The effectiveness of Aquinas' Natural Law in dealing with ethical issues.

plan

- objectivity

- protection

- human rights

- modern ethical issues

objectivity

+ useful as provides clear rules

HOWEVER

- leads to cruelty, lacks compassion, no flexibility

protection

+ protects life and the vulnerable, e.g. unborn babies can't defend themselves

HOWEVER

- narrow view of life

- life isn't just whether you're alive or not

- what about mother's hopes and aspirations

- are you living if brain dead and attached to machine

human rights

+ human rights were created from the natural law principles

HOWEVER

- should all humans have human rights, e.g. child abuser has children taken away from them so don't have the human right to family

not for modern ethical issues

- abortions can be done without any harm to mother

- euthanasia can be done quickly and painlessly

- NL wasn't designed to deal with these complexities

- Aquinas designed these more for issues like war