Aquinas and NML

What are the four tiers of law?

Eternal law, divine law, natural law, human law

What is eternal law?

The mind and the will of God - how he structured the world

not known to humans

Divine law

The Bible revealed to us by God - rules we must follow to go to heaven

What is natural law?

Laws that are innate to nature that we can know through reason

What is human law?

Human concepts - only valid if it doesn’t contradict NL

Is NML absolutist or relativist?

absolutist

Who does Aquinas get his ideas from?

Aristotle

Why do we follow NML?

human souls naturally want to

lex vs ius

lex = specific regulation, ius = principle of law rather than exact regulation

synderesis

key precept - do good and avoid evil

what are the 5 primary precepts?

to worship God, to live in an ordered society, to reproduce, to learn, to defend the innocent

what are secondary precepts?

lex - applications of primary precepts into certain situations

what is the Euthyphro dilemma?

is something good because God commands it or does God command something because it is good?

two

what is apparent goods?

when people incorrectly use reason and do something that seems good but it does not lead to human flourishing

what is a real good?

something that leads to human flourishing