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Flashcards in Natural Law Deck (5)
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1
Q

List the five primary precepts.

A
  • Preserve innocent life
  • Orderly living in society
  • Worship God
  • Educate children
  • Reproduce to continue the species
2
Q

What are the secondary precepts?

A

When humans use their reason to establish rules that will fulfil the requirements of the primary precepts.

3
Q

Name two examples of secondary precepts?

A

1) Do not murder (fulfils the primary precept of preserving the innocent)
2) Do not abort the unborn (fulfils the primary precepts of preserving the innocent and of continuing the species)

4
Q

What are the advantages of natural law?

A
  • There is a fair set of rules for everyone.
  • However, it is not just a large number of rules dictating what we should do.
  • All the things that are good for us are celebrated, rather than focusing on negative things.
  • Humans are at the centre of this ethical approach, not rules.
  • It allows us to use our reason and so feel in control of the secondary precepts.
  • It allows people to establish common rules in order to structure communities.
5
Q

What are the disadvantages of natural law?

A
  • In modern forms Natural Law does not allow for negotiation because the Church has made the secondary precepts into absolute rules.
  • It is based on very complicated notions and doesn’t ask everyday questions such as ‘should hospitals get more money than schools’?
  • It could be argued that we have gained our natural instincts through evolution, not through God and so we do not need a God-based theory.
  • We can observe differences between cultures, which rejects the notion of a single natural purpose for all humans.
  • Natural Law could even be seen as a relativist theory - because the secondary precepts might change as we use our reason differently, perhaps because of the different circumstances we find ourselves in. This could be seen as an advantage or a disadvantage! Indeed, some say that we should not rely on our reason but on teachings from the Bible, the Church or from God’s revelation.
  • Vardy and Grosch in The Puzzle of Ethics said that Aquinas gives too simple a view of human nature. (E.g. is sexuality just about reproduction?)