1_Natural Moral Law

1_Natural Moral Law

1. Aristotle

   • Final cause: everything has a purpose
   • Eudaimonia
     • Achieved by living a life of reason
     • doing and living well
     • we should live virtuously
       • Between two extremes
     • Human nature to want to achieve it
     • Goodness leads to happiness
   • Had recently been rediscovered when Aquinas was working
   • Influenced Aquinas' ideas
   • Morality is an innate understanding present in everyone

2. Basic idea

   • There is a natural order determined by a supernatural power:God
   • Rooted in our human nature and our search for happiness/ fufillment
   • We should use our reason to discover our purpose
   • It's following God's plan
   • We have a rational nature given by God
   • Natural laws are universal and unchanging

3. Perfection

   • Humans are made in the image of God so our aim is to achieve perfecton
   • Impossible to achieve in this life
   • We discover how to achieve this perfection by following reflections of Natural Moral Law
     • 1- Eternal Law
       • principles by which God made and controls the universe
       • We can't fully understand them
       • We can only see reflections of it
     • 2-Divine law
       • law of God
       • revealed in the Bible
       • A reflection of eternal law
       • can only be seen by those who believe in God
     • 3- Natural Law
       • A natural sense of good within all humans from God
       • Doesn't depend on belief in God
       • reflection of eternal law
       • We need to use reason to apply it to a situation
     • 4-Human laws
       • e.g. laws

4. Stoics

   • God is everywhere, in everyone
   • Humans have a divine spark within them
   • The divine spark shows us how to live according to God's will
   • Humans must use reason to understand nature/ cosmic laws
   • We have a choice whether or not to follow these laws

5. Good

   • Do good avoid evil
     • most fundamental inclination
   • we are designed for perfection so would not knowingly pursue evil
   • real and apparent good
     • we must use our reason to discover which is the real good
   • Both the interior act and exterior act must be good
   • actions are intrinsically good or bad
   • do good, be closer to God
   • an action can't just be good for you but also the rest of society

6. Precepts

   • Primary precepts
     • apply to everyone without exception
     • a direct reflection of eternal law
     • W.O.R.L.D
       • worship of God
       • Ordered society
       • Reproduction
       • Learning
       • Defence of the innocent/ preservation of life
   • Secondary precepts
     • dependant on our own judgements
     • can lead to faulty reasoning
     • require experience and use of reason

7. Doctrine of double effect

   • it's always wrong to carry out a bad action to bring about good consequences
   • it's sometimes right to do a good thing knowing it will bring bad consequences

8. Evaluation

   • strengths
     • clear to follow
     • deductive-doesn't just tell you what to do
     • Helps us follow nature
     • based on human reason
     • values human life equally
     • Promotes order in society
     • fits with christian beliefs
     • common sense
     • fair-applies to everyone equally
     • doesn't require a belief in God
     • both absolute and relative
     • secondary precepts make it flexible
     • secondary precepts are easy to work out
     • gives a universal moral code: primary precepts are things most cultures/religions would support
     • doctrine of double effect can overcome problems
   • Weaknesses
     • less applicable if you don't believe in God
     • difficult to determine what is natural e.g. death is natural, should we stop trying to prevent it?
     • Kai Nielson- different people/cultures have different ideas about what is right
     • What happens when precepts contradict each other?
     • not everyone tries to do good, some people intentionally do wrong
     • Aquinas said all humans have the same purpose- in the Bible God gives different people different purposes
     • Darwin-living things are naturally motivated by the will to survive not a divine pupose
     • 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,
     • Barth- genesis 3 shows human reason is fallible
     • Vardy criticised the view of sex
     • Moore:naturalistic fallacy, just because we can do something doesn't mean we ought to
     • looks at intrinsic value not consequences
     • relies a lot on reason