Natural Law


Certain actions and behaviours are natural to humans. To be morally good humans need to use reason to work out what these behaviours are, then act in accordance with them.

Aristotle says that we are all like acorns as our end purpose is to flourish (grow into a tree) 


  • Aquinas - an advocate of natural theology which tries to prove God’s existence using reason 

“The moral life is the life which is lived in accordance with reason” - Aquinas 

“Natural law is the sharing in the eternal law by intelligent creatures” - Aquinas 


Human law = societal rules 

Eternal law = What God believes is moral - his principles in his mind which we cannot fully know 

Natural law = using our God-given ability to reason to work out what is right and wrong. e.g. conscience. 

Human law = societal rules which should ideally be based on Eternal law but isn’t always. We should only obey it if it follows eternal law.

  • Aquinas believes God has written into our human nature to do good and avoid evil. - Synderesis

  • We all naturally want to strive for perfection. 

  • The ‘highest good’ is the rational understanding of God’s final purpose.

  • God has given us reason and rationality to work out that there are 5 things written into our human nature. 

The five primary precepts: 

  • To preserve human life - Don’t kill, Don’t abort, Don’t euthanise 

  • To educate - Go to school, educate 

  • To reproduce 

  • To live in an ordered society 

  • Worship God 


Using contraception - Against God as it says in the Bible to “be fruitful and multiple” and reproduction as it prevents reproduction.

Murder - Against preserving life as it actively ends lives and ordered society as it creates instability, conflict and injustice within society.

Homosexual sex - Against God as it says in the bible that is it an “abomination” therefore for one to partake in homosexual sex they are going against God’s wishes. It also goes against the primary precept of reproduction because it doesn’t lead to reproduction and encourages people to not reproduce and to have sex simply for pleasure. 

Adultery - Against ordered society as it causes conflict and instability. It also goes against the primary precept to worship God as one of the 10 commandments is to "not commit adultery”. and perhaps reproduction as when committing adultery, reproduction is likely avoided therefore it shares the same immorality of homosexual sex which is the use of sex for pleasure rather than reproduction. 


The Doctrine of the Double Effect

Aquinas recognised that a single action can produce two effects:

Good effect: the intended outcome (saving someone’s life)

Bad effect: an unintended consequence (the aggressor’s life)

The doctrine holds that such actions may be morally permissible if the key conditions are met:

  • the act itself must be morally good or neutral e.g. defending oneself is morally good

  • The agent must intend only the good effect: the bad effect can be foreseen but not desired

  • The bad effect must not be the means to the good effect: the good effect cannot depend on causing harm

  • There must be proportionate reason: the good achieved must outweigh the harm done.


Euthanasia

Deliberately ending the life of a sick/disabled/dying person with the intention of ending their suffering.

Voluntary euthanasia is where the patient asks for it - they could ask verbally or through “living will’ or “advance directive”.

Can be active or passive. Active means you actively do something that ends their life (e.g. give a drug). Passive means you fail to do something or stop doing something that would keep them alive (e.g. turn off life support, stop treatment)q

active is illegal in the uk - prosecution for murder. Can also be prosecuted for assisting others to travel to countries where its legal

Issues:

  • Is active worse than passive?

  • Sanctity of life vs. quality of life

  • can ‘killing’ be kind?

  • is suffering necessarily be bad?

  • actions vs consequences

  • who decides? Informed consent?

  • Slippery slope

  • attitudes to illness/disability

  • Palliative care/attitude to death


Joseph Fletcher suggests situationism as a medium between these two extremes:

Legalism (Absolutist)= based on rules which should not be broken once they have been established.

Antinomianism = There are no rules, everyone should behave however they like.

Situationism (Relativist) = based on situations. There are rough rules and general principles, but they need to be applied differently in different situations.


  • Fletcher wrote ‘Situation Ethics’, attempting to provide a Christian way of making moral decisions that would apply in this new and changing society.

  • Fletcher describes conscience as “a verb and not a noun”

  • Fletcher’s theory is teleological as morality is conditional on consequences.


Pragmatism - To act morally, one needs to be practical and work towards morality the most beneficial and practical way. Choose to behave in a way that is most constructive towards love.

“To be [morally] correct or right a thing - a thought or an action - must work” - Fletcher


Positivism - We have to do everything that is loving because God is love and there are no more explanations necessary.

Positis - something that is true even without an explanation.

Personalism  
Puts people at centre of decision making, rather than things or laws 
Jesus' disciples command to love people not objects 
Things only good if they are good for or to someone 
Not individualistic, good derives from the needs of people/society 

True existence consequently involves personal relationships with others 
God is a personal being - we are made in the image of God 
We should love - “god is love” 

Damnation is not created by unbelieving but by the unloving 
Atheists are saved by the very God whose existence they deny, as God is love 
How to do the most loving thing for the people

 Relativism -

the only thing that applies to every decision that we make is love

the goal of everything that you do in a decision must be love. p