Normative ethical theories - natural moral law

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Natural moral law

  • Aquinas' natural moral law is a deontological ethical theory, which judges morality on one's adherence to rules.
  • The theory assumes that reality is governed by the eternal law (law which comes from God's nature), whose principles are revealed to humans through scripture and the teachings of the Church, but the detail is worked out independently of scripture using recta ratio ('right reason').
  • Aquinas argued that our telos (purpose) as humans is to live a eudaimonic (happy) life, and to achieve this desired ends we must 'seek good and avoid evil'.
  • God installed in all humans certain inclinations to enable us to do this - these are known as the 'primary precepts'.
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Primary precepts

PREGS

  • Protect and preserve human life.
  • Reproduce and Educate offspring.
  • To know God and live in an ordered Society.
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Secondary precepts

  • From the 'primary precepts', our God-given recta ratio enables us to derive the secondary precepts - rules which govern our specific actions.
  • For example, 'do not steal' reflects the primary precepts of 'orderly living within society' and worshipping God (Eighth Commandment).
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Real and apparent goods

  • Aquinas did not believe that a human being could deliberately do evil.
  • Aquinas believed that people chose either 'real' or 'apparent' goods.
  • A real good is something that is good according to natural law (i.e. correctly reasoned goods that help the moral agent to achieve their telos).
  • An apparent good is a mistake that diminishes a person's human nature (i.e. wrongly reasoned goods that do not help the moral agent to achieve their God-given purpose).
  • For example, adultery can feel like a real good because of its short-term pleasures, but when we consider what adultery involves - betrayal, injustice and lies - it is clearly not good at all.
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Interior and exterior acts

  • Aquinas distinguished between interior acts (the intention of the moral agent when carrying out an action), and exterior acts (the actions of a moral agent).
  • For example, the act of giving to charity is a good exterior act, but can be properly good only if it is acompanied by the right (interior) intention.  
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Cardinal virtues

  • The process of following the 'real good' can be aided by cultivating Aristotle's cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance (PJ 4 Tracy), which are the fundamental qualities for a good life.
  • Aquinas also added three theological virtues - faith, hope and charity - which are given to humans through God's grace.
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Principle of double effect

  • We can avoid making mistakes in difficult moral situations by using the 'principle of double effect', which holds that it is always wrong to do a bad act intentionally in order to bring about a good consequence.
  • However, it is sometimes right to do a good act despite knowing that it will bring about unintended bad consequences.
  • For example, on the question of whether it is lawful to kill a man in self-defence, Aquinas answers that if killing the aggressor is the unintended second effect of saving one's life, then this is lawful.
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Proportionalism

  • Proportionalism is a modern reinterpretation of natural moral law, developed by Hoose, which seeks to act as a 'middle way' between deontological and teleological ethics.
  • Proportionalism holds that there are certain moral rules and that it can never be right to go against these rules  unless there is a proportionate reason which would justify it.
  • For example, where a man is starving to death, then, it would be lawful to steal from another - presumably from someone who has more than enough.
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Strengths of proportionalism

  • Proportionalism has been around for a long time, so it is fairly robust.  For example, it is a central part of 'Just War' theory whereby the violence used must be proportional to the casualities suffered.
  • Proportionalism is based on common sense, for example, it is common sense to lie in order to save a life or steal to avoid dying of hunger.
  • The proportional principle is a wide one, and it is used outside of natural moral law theory.  As with 'Just War' theory, allowing a proportional response to threat is built within European Law.
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Weaknesses of proportionalism

  • Proportionalism has been condemned by the Catholic Church on the grounds that it denies that any action can in and of itself be intrinsically evil.  Many people agree that some acts, such as r*pe and the torture of a child, are intrinsically evil.
  • Calculating the proportion of value and disvalue in an act is a consequentialist way of deciding on moral issues.  The biggest problem with consequentialism is that we cannot always predict the future accurately.
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Strengths of NML

  • In a time of moral uncertainty, Waters argues that natural moral law establishes rules by which people can live in an ordered society;
  • The individual is able to work out for themselves what is objectively right or wrong without relying on authority, scripture or tradition;
  • Aquinas' system is realistic in that it admits that people can make mistakes, for example, by being confused about the difference between real and apparent goods;
  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the American Declaration of Independence found their moral underpinnings in NML;
  • It encourages people to think of some acts such as slavery as intrinsically wrong;
  • NML does not just dictate what is to be done, it goes beyond that, like Virtue Ethics, it concentrates on human character and flourishing.
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Weaknesses of NML

  • Vardy argues in The Puzzle of Ethics that Aquinas takes on a very anti-holistic view of human nature.  For example, is sex only intended for procreation?;
  • NML doesn't appeal to the atheist or agnostic - they would disagree that it is within their human nature to value and worship God;
  • By claiming that moral law comes from God and therefore people ought to obey it, is to commit the naturalistic fallacy (the false assumption that it is right to infer an 'ought' from an 'is').
  • NML expects us to reason well in difficult situations, this isn't always the case, e.g. a man may think it is acceptable to commit adultery because he has fallen in love with another woman, and thus break the natural bond between him and his wife;
  • NML can lead to immoral outcomes - the Catholic Church's prohibition of artificial methods of contraception has contributed to the spread of AIDS;
  • NML is an out-dated ethical theory; it enforces traditional views that are out of touch within the 21st century - these views may lead to homophobia or intolerance of other cultures.
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