RE- natural law

• Natural law- virtues

  Certain virtues or character traits, will help us achieve our ultimate purpose of fellowship with god
• Natural law-ideal nature

  Ideal human nature - virtues help us achieve this. Developing virtues bring us closer to being the perfect human being
• Natural law- cardinal


  4 virtues essential for humans to develop their ideal nature.

  PRUDENCE- making the best judgement when faced with choices.

  JUSTICE- fairness, balancing our self-interest with the needs of others.

  TEMPERANCE- Being self-controlled, not going to extremes.

  FORTITUDE- Courage, facing fear and uncertainty + overcoming it
• Natural law- aristotle

  Aquinas took cardinal virtues from aristotle
• natural law- revealed


  3 revealed virtues. Cannot be discovered by human reason. God revealed them in the bible.

  FAITH- belief in god

  HOPE- Desire of recieving eternal life in heaven

  LOVE- selfless, kind
• natural law- two

  Two parts to every action :

  INTERNAL- interior part of the action

  EXTERNAL- external part of the action
• natural law- internal

  Intention or motive behind the action. Its the internal part- what you aim to do in your mind before you carry out the action.
• Natural law- external

  The action itself.- The part people can see, what you actually do. For aquinas, an act to be good both the intention and the action have to be good.

  Good = good intention + good action
• natural law- double effect

  Means the result of an action has 2 outcomes, both good and bad. Cannot achieve good without creating some bad. Double effect says if a good action creates good and bad consequences as long as the intentions good then you should do it.

  The intention to do good overrides any bad consequences.
• natural law- real

  things humans try to achieve in life, can split into 2 different groups:

  REAL + APPARENT.

  Real good - bring us closer to our ideal nature, helps us achieve what god has intended for us. Doing real good is what we're meant to do.
• natural law-apparent

  Takes us away from our ideal nature. They're evil actions. Mistake= we perform evil actions thinking we'll get good out of them. We do morally wrong, we wrongfully think good will be the result.

  The immediate effects are pleasent but longer term ones are damaging. e.g alcohol
• natural law- godlike

  Aquinas believed we're naturally godlike. Ultimate purpose= known+ glorify god. Humans were naturally drawn towards the achievement of perfection.
• natural law-sin

  Sin is falling short from our perfect nature. Moral actions are natural and immoral actions are unnatural
• natural law- strength 1

  RULES CAN BE APPLIED IN ALL SITUATIONS

  NL takes away having to interpret something so there will be no misinterpretations. Universal- applies to everyone. Everyone knows what they need to do,
• Natural law- strength 2

  EMPHASISES REASON

  Apply to all people regardless of their culture or religion. We should all agree with what is moral. Ethics should use our understanding of the natural world to arrive at agreed ethical principles.
• natural law- strength 3


  MAKES ACTIONS IMPORTANT,NOT CONSEQUENCE

  Actions are right or wrong in themselves- dot depend on the consequences. Never justify a wrong action by saying a consequence is good.
• Natural law- strength 4

  ITS POPULAR

  Already used by millions of people. Major influence on western culture. Its a popular ethical theory already.
• Natural law- weakness 1

  REASON CANNOT DECIDE WHATS NATURAL

  Reason will tell us what is natural for us to do. Not all reasonable people can agree over whats natural.

  Unlikely people will agree over 5 primary precepts. Even if we all agree that killing goes against NL, we may disagree whether abortion is killing.
• Natural law - weakness 2

  Actions are right/wrong in themselves. This can lead to bad results as it doesnt take into account the situation. The result of an action must be considered not just the intention.
• natural law- weakness 3

  HUMAN BEING HAVE DIFFERENT NATURES

  One common human nature that we should all achieve is by following the virtues. Some argue its not true + too simplistic. Humans have different and changing natures.

  e.g homosexuals classed as unnatural by aquinas but themselves would argue its natural for them to be homosexual.
• Natural law- weakness 4

  NL DEPENDS ON BELIEF IN GOD

  Irrelevant to anyone who doesnt believe in God. Doesnt appeal to a non-believer to be god-like. We arent naturally god-like. We are animals who naturally fight + compete for resources and will deliberatley do evil to get what we want.