-moral rules are absolute and cannot change regardless of the situation
legalism
-rules and laws must be followed regardless of the consequences for the development of society
five primary precepts
-used the bible:
1.self preservation
2.reproduction
3.educate children
4.live in society
5.worship god
secondary precepts
1.no suicide or euthanasia or abortion
2.do not use contraceptives
3.faith schools
4.establish churches
5.do not make idols
natrual law
-humans purpose is to be perfect by acting in the image of God in order to reach eternal life with him
-Aquinas completed that God gave us preloaded toes that we were born with to know what was good and achieve our purpose
-god created his good creation to have an intuitive desire for things that he designed for them which are the primary precepts
Biblical foundations
Aquinas stated that eternal law was perceived through revelation in the form of the word of God and human reason
-We must use all reason to apply it(secondary precepts)
telos
-Natural law developed in the accordance of the purpose of human life
-believes that we can never achieve complete or final happiness in life only union of God
-We also need God to transform our nature so that we might be suited to participate in divine beatitud
-We inherited a propensity of sin from Adam and Eve
why are the secondary precepts important?
-When humans are faced with a moral choice, they must use reasoning to work out whether or not their action will uphold the primary precept
What is the principle of double effect?
-ethical concept in acquaintances that allows for actions to be both good and bad
-under four conditions: Act itself must be good,bad effect was not intended,good effect must be direct in outcome and outweigh Harm.
divine law
-law revealed by God through structures that guide humans in achieving their ultimate purpose
natural law
Part of eternal law, moral order inherit in nature
human law
-Specific laws should line with natural law and divine law to ensure justice and common good
eternal law
God’s overall plan for the universe and unchanging foundation of all laws
natural law vs voluntary euthanasia
-It violates the primary precepts intentionally
-according to natural law, ‘humans beings do not have the right to directly take their own life’
-The problem of human dignity, expensive, principle of double effect, it may reject someone’s autonomy
strengths
-Gives a naturalistic account of the reality
-Universal set of laws that can be applied by everyone
-provides a rational account of morality
-Clear and informative
-explanatory power
-Easily applicable
-comprehensive because it identified a wide range of purposes that contribute to human flourishing
Strength of Doctrine of double effect
-Provides principal justification in moral Gray areas
-Provide a straightforward test that can be applied anywhere
-Acknowledges the moral importance of both intentions and outcomes
-some dilemmas utilitarianism cannot explain this because consequences are the same so doctrine provides intuitive moral judgements
weaknesses
-It is reductive because it reduces human life to fulfilling a fix set of fixed goals
-it makes false generalisations about human nature
-It commits a naturalistic fallacy
-too idealistic
-Hetoonormative
-Product of its time
-Contrary to Christian Principles
weakness of doctrine of double effect
-Criticise by doctors
-Un pragmatic
-Open to abuse
-counterintuitive
quote
‘Do good and aviod evil’
other support for natrual law
-Aquinas thinking has had a major influence on catholic teaching
-many other things support the theory of natural law, including John Locke, Aristotle and William Paley
human end goal
-eudaimonia -Aristotle believe that this end is happiness
-Believe that this sort of happiness cannot be achieved in the world but only once we are reunited with God
Natural human disaster to do good
Aquinas believe that humans naturally want to do good and through their ability to reason can work out the correct course of action
AQUINAS BOOK
-summa theologica
Mill
-says the divine law of the bible, especially the old testament was clearly only relevant in an ancient time
It is outdated. In Aquinas’ time, his reasoning made sense – but that was because of the dire situation society was in.
aquinas counteracts mill
-he would say that the precepts come from god so cant be outdated, if society thinks they are outdated then aquinas would say our society is wrong!
modern science rejection
-There’s no scientific evidence for Photos science can explain everything in the universe without needing the concept of purpose
Francis bacon
-claimed that the concepts were tell us was on unscientific
polkinghorne
-are use at science can explain the what but not the Y
-He claims when do you need the concept of purpose to explain why the universe exist in the way it does? Science can’t explain that.
Russell
-Russell would counteract purpose as there is no why the universe could be brute fact
Richard dawkin
-argued the moral sense Partly came from evolution
aquinas vs karl Barth
-catholics tend to follow natural law as they argue it’s a foundation in natural theology view that humans can gain knowledge of God for revelation throughout mind
-Barth rejects natural theology as it has a dangerous over reliance on human reason
-reason is corrupt by original sin original sin might not have totally destroyed reason but it does make it unreliable
-he concluded we should solely rely on faith in the bible
Key quote aquinas
‘natural law belongs everything to which a man is inclined according to his nature’
-’man’ showing universal
What is natraul law
-based on belief that the world and human life has a purpose given by god
-based on belief that the world has a natural order, designed by god
-based on belief that god is the creator of all things. We do not create morality but discover it
-god has created a moral law in human nature- which is universal and discoverable through use of human reason
synderesis principle
-we have an innate drive and impulse to ‘do good and avoid evil.’
we do this by following the 5 primary precepts and by doing so you will full fill our florishing
-aquinas believed that all humans are by nature disposed to do good (Augustine would disagree)
aristotles influence
-aquinas was hugely influenced by his ideas and he incorporated many
-telos-(everything having a telos)-god given
-eudaemonia- (human flourishing-fulfilment of your potential)-primary precepts
-reason-(he believed taht our human ability to reason is what distinguishes us from animals and plants)- secondary precepts
Real goods
-are those that lead to fulfilling our god-given purpose and ultimately achieving eudaimonia
apparent goods
-humans are flawed and fall short of gods intentions for them. they confuse what seems to be good with what is good.
augustine would like this
why does aquinas use primary precepts
so there is no ambiguity with what is good and what isn’t
weak
-human flourishing is subjective, each person has their own idea of this
-so is he wrong for saying its universal
-some could be outdated
John Finnis
-modern development of natural law
-belived that ethics should be about facilitating human flourishing