Evaluation of Natural Law
- Created by: Emma
- Created on: 23-03-14 16:35
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- Evaluating Natural Law
- Enables people to establish common rules to structure communities
- Aquinas' view of reason as a tool for moral understanding and idea of common nature and morality for all
- Gives Natural Law a universiality beyond religion and culture
- Attractive in a world with many religions and cultures, suffering from intercultural disharmony
- Different cultures have same basic principles of primary precepts
- Gives Natural Law a universiality beyond religion and culture
- Gives reason to be moral and absolute
- Considerable proportion of human population still believes in God
- Justification and support for core ideas popular in modern times, such as human rights and equality
- Not just a set of rules but a way of life - links questions of how to live to fundamental principles of life
- Complete system of moral living
- Is there a single, common and apparent natural law?
- Can day to day rules be deduced from his primary precepts?
- Kai Neilson
- 'from the point of view of science, there is no such thing as an essential human nature...'
- Is there a single, common and apparent natural law?
- Eskimos used to kill family members in winter and newborn girls without husbands
- Differing moral standards challenge idea of common natural law in all societies
- 'from the point of view of science, there is no such thing as an essential human nature...'
- 'from the point of view of science, there is no such thing as an essential human nature...'
- Differing moral standards challenge idea of common natural law in all societies
- 'from the point of view of science, there is no such thing as an essential human nature...'
- Humans have different or changeable natures - variety of sexual orientations
- Aquinas would say their acts are unnatural as they can't lead to new life
- Peter Vardy and Paul Grosch 'the puzzle of ethics'
- Question way in which Aquinas works from general principles to lesser purposes
- Sexual acts could be justified due to benefits to a couple's relationship
- Aquinas' deductions could be wrong as they may be based on an incorrect view of human life
- Consider Aquinas' moral view of human nature to be unholistic - sexual activity is not only found in genitalia
- It's a Christian ethic but Jesus opposes legalistic morality in the New Testament
- Debated sharply with moral legalists of the time, the Pharisees yet Natural Law appears similar to Pharisaic law
- Joseph Fletcher said Jesus rejected this approach
- Debated sharply with moral legalists of the time, the Pharisees yet Natural Law appears similar to Pharisaic law
- Kevin T Kelly
- Two traditions in Christian morality - one centred on acts and the other on dignity of the human person
- Roman Catholic Church 'the moral asoect of any procedure is influenced by intentions and motives but also objective standards, based on the nature of the human person and his acts'
- Kelly argues for a morality based on the human as author and director of actions - away from intrinsic value of actions
- More extreme form of personalism is found in Situation Ethics where situation and results determine goodness or badness
- Two traditions in Christian morality - one centred on acts and the other on dignity of the human person
- Given these Criticisms:
- Natural Law may not be as rigid as it first appears - secondary precepts may change in some aspects or in special cases
- Roman Catholic Church's prohibition of artificial contraception and homosexual acts may be challengeable in some special cases
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