Natural law Flashcards
(26 cards)
what is the Synderesis rule?
‘Do good and avoid evil’ - all other moral rules come from this and this is the main moral rule for Aquinas
Where do the five primary precepts come from?
Aquinas believes that when we reflect on our ‘telos’ and understand the key rule, there are five primary precepts that follow from this. Aquinas believes that these are self evident and are things we are naturally inclined to do.
what are the five primary precepts?
1) Preservation of innocent life
2) To reproduce
3) Education
4) To live in an ordered society - good to live in an ordered society where it is possible to fulfill our purpose
5) To worship God - we should recognise God as the source of life and live in a way that pleases him
Why does Aquinas suggest the secondary precepts? (SP)
The primary precepts are absolute and universal, but they are general statements about what is good for humans - they don’t necessarily tell us how to act. Therefore he suggested the SP’s were needed. These are more specific rules that can be deduced from the primary precepts.
What are the four tiers of law?
The eternal law, The divine law, Natural law and Human law.
What is the eternal law?
The law known in the mind of God, it has his knowledge of what is right and wrong. Aquinas refers to the effects of eternal law in terms of moving all things towards their end and purpose. These are moral truths that we, at a human level, may be unable to fathom.
What is the divine law?
The law revealed by God through the commands and teachings through revelation, for example in scripture. Includes 10 commandments and Sermon on the mount
What is natural law?
The moral law of God within human nature that is discoverable through the use of reason
What is human law?
The laws of nations
What is casuistry?
Casuistry is the method we use when secondary precepts might not work perfectly in a real-life situation. It’s how Aquinas’ theory stays flexible and realistic. Casuistry must be based on the principles and established conclusions of moral theology and ethics.
Aquinas and Aristotle
- Believes there is a fixed human nature
- They are ‘essentialists’. There us something that it is to be human that we cannot change, even if we wish to
- That we aim to fulfil the primary precepts - and that it is morally right for us to do so - its built into our human nature
Jean Paul Satre
- Existentialist view
- View is that there is a fixed nature . Human beings, however, are fundamentally different.
- As an atheist, satre believes that umans could only have telos if they had been made by God.
- he believes we come into existence first and then we decide for ourselves what our essence is - in other words, what we are for
- EXISTENCE PRECEEDS ESSENCE
Who was Aquinas influenced by?
Aristotelian concepts such as telos ‘Eduiamonia’, but also catholicism and the rules/laws found in the Bible
Interior vs exterior acts
- An act must have a good motive (interior) as well as being a good action as viewed on the outside (exterior)
- The interior and the exterior act must both be good
The doctrine of double effect
- Sometimes our actions have more than one effect
- Linking back to interior and exterior acts, Aquinas argues that it is the intention that matters . If you intend the good effect, you are not held responsible for the secondary bad effect
What are problems with the doctrine of double effect?
- Intention is not always clear
- Too subjective. Two people can do the same thing, but one says they “intended” the bad effect, and the other says they didn’t — and suddenly, only one is moral? That feels unstable.
- Utilitarians may argue why does the intention matter more than the consequences?
History behind the orientation of creation
- Stoic philosophers such as Zeno and Marcus Aurelias, viewed the world as an ordered place.
- God (or the gods) created it and left within it the ‘logos’ or divine reason.
- The Roman orator Cicero famously suggested that the natural law is ‘right reason in accordance with nature’. He argues that these laws would continue to apply even if governments changed them.
Aquinas the orientation of human beings
- He follows socrates in suggesting that the seemingly odd view that no one ever deliberatley does a wrong action.
- They make a resoning error in pursuing an apparent good rather than a real good.
What is an apparent good?
An action which someone mistakenly thinks is a real good, but they have not reasoned correctly
What is a real good?
Actions which are actually good and consistent with the moral principles of natural law
Criticism against the orientation towards good
Include Dawkins quote
To reject the teleological view of the universe that comes from the assumption of God. Modern evoluntionary views suggest that the universe and life pn Earth are the result of random chance and do not have any orientation or goal in mind. Dawkins famously suggested that evolution is a ‘blind watchmaker’. Meaning that evolution acts like a watchmaker - it builds complexities - but its not intelligent.
What would Satre say about Aquinas’ view of synderisis?
- Humans have no fixed nature or moral essence.
- Sartre’s existentialism says: “Existence precedes essence” — we are not born with any purpose or moral direction.
- Morality is something we create through choice, not something we discover through nature.
What would Nietzche say about synderisis?
- Morality is a human invention, often used to control others.
- Nietzsche calls traditional morality (like Aquinas’) a form of “slave morality” — designed to suppress strength, power, and individual flourishing.
- He believed that there is no universal “good” rooted in human nature.
- Natural inclinations, for Nietzsche, might be toward power, will, and self-overcoming, not moral good.
- “Good” and “evil” are cultural interpretations, not natural laws.
- Christianity (and Aquinas) imposes a morality of weakness, not natural virtue
What would Hume say about synderisis?
- You can’t derive a moral “ought” from a factual “is.”
- Just because humans are a certain way by nature doesn’t mean they should act that way
- For Hume, moral judgments are not rational deductions from nature but expressions of approval or disapproval — they’re emotional reactions, like taste.
- People call something “good” not because it reflects natural law, but because it feels agreeable or useful.
- There is no intrinsic natural inclination toward “the good” — only what we’re conditioned or disposed to feel is good.
