Ethics - Natural Law

• Deontological - looks at the rules / acts itself

• St Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle developed this theory 
• 'We should pursue good and avoid evil'

• Natural Law is discovered through human reason and not through revelation.
• Everything is created for a partiuclar function - we should aim for it to always be good.

• Primary and Secondary Precepts - WORLD

Aquinas 'Natural Law is a moral code which human beings are natuarlly inclined towards' - a moral life is the life which is lived according to reason'

Aquinas - Human nature is a reasonable guide to what human nature should be since it was created by God. Natural Law can therefore be deduced by examining human nature. If this is the case they have the potential to become what they are capable of being at their best.

God wishes individuals to fulfil their human potential - certain acts diminish us e.g. intrinsic evils

They are good acts, which lead us towarsd the main purpose or goal.

You need to use reason is every situation. The primary precept are always true and should be applied to everybody everyday without exception - this will help with human flourishing.

WORLD

• Worship God
• Live in an Ordered society
• Reproduce
• Learn
• Preserve innocent life / Don't Die

The more you delve into the detail, and use reason, the more the general rule allows exceptions.

The actions that you carry out will develop your image and reflect the image of God

We need to use our judgement and reason in the context of the situation - the more you go deeper the more chance of exceptions.

Unlike Primary precepts which are fixed, the secondary precepts are not universal and don't always apply to every situation.

There are rules which govern how we should act in specific situations

• e.g. PP - living in an ordered society,     SP - Dont steal - otherwise society would be in chaos

• However sometimes situations occur where if you follow a secondary precept will break another primary precept

• e.g. Stealing food to feed a starving child 

Culturally relative

• Polygamy - doesn't break NL as it educates children and permits the final end of reproduction - however Aquinas says it is against the law of nature as doesn't reflect monogomy.

The difference between real and apparent goods.

• Real goods - The right use of reason leading to action that leads us towards perfection
• Apparent goods - Thinking that something good, when really it isn't. e.g. adultery 

The difference between interior and extereior acts

• Exterior - the act itself 
• Interior - the intention of the act

e.g Giving money to charity or the church.                                                                                            However if you are giving money to charity to be admired by others - this isnt true morality.

Real goods can be aided by the following the virtues

• By following real goods it brings you closer to the ideal human nature that exists in the mind of God. 
• If you follow the 4 Cardinal virtues - prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance and the 3 Christian virutes - faith, hope and love - you will live a good moral life.

Primary precepts are objectivley true, by using reason we can discover the right action in every situation. There are times when moral dilemmas occur where we can't do good without a bad consequence - the Doctrine of the double effect.

It is always wrong to do a bad act intenionally in order to bring about a good consequence. However it may be somtimes right to do a good act despite knowing that it will bring about bad conseqeunces.

• e.g. You wouldn't brutally tourture 3 people to save the others.
• e.g. But if a mother had an eptopic pregnacy - you would sacrifice the foetus to save the mother.

4 conditions to be classed as morally permissible

• The nature of the act - must be morally good / neutral
• The means to an end - nothing bad can happen to achieve good
• The right intention - only to acheive good, nothing else
• Proprotionality - the good effect must be equal in importance to the bad effect

Whereas Aquinas doesn't see moral rules as being more important than virtues - to the Catholic Church they highlight moral rules are more important. 

Catholics feel that Natural Law rejects the fundmental moral rules instead of looking at the moral Virtues.

Response

In recent decades the Catholic church has shifted towards a more flexible interpretation of Natural Moral Law - Catholics are starting to accept forms of proportionlism and make more reference to the Cardinal and theological virtues.

Bernard Hoose - there are certian moral rules and it is never right to go against these rules unless there is a proprotional reason which would justify it.

e.g. When a man is starving to death, it would be lawful to steal from another, assuming the other person has more than enough e.g. Robin Hood

Hoose has shown that some aspects of Natural Law are inconsistent and such types of thinking are invalid.

Criteria for proprotionlism

• There must be a moral intention
• By ignoring the intention, you must consider the physical goodness / badness of an act.
• Acts only become good or bad once you have considered both the value and disvalue of the act.
• Acts cannot be intrinsically evil.

Strengths 

• It is based upon common sense 
• Its basis is formed from Natural Law
• It has been developed over hundred of years, so can be applied to many diffrent situations.

Weaknesses

• It is condemed by the Catholic Church - as it denies that any action can be intrinsically evil - e.g. murder and tourture of a child
• How can we make accurate predictions about value and disalue - we can't predict the future so how do we know what act will cause the most good and happiness.

Natural Law provides an objective foundation as individuals are left to make their own choices. This enables people to establish common ground and live in an ordered society.

It shows that morality is about what is intrinsically good and intrinsically bad 

This system is realistic - as it acknowledges that people can make mistakes.

Natural Law forms a basis for develolping our ideas about rights

Natural Law helps develop good moral character through practicing the Cardial and Christain virtues.

Natural Law is very adaptable - the principle of the double effect, proportionlism

Natural Law can lead to immoral outcomes

It is not obvious that Natural Law is the best way of looking at morality - Situation Ethics makes a clearer point.

Some forms of Natural Law can be athesitic - Aquinas assumes that all humans want to and will worship God.

Some Catholics follow a proportionalist approach as they are unhappy with applying exceptionless, absolute rules to moral life. The double effect rejects 'common sense' especially when dealing with abortion.