WEEK 7: NATURAL LAW

NATURAL LAW

Aquinas puts forward that there is within us a conscience that directs our moral thinking. Wherefore it has a share of the External Reason, whereby it has a natural inclination to its proper act and end This participation of the external law in the natural creature is called ____________________.

Natural Law

Being told that one should heed one's conscience or that one should try to be virtuous, does very little to guide people as to what specifically should be done in a given situation. There is a need or a clearer basis of ethics, a ground that will more concretely direct our sense of what is wrong and right For Aquinas, there should be _________________

COMMON GOOD

We are not isolated beings, but beings who belong to a community. Since we belong to a community, we have to consider what is good for the community as well as our own good. This can be called ___________________.

VARIETIES OF LAW

We do not only recognize God as the source of these beings, but also acknowledge the way they have been created and the way they could return to Him, which is the work of His divine reason itself. "He governs all the acts and movements that are to be found in each single creature, so the type of Divine Wisdom, as moving all things to their due end, bears the character of law."

IN COMMON WITH OTHER ANIMALS

We have common instincts with animals as per natural law. EXAMPLE: A desire that has to do with sexual intercourse and the care of one's offspring. As the matter of fact, animals periodically engage in sexual intercourse at a specific time of "heat", and this could result an offspring. In human too, that natural inclination to engage in the sexual act and to reproduce exists. Thomas writes certain special sins are said to be against nature, thus contrary to sexual intercourse, which is natural to all animals, is unisexual lust, which has received the special name of the unnatural crime.

IN COMMON WITH OTHER BEINGS

We have considered, how human beings are both unique and at the same time participating in the community of the rest of creation. Our presence in the rest of creation does not only mean that we interact with creatures that are not human, but that there is also in our nature something that shares in the nature of other beings.

LAW

We should recognize the proper measure or the limits in our acts in a way that we can pursue ends, about our own and that of others, together. The determination of the proper measure of our acts can be referred to as _____.

IRRATIONAL CREATURES

are participating in the eternal law, although we could hardly say that they are in any way "conscious" of this law. Aquinas notes that "we cannot speak of them by obeying the law, except by the way of similitude"

ARISTOTLE'S NATURAL LAW

incorporated this idea into his system of thought around 350 B.C. When he said that, in order to understand anything, four questions must be asked: o What is it? o What is it made of? o How did it come to exist? o And what is it for? The answers might be: This is a knife, it is made of metal, it was made by a craftsman, and it is used for cutting.

NATURAL LAW

is a system in which actions are seen as morally and ethically correct if it accords with the end purpose of human nature and human goals. Follows the fundamental maxim, 'do good and avoid evil'.

HUMAN LAW

refers to all instances wherein human beings construct and enforce laws in their communities. Given the larger picture of Aquinas's view, one would have basis for assessing the validity or invalidity of a human law: whether or not it conforms to the natural law.

UNIQUELY HUMAN

which states that we have an inclination to good according to the nature or our reason. With this, we have a natural inclination to know the truth about God and to live in society. It is of interest that this is followed by matters of both an epistemic and a social concern.

THE CONTEXT OF AQUINAS' ETHICS

How in our pursuit of happiness we direct our actions toward specific ends. How our actions are related to certain dispositions in a dynamic way since our actions arise from our habits and at the same time reinforce a good disposition leading us toward making moral choices.

Natural Law

The Theory of _____________________ rests upon a certain view of what the world is like. On this view, the world is a rational order with values and purposes built into its very nature. This conception derives from the Greeks, whose way of understanding the world dominated Western thinking for over 1,700 years. A central feature of this conception was the idea that everything in nature has a purpose.

Christian Life

The __________________ is about developing the capacities given us by God into a disposition of virtue inclined toward the good Aquinas also puts forward that there is within us a conscience that directs our moral thinking

CIRCUMSTANCE

- Is the part of the human act that must be considered in order to evaluate the total moral act. Can be considered in various moral questions, thus, be might ask, 'who', 'when', 'how much' or 'in what manner'.

Social Concern

- which is that we know we live in relation to others

Epistemic Concern

- which is that we know we pursue the truth

Aquinas

According to ____________________ "The definition of law may be gathered; and it is nothing else than an ordinance or reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community and promulgated"

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

Also known as Doctor Angelicus and Doctor Communis Born in 1225 Aquino, Italy Died in 1274 in Italy Referred to as Thomas because his last name Aquinas refers to where he was born. Italian Dominican friar,philosopher, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church Theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism Begins his natural law theory by differentiating human acts from acts of man. Dominican priest Medieval philosopher Authored Summa Theologica and Summa Contra Gentiles Introduced natural law in philosophy.

sake of something

Aristotle assumed that the last question - what is it for? - could sensibly be asked of anything whatever. Nature, he said, belongs to the class of causes which act for the ________________________ . The world, therefore, is an orderly, rational system, with each thing having its own proper place and serving its own special purpose. There is a neat hierarchy: The rain exists for the sake of the plants, the plants exist for the sake of the animals, and the animals exist - of course - for the sake of people, whose well-being is the point of the whole arrangement.

ESSENCE OF LAW

As a rational being, we have free will. Through our capacity for reason, we are able to judge between possibilities and to choose to direct our actions in one way or the other.

God wills

Eternal law refers to what ___________ for creation. All things partake in eternal law, all beings are already created by God in a certain way intended to return to Him.

HUMAN ACTS

Expressed proceeds from the will. ___________________ as Aquinas expressed proceeds from the will. An act that is performed with both knowledge and free will.

human laws

In making _______________ , additions that are not at all problematic for the natural law are possible. As Aquinas puts it, nothing hinders a change in the natural law by way of addition, since our reason has found and can fine many things that benefit individual and communal human life.

OTHER CREATURES ACT ON INSTINCTS

Instinct leads creation to what is good for them Which is to say that they do not think of the law or chose to obey it, but are simply, through instinctual following of their nature, complying with the law that God has for them.

ACTS OF MAN

Is an action that does not proceeds from the will. Actions done without knowledge or will (e.g., breathing and sneezing)

PROMULGATION

It is also necessary for rules or laws to be communicated to the people involved in order to enforce them and to better ensure compliance. This is referred to as ______________.

TRADITIONAL MORAL THEOLOGY

Presents four conditions for the double effect principle to be applied: 1. The action is good in itself or at least in different. 2. The good effect must come first before the evil effect or a least simultaneously. 3. The good effect must be intended. 4. There must be a proportionately grave reason for the evil effect to happen.

RATIONAL CREATURES

The human being, as rational, participates more fully and perfectly in the law given the capacity for reason. The unique imprint upon us, upon our human nature by God, is the capacity to think about what is good and what is evil, and to choose and direct ourselves appropriately.

ETERNAL LAW

The idea of a transcendent good prior to all being resurfaces in Aquinas in the form of the good and loving God, who is Himself the fullness of being good and of goodness God is that which essentially is and is essentially good. God's act, like an emanation of light, is the creation of beings.

MORAL OBJECT

The intention inherent in the action that one is actually performing, the moral object specifies the human act and is the purpose that the act accomplishes as a means to the ultimate goal of life. Although the moral object or finis operis is the fundamental element of the morality of the human act, there is also the circumstance.

INTENTION/MOTIVE

The ultimate reason that determines the moral act. It is a means towards attainment of true happiness both of an agent and the common good.

MEDIEVAL THINKER THOMAS AQUINAS

This natural law of theory is part of a larger project, which is Aquinas' vision of the Christian faith.

DOUBLE EFFECT PRINCIPLE

This principle is used in order to judge the moral acceptability of the human act that has two effects, one is GOOD and other is EVIL.

ACTS

________ are rightly toward their ends by reason. AQUINAS reminds us that we cannot simply act in pursuit of our own ends or good without any regard for other people's end or good.

ACTIONS

_____________ are directed toward attaining ends or goods that we desire. There are many possible desirable ends or goods, and we act in such ways to pursue them.