Natural Moral Law

• Often described as deontological, however this is not a term Aquinas would have used as it dates from the 20th century
• Deontological- Something that is right/wrong in one situation is right/wrong in all situations
• Thomas Aquinas was a dominican friar and priest
• Aquinas lived from the years 1225-1274
• Aquinas's most famous work is the 'Summa Theologica' however it is incomplete due to a religious experience that he had at the end of his life that made him reject all his previous work
• 4 feature of Natural Moral Law

  1. Eternal Law
  2. Divine Law
  3. Natural Moral Law
  4. Human Law
• Eternal law refers to the idea that God has an overall plan for humans
• Eternal Law refers to the law that comes from God's nature as a creator
• God's plan means that we all share "common human nature"
• The principles of natural and moral order are revealed to humans through the divine law
• Divine Law is found in the teachings of the Bible (10 Commandments- "Thou shalt not kill"), the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church ("Life and dignity of the Human Person") and special revelations
• Natural moral Law is discovered through human reason
• We should know through reason that murder, theft and adultery is wrong
• Aquinas sees natural moral law as that part of God's eternal law that human beings can discover simply through the application of reason
• Human law is formulated through the understanding of natural moral law
• Human law should not contradict natural moral law. For example, murder, however there are exceptions: euthanasia, self-defence, abortion.
• Aquinas's Main Guiding Principle is that "good is to be done and pursued and evil is to be avoided"
• Rights- Natural Moral law is held by many to give all humans certain entitlements (liberty and the pursuit of happiness) which result from their common human nature
• Virtue- A quality/ trait/ disposition in a person held to be of moral value
• Beatific vision- the ultimate, direct, self-communication of God to humanity
• Cultural relativism- The view that a person's moral beliefs should be judged in the context of their own culture