Natural Moral Law

Aristotle
1. Final cause: everything has a purpose
2. Eudaimonia
  1. Achieved by living a life of reason
  2. doing and living well
  3. we should live virtuously
    1. Between two extremes
  4. Human nature to want to achieve it
  5. Goodness leads to happiness
3. Had recently been rediscovered when Aquinas was working
4. Influenced Aquinas' ideas
5. Morality is an innate understanding present in everyone
Basic idea
1. There is a natural order determined by a supernatural power:God
2. Rooted in our human nature and our search for happiness/ fufillment
3. We should use our reason to discover our purpose
4. It's following God's plan
5. We have a rational nature given by God
6. Natural laws are universal and unchanging
Perfection
1. Humans are made in the image of God so our aim is to achieve perfecton
2. Impossible to achieve in this life
3. We discover how to achieve this perfection by following reflections of Natural Moral Law
  1. 1- Eternal Law
    1. principles by which God made and controls the universe
    2. We can't fully understand them
    3. We can only see reflections of it
  2. 2-Divine law
    1. law of God
    2. revealed in the Bible
    3. A reflection of eternal law
    4. can only be seen by those who believe in God
  3. 3- Natural Law
    1. A natural sense of good within all humans from God
    2. Doesn't depend on belief in God
    3. reflection of eternal law
    4. We need to use reason to apply it to a situation
  4. 4-Human laws
    1. e.g. laws
Stoics
1. God is everywhere, in everyone
2. Humans have a divine spark within them
3. The divine spark shows us how to live according to God's will
4. Humans must use reason to understand nature/ cosmic laws
5. We have a choice whether or not to follow these laws
Good
1. Do good avoid evil
  1. most fundamental inclination
2. we are designed for perfection so would not knowingly pursue evil
3. real and apparent good
  1. we must use our reason to discover which is the real good
4. Both the interior act and exterior act must be good
5. actions are intrinsically good or bad
6. do good, be closer to God
7. an action can't just be good for you but also the rest of society
Precepts
1. Primary precepts
  1. apply to everyone without exception
  2. a direct reflection of eternal law
  3. W.O.R.L.D
    1. worship of God
    2. Ordered society
    3. Reproduction
    4. Learning
    5. Defence of the innocent/ preservation of life
2. Secondary precepts
  1. dependant on our own judgements
  2. can lead to faulty reasoning
  3. require experience and use of reason
Doctrine of double effect
1. it's always wrong to carry out a bad action to bring about good consequences
2. it's sometimes right to do a good thing knowing it will bring bad consequences
Evaluation
1. strengths
  1. clear to follow
  2. deductive-doesn't just tell you what to do
  3. Helps us follow nature
  4. based on human reason
  5. values human life equally
  6. Promotes order in society
  7. fits with christian beliefs
  8. common sense
  9. fair-applies to everyone equally
  10. doesn't require a belief in God
  11. both absolute and relative
  12. secondary precepts make it flexible
  13. secondary precepts are easy to work out
  14. gives a universal moral code: primary precepts are things most cultures/religions would support
  15. doctrine of double effect can overcome problems
2. Weaknesses
  1. less applicable if you don't believe in God
  2. difficult to determine what is natural e.g. death is natural, should we stop trying to prevent it?
  3. Kai Nielson- different people/cultures have different ideas about what is right
  4. What happens when precepts contradict each other?
  5. not everyone tries to do good, some people intentionally do wrong
  6. Aquinas said all humans have the same purpose- in the Bible God gives different people different purposes
  7. Darwin-living things are naturally motivated by the will to survive not a divine pupose
  8. Unfair- reproduction is a precept, Aquinas was a monk,said it was okay he didn't reproduce as long as others did, could use this justification to break any precept suggests rules don't apply to everyone,
  9. Barth- genesis 3 shows human reason is fallible
  10. Vardy criticised the view of sex
  11. Moore:naturalistic fallacy, just because we can do something doesn't mean we ought to
  12. looks at intrinsic value not consequences
  13. relies a lot on reason

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