RS - Ethics - Natural Law - AO2 6 - Aquinas' Natural Law is meaningless without a belief in a creator God.

What is Aquinas' Natural Law fundamentally based on?

a belief in a creator God

What are the five primary precepts based on?

the idea that God created five fixed purposes in life for humans

Why would someone who does not believe in a creator God find concepts in Natural Law meaningless?

they would not be interested in God's final purpose, neither would they wish to follow God's will

Which philosophers explain that even if you do not believe in a creator God, and individual should still seek to fulfil his nature?

Vardy and Grosch

What does Natural Law claim to have developed which are applicable to all moral agents regardless of belief?

fundamental, universal ethical principles

However, this is fundamentally a weak argument because what are non-believers unlikely to agree with?

Aquinas' view that you will fulfil your potential and flourish by obeying natural law.

What evidence is there to show that Natural Law has relevance to believers and non-believers alike?

the United Nations' 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Which two of Aquinas' primary precepts did the Universal Declaration of Human Rights support?

the right to life and the right to an education

What unjust systems would followers of Natural Law therefore not follow? Why?

apartheid in South Africa or the Taliban in Afghanistan, as they deprive black people or girls of such rights

Why might Aristotle's version of Natural Law have been meaningful for an atheist?

for Aristotle, telos is fulfilling your purpose in this world

However, for Aquinas what is true happiness?

achieving the reward of heaven

What do atheists not believe in, showing that Aquinas' version of Natural Law is meaningless for atheists?

hell or accept this as a motive for obeying Aquinas' primary or secondary precepts

What central principle of Aquinas' Natural Law would be meaningless to someone who did not believe in a creator God?

to worship God

How many of the seven virtues that Aquinas states help moral agents achieve the precepts are based on the belief in a creator God?

three

What are these three 'revealed virtues' and where are they found?

faith, hope and love in 1 Corinthians 13:13

What can Natural Law help atheists fulfil, by encouraging virtues?

their potential and live morally good lives

Whether of not you believe in God, what virtues should you want to develop?

revealed virtues of love as well as the cardinal virtues of justice and fortitude

Which individuals have displayed these virtues and are role-models even to atheists?

Martin Luther King or Mother Teresa

Who arguably improved Aquinas' theory and his version does not pre-suppose a divine Creator?

John Finnis

What did Finnis concentrate on instead?

reasoning a set of 'basic goods' from which a good life can be generated