natural moral law

Subdecks (1)

Cards (40)

  • aquinas believed all people were created by god and ultimately would be returned to him and people can use reason to achieve perfection.
  • the four fold division of law is divine law, eternal law, natural law and human law
  • eternal law

    law which come's from god's nature as the creator
    god is the creator, the universe and nature reflect the principles of the natural and moral order which is the blueprint in the mind of god
    humans share a common human nature
  • divine law
    principles revealed to humans through divine law found in special revelation and church teachings
  • natural law
    human reason, not revelation
  • human law
    from natural law we form human laws
  • real and apparent goods
    all humans will the good, but we can get confused
  • interior and exterior acts
    exterior acts are only good if accompanied by a good interior intention
  • human telos
    human flourishing
    happiness is only found in a beatific vision of god that is promised in the next life
  • five primary precepts
    1. preserve innocent human life
    2. reproduce
    3. educate and nurture the young
    4. live peacefully in an ordered society
    5. worship god
  • secondary precepts are rules developed from the five primary precepts
  • doctrine of double effect is a principle which helps to avoid mistakes in moral reasoning in difficult cases
  • aquinas argued that killing in self defense is justified so long as the killing is unintentional but an unavoidable result of the amount of force necessary to save your own life
  • pojman
    humanity has an essentially rational nature, and reason can discover the right action in every situation by following an appropriate exceptionless principle
  • four conditions of double effect
    nature of the act, means end, right intention and proportionality
  • nature of the act - action must be morally good or neutral
  • means end - bad effect cannot be the means in which the good effect is achieved
  • right intention - intention must only be to achieve the good effect and the bad effect must be an unintended side effect.
  • proportionality - good effect must be at least equivalent in importance to the bad effect
  • proportionalism holds there are certain moral rules that it can never be right to go against unless there's a proportionate reason to justify it
  • proportionalism
    where proportionate reasons exist, it would be right to ignore the rule in that situation
  • modern proportionalism
    moral agents intention must be considered, if ignored you can only determine the ontic of the act an not its morality, acts become morally good or bad when yo consider the proportion of value to disvalue in the act and the agents intention
    no acts are intrinsically evil
  • strengths of natural moral law
    clear cut approach and provides clear guidance
    • does proportionalism ruin this?
    accessible to everyone
    concentrates on human character
    flexible
  • weaknesses of natural moral law
    barth argues that is relies too much on reason and not enough revelation
    • shut up silly fideist its okay to be rational
    gives the wrong answers in situations like sexual ethics