Natural law mind map
- Created by: henry
- Created on: 22-03-13 18:20
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- Natural Law
- Nature
- Deductive - Starts with basic principles from which the correct moral action can be deduced
- deontologica looks at intent not outcomes.
- Objective - rules independent of individual thoughts and desires
- Absolute - un-breakable laws
- Pope benedict xvi secular society has moved away from absolutes - call this 'dictatorship of relativism'
- Prevents manipulation and values human life
- 'Efficient' and 'final' causes
- What gets things done (efficient cause)
- End product (final cause)
- E.g. efficient cause of sex is enjoyment
- Final cause of sex (what god designed it for) is procreation
- Therefore sex is only for procreation
- final cause - evaluating the intent - tells us about the morality of the action
- Real and Apparent goods
- self should be maintained
- natural law supports certain virtues that allow the self to fulfill its purpose.
- there are many vices that prevent the individual from being what god intended them to be
- following a real good will result in improvement of self. - closer to ideal human nature god planned.
- Apparent goods may be pleasurable (e.g drugs) - cause us to fall short of our potential.
- Reason is used to determine real goods from primary precepts
- Causistry and Double effect
- causistry - process of applying natural law to a situation
- wrong to kill (based on secondary precepts, derived from primary)
- Acceptable in self defence,
- Double effect refers to situations where there is an intended outcome and another significant but unintentional outcome
- Unintended effect has to be proportionate
- Critics say this causes N.L. to become like utilitarianism
- Unintended effect has to be proportionate
- intentions more important than consequences
- Weaknesses
- Using reason to determine God’s purpose for humans is not consistent - multiple functions for each thing, sex might be for enjoyment for some people
- Aquinas needs to look at the human as a whole, not just at functioning parts; this way, we can understand the emotional and psychological value of sex
- Many argue that there is no purpose in life
- natural disasters and diseases suggest no designer behind the universe
- Doesn't consider the complexity of moral dilemmas
- Doesn't consider the consequences
- No cultural relativism Neilsen questions unchanging nature of Primary Precepts
- Gareth Moore argues our nature is a product of culture and society.
- Jesus was opposed to legalism, and broke rules in order to do the most loving thing. "Christ jesus abolished the law with its absolute legal claims."
- Using reason to determine God’s purpose for humans is not consistent - multiple functions for each thing, sex might be for enjoyment for some people
- Strengths
- God - Doesn’t require belief in God, as it is based on empirical observations of our nature.
- Values human life highly. - treats people with dignity and cant be manipulated
- Natural Law gives us rules that are true independently of our individual thoughts and desires.
- double effect gets around problems of conflicting secondary precepts
- secular society has lost all sense of objective values and truth. Pope Benedict calls this the ‘dictatorship of relativism’.
- Clear cut - easy to make moral decisions
- universally applicable
- Nature
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