NATURAL LAW. Natural Law Lets go back to Aristotle Quite a breath of common sense after Plato He...
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Transcript of NATURAL LAW. Natural Law Lets go back to Aristotle Quite a breath of common sense after Plato He...
NATURAL LAWNATURAL LAW
Natural LawNatural Law
Let’s go back to Aristotle Quite a breath of common sense
after PlatoHe dealt with objects just as we see
themThey’re real not copies or imagesBit of an empiricist was AristotleThings we see are caused
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Everything in the universe has a place and a purpose
It all fits together
Wind
FireSeasons
RainSun
Food
AirGravity
Aristotle believed
Water
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He also thought that there must be an ultimate cause of the universe
The Prime Mover
The Prime Mover unmoved
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As far as people were concernedAristotle believed people wanted to live a good
happy life
EUDAIMONIA
Right actions would automatically follow and the excellent person would automatically behave in the right sort of way.
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Thomas Aquinas 1225 –1274
He thought Aristotle’s ideas were tops
Long forgotten Aristotle was about to make a comeback
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Aquinas thought everything in the world was real and caused
Everything had a purposeThere was an ultimate purpose and first
cause
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Which was God
Who was, by the way uncaused and necessary.
Who let that goldfish in?What d’yer mean it escaped from the Cosmological Argument?
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Aquinas maintained there are two ways in which people can learn about God
2
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Revealed Theology – that’s reading the Bible to you and me
Natural Theology – working out the truth of God by the use of reason
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Aquinas favoured the latter Truths about God can be worked out by
reasonThe purpose of human life can be worked
out by reason
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That seems a good starting pointWhat is the purpose of human life?
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The purpose of human life
Preservation of the selfTo reproduceTo live in an ordered societyTo worship God
These could be discovered by reason
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Why on earth would people want to do this?
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– Like Aristotle before him Aquinas
thought people wanted to be good and virtuous
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He even produced a list of virtues Cardinal Virtues which of course
came from Aristotle
PrudenceTemperanceFortitudeJustice
If you don’t know what these mean, then look them up!
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Plus several of his own drawn from St Paul
FaithHopeCharity
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And Natural Law?
It was all part of God’s Law
Natural Law
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ETERNAL LAW Order which is in the mind of God.
DIVINE LAW Given to people by God through the Bible and the church.
NATURAL LAW Our inborn sense of right and wrong discovered by conscience.
HUMAN LAW Rules made by human societies
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So Natural Law comes from GodIt is a law that a person could work out for
him or her self through
Natural Law can be detected by anyone
Reason
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The Church didn’t always like that but Aristotle was determined.
God’s law could be revealed through the Bible God’s law could be worked out by reason
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So correct human behaviour is directed by God?
Not quite – correct human behaviour is in accordance with God.
PERHAPS
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Supposing I do the right thing but for the wrong reason?
I think I am getting a headache
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Supposing I help an old lady across the road just so that she will give me a reward
Ha ha gotcha Good act for a bad reason
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Aquinas thought of that Your interior motive must be the same as
the exterior action
You must want to help her So you actually do help her
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With each moral act you do Good must be the intention so that evil can
be avoided
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Hang on a minute Sometimes doing the right thing can be
painful
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Like telling the kids off when they misbehave
Yes but you do that so that they will not be unruly or learn to live chaotic lives
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It’s the same when you go to the dentist He drills and fills the toothSo that you will get better oral hygiene and
avoid even worse pain
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This is what Aquinas called
Primary Precepts and
Secondary Precepts
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Secondary precepts are a bit like what the dentist actually does – the bit that hurts
Primary precepts are his ultimate goal – better oral hygiene and that is good
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Aquinas believed that humans have a fixed uniform nature and this led him to believe that there was a fixed Natural law.
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Natural Law is based on the action alone and takes no account of the consequences.