natural moral law

•  Aristotle believed that everything has a cause and had four different explanations for things being the way they are:

  The Material Cause – the material or matter that the thing is made of e.g. the bronze of a statue/the ingredients of a recipe.

  The Efficient Cause – the agent that brings the thing about – the sculptor of the statue/the chef.

  The Formal Cause – the model or idea that the statue conforms to – the pattern that the sculptor followed/the recipe followed by the chef.

  The Final Cause – the reason for the thing – its purpose – the reason the sculptor carved the statue/the satisfaction of the diners when they eat what the chef has cooked.
• what did aquinas believe a humans final cause was

  • being made imago dei, was to seek union with god
  • the purpose of human life is to reach eudaimonia --> to go to heaven
• what did aquinas define as the 4 distinct kinds of law

  • eternal law : principles by which God controls the universe, only God has access to these laws, and as humans only have partial knowledge of them
  • divine : the commandments of the bible as revealed to mankind, the purpose is to help eliminate human error when trying to work out moral rules through use of reason
  • natural : subset of eternal laws, includes general moral rules
  • human : our attempt to derive more specific legal rules from general precepts of natural law
• what is aquinas' syndresis

  'seek good, avoid evil'
• what are the primary precepts

  1. preservation of human life
  2. reproduction
  3. education
  4. worship God
  5. live in an ordered society
• what do these principles do

  'good is to be sought' whrn adhering to these principles
• what are real goods

  those which are in accordance with the primary precepts and God's wishes for humanity
• what are apparent goods

  things which tempt us because they seem enjoyable but which do not further the aim of promoting human flourishing
• what is the doctrine of double effect

  • a principle whereby some actions produce 2 results, one good and one bad
  • in certain circumstances, providing there is no bad intention - it would be right to do a good action even though the consequences are bad
  • according to NML our intentions are important, not the consequences of our actions
  • the unintended effect has to be proportionate
• how does aquinas distinguish between interior and exterior acts

  interior acts : they are about our motivation, our intention

  exterior acts : is the act that is visible

  the best way to act is when both interior and exterior acts are good
• what is the double doctrine criteria

  1. the action itself cannot be morally wrong
  2. the bad effect must not lead directly to the good effect
  3. the intention must be the achieving of only the good effect with the bad effect being only an unintended side effect, the bad effect may be forseen, but not desired
  4. the good effect must be at least as morally good as the bad effect is morally bad it has to be proportional
• is the doctrine of double effect a good way of justifying moral actions (YES)

  • allows flexibility in quite a rigid moral decision-making process
  • recognises the complexity of real-life situations
  • creates an answer for when moral responsibilities clash
• is the doctrine of double effect a good way of justifying moral actions (NO)

  • it is difficult to judge whether the action is unintended and secondary
  • we cannot genuinely know someone's intentions
  • external actions will look the same regardless of the internal
  • it can result in a slippery slope, when does the doctrine of double effect end?
• strengths of natural moral law

  observable : the view that everything has a telos is observable from common experience & science --> allows more people to believe

  rational : provides a rational approach to moral decision-making, anyone can understand and apply NML as we all have the capacity to reason

  universal : seeks to protect all people and create a good moral basis for society on a universal scale with a common interest (primary precepts)

  absolute but flexible : it does allow for flexibility through the doctrine of double effect, which recognises the complexity of absolute rules
• weaknesses of natural moral law

  religious : it is based on a belief in God, if we reject God can the theory still stand, or is it deemed useless

  telos : focus on purpose creates an issue for humans, the view that everything has a telos imposes an idea of order and design on the universe, and how are we meant to know what our purpose is? eg. NML says the purpose of sex is reproduction, so it doesn't make sense for sex that is not reproductive to be pleasurable

  too focused on reason : human reason should not be a basis for morality, it is flawed. Barth argued that NML relied too much on reason when humans have been corrupted by the fall