Natural Law

what is telos

a greek word meaning purpose or end

what is eudaimonia

living well/human flourishing

what are aristotles 4 causes

what does aristotle say is humans telos

eudaimonia

how do we achieve eudaimonia

what did the stoics believe

aristotle believed the ‘inner principle o…’

for aristotle a decision is good if

it helps us to achieve our telos/purpose

what is our telos according to aquinas

how do we achieve our telos according to aquinas

argument against ‘since we have a purpose we should behave in a certain way’

argument against ‘our purpose involves an innate desire to do good and avoid evil’

argument against ‘reason is required to know how to achieve our telos’

argument against ‘our purpose is to reach perfection and be with god’

what does absolutism mean

the idea that right and wrong is fixed at all time for all people

what does deontological mean

the rightness or wrongness of the action itself

aquinas quote about needing natural law

‘man needs to be directed to his supernatural end in a higher way'

supporting an absolutist approach to ethics means there are certain things that are always right and wrong so there must be something or someone from which morality come from.

what’s this for aquinas

the eternal law of the creator who is the efficient and final cause

the eternal law is the mind of god

what are the 4 tiers of law

eternal law, divine law, natural law, human law

what is eternal

what is divine law

what is natural law

what is human law

aquinas quote about whether its okay to break the human law

natural law is a….. and d……

absolutist and deontological

what is the synderesis principle

natural inclination directing people towards good and away from evil

how does the synderesis principle help us to meet our telos

if we work towards our telos we are doing what is morally good

god has placed within us a natural inclination to do good and avoid evil

if we do this we will achieve our telos

what is a primary precept

things are reason tells us to do so we act morally as god has given us reason to work out what his will for us is

they are 5 ways to flourish

are the primary precepts rules

what are the 5 primary precepts

P reservation of life

O rdered society

W orship god

E ducation

R eproduction

the primary precepts are a… and u….

absolute and universal

what is a secondary precept

more specific rules that can be deduced from the primary precepts

examples of secondary precepts for each primary precept

P - abortion is wrong

O - do not commit adultery

W - pray

E - free education

R - do not use contraception

quote that states the primary precepts are fixed

‘the natural law is altogether unchangeable in its first principles’

quote that states the secondary precepts are more flexible

‘its secondary principles…… may be changed in some particular cases’

example of the secondary precepts being flexible

what is a real good

when our reason has correctly worked out what is good

what is an apparent good

when a person has applied their reason in the wrong way and not correctly worked out what is good

do humans knowingly seek do to evil

no evil acts are committed because the person falsely believes them to be good (silly hitler you just didnt apply your reason correctly)

what are some of the issues with the precepts

too rigid/absolute, secondary precepts can be misinterpreted, conflicting precepts, does not consider consequences

what is an interior good

interior acts are about our motivation or our intentions/reason for acting a certain way

what is an exterior act

exterior acts are the act which are visible - the thing that someone does

what is the best way to act

to do the right thing (exterior act) and for the right reasons (interior act)

give an example to explain what is meant by an act having two ends

what is the doctorine of double effect

according to the principle of double effect, sometimes it is permissible to cause a harm as an unintended and merely foreseen side effect (or “double effect”) of bringing about a good result even though it would not be permissible to cause such a harm as a means to bringing about the same good end.

doctrine of double effect diagram

who provided the conditions for the doctrine of double effect

Joseph Mangan

what are the conditions for the doctrine of double effect

the nature of the act condition

the right intention condition

the mean-end condition

the proportionality condition

what is the right intention condition (DofDE)

what is the nature of the act condition (DofDE)

what is the mean-end condition (DofDE)

what is the proportionality condition (DofDE)

doctrine of double effect applied to the trolley problem

doctrine of double effect applied to abortion

doctrine of double effect applied to euthanasia