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
preserve innocent human life
reproduce
educate and nurture the young
live peacefully in an ordered society
worship god
secondary precepts are rules developed from the five primary precepts
doctrine of doubleeffect 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, meansend, rightintention 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