Natural Moral Law

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Absolutism

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19 Terms

1

Absolutism

A moral judgement that relies on a fixed truth

  • Says that some things are basically right no matter the circumstances

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2

Relativism

A moral judgement that takes circumstances into consideration

  • No action is good or bad in itself, a judgement can only be made after weighing up the arguments

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3

Legalism

Making a moral decision based on previously established laws

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4

Aristotle

  • Everything has purpose or goal that is aimed e.g. a knife’s purpose is to cut things

  • Everything we do has a purpose

  • Fulfilment of purpose (telos) is the ultimate good and what we are inclined to do

  • Morality is based on reason, not emotion

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5

Cicero

  • Laws cannot begin with humans

  • Human laws can be good or bad depending on if they match up with eternal, natural law

  • Natural law needs no encoding/enforcement

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6

Aquinas

  • All humans have a natural purpose that God wants them to fulfil

  • By nature, we are naturally inclined towards the good

  • The ultimate purpose of humankind is to live in fellowship with God

  • Humans were given reason + freedom by God to discover and fulfil our natural purpose

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7

Aquinas quote

“The moral life is the life according to reason.”

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8

Eudaimonia

To live in fellowship/happiness with God

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9

Aquinas’ 4 types of laws

  1. Eternal Law = God creates everything and His will and wisdom is revealed to us through…

  2. Divine Law = the sacred text and teachings of the church, which are made known through…

  3. Natural Law = the innate human ability to know what is naturally right. From which…

  4. Human Law = is derived e.g. laws found in the legal system.

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10

Aquinas’ primary precepts

  • Preservation of life

  • Order in society

  • Worship

  • Educate your offspring

  • Reproduction

    • Self-evident principles that are universal & absolute as they are part of our natural inclinations as human beings to guide us towards our final purpose (telos), eudaimonia with God

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11

Strengths of Primary Precepts

  • Absolute universal rules - same principle applies to everyone

  • Easy to understand - should be accessible to everyone

  • Should be simple to find answers to ethical dilemmas as based on something more concrete than personal opinion

  • Timeless - still relevant today

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12

Secondary Precepts

  • Rules needed to achieve the primary precepts e.g. the 10 commandments. Upholds the primary precepts

  • Not absolute + can change based on the situation

  • Secondary precepts do not apply if they go against the secondary precepts

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13

Strengths of Secondary Precepts

  • Allows for flexibility

  • Applies to modern day examples

  • Realistic and practical rules for everyday life

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14

Weakness of Natural Moral Law

  • Principles of NML when applied can lead to absurd conclusions

  • Nature changes (evolution) → does natural law change too? If so how can the laws be absolute?

  • Ignores human emotion

  • No room for NML in situationalism, relativism, consequentialism or individualism

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15

Proportionalism

  • Certain acts are wrong or evil acts in themselves but the act may be the right thing to do if there is a proportionate reason

  • Doing a ‘bad’ action out of love makes the action morally good but not morally right

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16

Bernard Hoose

“It is never right to go against a principle unless there is a proportionate reason which would justify it.”

  • Natural moral law should be followed unless there is a significant reason to temporarily set it aside.

  • Acts are not always evil.

  • For example, telling an adult the truth about a violent death may be right, but telling a child may not be appropriate.

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17

Humanae Vitae

Pope Saint Paul VI - condemned the use of hormonal/unnatural contraception, sterilisation and abortion & promoted the use of natural birth regulation

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18

Doctrine of double effect

A bad consequence does not make an act morally wrong so long as that bad consequence is not intentional e.g. killing an attacker in self defence

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19

Law of double effect

Doing an action with a good intention but it has another consequence The intention of the action determines the morality of the action

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