Natural Moral Law

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  • Created by: JM
  • Created on: 07-05-13 17:30

Natural Moral Law

Advantages

  • Rational – Natural Law uses practical reason, it is a common-sense approach.
  • Objective – Natural Law gives us rules that are true independently of our individual thoughts and desires.
  • A certain amount of proportionalism may be allowed as secondary precepts are derived from primary precepts and so may vary.
  • Purpose - The world has meaning, purpose and values.
  • Flexible - allows for secondary precepts to vary according to culture, as they are the practical working out of the universal primary precepts.
  • Double Effect - gets around problems of conflicting secondary precepts.
  • Allows for a clear cut approach to morality and establishes common rules.
  • Does not dictate what should be done in individual cases from general moral principles
  • Concentrates on the human character and its potential for goodness and flourishing rather than on rightness or wrongness of particular accts, which allows for some flexibility.
  • Natural Law principles (primary precepts) are common in many cultures so Natural Law is reasonable.

Disadvantages

  • Too simplistic - Humans do not have a single ‘fixed’ human nature.
  • Outcomes - Leads to immoral outcomes e.g. not allowing contraception led to spread of AIDS and overpopulation in Africa
  • Aquinas’ Natural Law theory assumes belief in God.
  • Aquinas assumes that all things have one specific purpose (e.g. genitals) Natural Law theory assumes all things work towards a common purpose.(sexual organs>reproduction)
  • Purpose - The idea of ‘purpose’ in nature can be explained by science (evolution and natural selection).
  • Natural Law depends on defining what is good, but according to GE Moore this commits naturalistic fallacy: which means that there is no way of defining good. as goodness is unanalysable and unnatural.
  • Natural Law is based on assumptions about the world.
  • The world has no rational system of laws governing it but the laws of nature are impersonal and blind with nio intention of moving towards particularpurposes. There is no divine purpose it is just the way things are.
  • Double Effect - brings in consequentialism through the back door. You are allowed to do some terrible things because of double effect, and at other times you can’t do really helpful things.
  • Too optimistic - It has a too optimistic view of human nature. Augustine disagrees (original sin), as does Calvin (total depravity).

Evaluation

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spacebycity

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useful but please check the mistakes . thank you