effect 2)
It is acceptable as what matters is the effect that was intended and she intended to defend herself not to kill him
Points against natural law being helpful method of moral decision making
Primary precepts are inspired by religious belief in God#, therefore unhelpful for those who don’t believe
Some may see the world as a place of random and unpredictable circumstances with no divine author behind what happens around us
Human reason can be wrong, humans used to think of women as having one purpose (to raise baby’s) resulting in them having little rights, now we have a evolved as a society. We might currently be thinking of things in the wrong way but we just haven’t discovered it yet.
Points for natural law being a helpful method of moral decision making
Comes from reflection on the natural world. It does seem natural to want to protect life and we see that children do need to be educated
The idea of equality and that all humans are equal is strongly upheld in natural law. Universal human rights are arguably the greatest benefit of natural law.
Can doctrine of double effete to be used to justify abortion?
Yes as it can be recommended by medical experts to carry out an abortion to save the mothers life
The primary intention and effect is to save a life
Has the universe as a whole been designed with a telos - argument against
No as some believe in an account of science that has no place for a creator, God.
There are those who see in the world randomness and chaos, perhaps nature is much more random and less ordered then we think.
Natural law seems impossible if there is no creator, God, or no order to things
