Natural Moral Law

Natural Moral Law

1. Humans have an innate understanding of right and wrong

   • ETERNAL LAW= God's will for how the universe is to be, has His own reasons. "God...existing ruler of the universe." humans x underst G.E.L but work out through reason meaning in human life
   • DIVINE LAW=revealed by God (10 Comm)-word of G. AQ- believes DL teaches what our natural reason is capable of knowing-know by reason. "blessed are in pure hearts for they will see G"
   • HUMAN LAW= Society to be orderly so H can flourish. AQ- "HL has the quality of law" allows AQ to develop human civil disobedience. "Man is bound to obey secular ruler"
   • NATURAL LAW= Good is to be done and evil is to be avoided - reff as human nature- unch. and everlasting. ARIST= Human flourishing
     • AQ NL= STOICS- phil. believed in the divine spark - G is within everyone so everyone can do good. Rejected DL as believes study nature and can decide whats right and wrong( x right just bc G commands it). Agrees with Aristotle that cultivating virtues is essential to human life, imp role of practical reason to det what is R in situations.
       • ARISTOTLE= To live good life- develop good habits, moral virtues: kind, courage( requires exp. + practice) AQ is x satisfied with this
     • Modern deve. of NL = John Finnis - B that natural rights are the logical follow on, from NLT-> rights not to be tortured, not to have ones life taken as means to another end, not to be condemned on charges known to be false

2. TELOS both A+A believed seek to achieve a goal

   • AQ- Believed only ach what G wants us to be in next life - fulfilled only with G, live on E with reason
   • ARIST- earthly goal to flourish in community n belief after death

3. "Man must avoid ignorance must not offend those with whom he deals"

   • Primary Precepts- natural inclination to do good. AQ= Preservation of life, Reproduction, Worship G, Education of child nurturing the young, being peaceful in society-> AQ believed we are rational creatures capable of directing our beh. thru the process of thinking. "Prudence entails not only consideration of the reason but also the application to action , which is the goal of practical reason"
     • AQ- living moral life acc to reason, with EXTERIOR = imp and need to be correct, INTERIOR= acc with their final purpose (if reason X used correctly)
     • AQ- seek union with G this is Perfection so telos after death. Everyone has sense of NL = real and apparent good
     • Principle of double of effect: Act x be evil, evil and good from the act must be equal, intention= good, reason mus be present to justify allowing the indirect bad effect
     • Secondary precepts= from PP. For example, Aquinas felt that masturbation went against the natural end (telos) of sex, which is procreation. This means that 'Do not masturbate' is an absolute secondary precept. However, in modern infertility treatment, masturbation might be used to assist procreation through artificial insemination by a husband. On this issue, Natural Law theorists disagree about whether masturbation is unnatural, and therefore disagree about the secondary precept 'Do not masturbate'.
   • "Good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided."

4. STRENGTHS= absolutists NL provides moral guidance, Flexible and so can accomadate diff cultures, based on reason open to everyone, concentrates on human character-goodness+flourishing, Positive law(law x dependant on any wider princable than the authority of those who make the laws)

5. WEAKNESS=Kai neilson argues aq that a single human nature is common to all societies, kai barth thought nl relies too much on HN but its x be trusted bc it's currupted, scholars claim NL x absolute