Natural Law

Natural Law

1. Aristotle

   • Telos
     • Natural purpose
     • Good if fulfil telos
     • Eudaimonia
       • Human flourishing

2. Aquinas

   • Purpose
     • Reflect the image of God
   • Natural behaviour
     • Primary precepts
       • To learn
       • To worship
       • To preserve life
       • To live harmoniously
       • To reproduce
       • Use our reason to work out how to fulfil these precepts
         • Synderesis
           • Secondary precepts
             • Conclusions we make
             • E.g. Divorce is wrong
     • Avoid evil and pursue good
       • Sometimes use wrongly applied reason
         • Pursuing an "apparent good"
           • But fall short of purpose
             • Not evil
               • Sinner
   • Hierarchy of Law
     • Eternal Law- beyond human comprehension
       • Divine Law- written in the Bible
         • Natural Law- our God given reason
           • State Law/Human Law
             • Can be ignored if it comes into conflict with God's laws

3. Followers

   • Liberal followers
     • Proportionalist
       • Wrong to break a primary precept
         • However, sometimes necessary
           • E.g. Teenage girl raped has an abortion
       • Weak sanctity of life argument
   • Double effect
     • Break a primary precept trying to fulfil another
       • Intention was good but results in an unfortunate by-product
         • Good intention is more important than an unfortunate outcome

4. Deontological and teleological

   • Once we have worked out what is right it is our duty to fulfil our purpose- deontological
   • Moral behaviour is also a means to an end as we are striving to reflect the image of God- teleological