Natural Law

Question 1

What is natural law?

Answer 1

Theory that God designed a moral law into human nature that we are naturally inclined to certain moral behaviours

Question 2

Who developed NL as a form of religious ethics?

Answer 2

Aquinas

Question 3

What religion follows natural law?

Answer 3

Catholicism

Question 4

Is NL deontological or teleological?

Answer 4

Deontological

Question 5

What are the 4 tiers of law?

Answer 5

Eternal
Divine
Natural
Human

Question 6

What’s a pneumatic for the tiers of law?

Answer 6

Elephants don’t nibble humans

Question 7

What’s Eternal law?

Answer 7

Known as the mind of God
His benevolent nature to know what is right or wrong
Remains the same and absolute

Question 8

What is Divine law?

Answer 8

Gods revelation to humans in the Bible teaching them how to live

Question 9

What is Natural law?

Answer 9

Morality created in humans by God
Discoverable by reason to find our telos

Question 10

What is human law?

Answer 10

Laws humans make which should be based on natural and divine law
Devised by governments and societies

Question 11

Who did Aquinas get some of his ideas from?

Answer 11

Aristotle

Question 12

What did Aristotle believe everyone in the world had?

Answer 12

A telos

Question 13

What is a Telos?

Answer 13

The end or purpose of something

Question 14

What does Aristotle say the telos of a human is?

Answer 14

Eudaimonia

Question 15

What is Eudaimonia?

Answer 15

Flourishing and living well

Question 16

How did Aristotle believe you could achieve your Eudaimonia?

Answer 16

Live a full life
Experience pleasure
Participate in society
Develop academically as a philosopher

Question 17

Who else provided a source of NL thinking?

Answer 17

The Stoics

Question 18

What is Stoicism?

Answer 18

They viewed the world as an ordered place arranged by nature or Gods in the best way possible
They thought we had a divine spark that enabled us to reason and understand the universe

Question 19

Did Stoicism favour rationalism or emotionalism?

Answer 19

Rationalism

Question 20

Where was NL applied in America?

Answer 20

1960s Martin Luther King argued the laws put in place to prevent peaceful protest for the civil rights movement were ‘unjust laws’

Question 21

When was NL applied on 20 November 1945?

Answer 21

At the Nuremberg trials
Nazi leaders put on trial for war crimes argued that they were just following orders
Rejected by judges for ‘nature’ shows that such laws were morally wrong

Question 22

What was the book called that Aquinas wrote?

Answer 22

Summa Theologica

Question 23

What’s the synderesis rule?

Answer 23

‘This therefore is the principle of law: that good must be done and evil avoided’ - Aquinas

Question 24

What are the primary precepts?

Answer 24

Worship God
Organised society
Reproduce
Learn
Defend life

Question 25

What do the primary precepts mean?

Answer 25

W - live in a way that pleases God
O - live in a place where it’s possible to fulfil our purpose
R - ensure life continues
L - learn and teach people about God
D - life’s important so protect it

Question 26

What’s concientia?

Answer 26

The process where primary precepts are applied in situations

Question 27

What are secondary precepts?

Answer 27

Rules that can be deduced from primary precepts

Question 28

What are examples of secondary precepts?

Answer 28

Euthanasia, abortion

Question 29

What is an exterior act?

Answer 29

The action itself (outside the mind)

Question 30

What’s an interior act?

Answer 30

Our intention (inside the mind)

Question 31

What is the doctrine of double effect?

Answer 31

When the intention of the act was good but it resulted in also having a negative outcome

Question 32

What’s Aquinas’ example of a double effect?

Answer 32

Killing someone in self defence