Download Ethics—The Basics by John Mizzoni

Ethics—The Basics
by John Mizzoni
CHAPTER THREE:
NATURAL LAW ETHICS
Ethics—The Basics
NATURAL LAW ETHICS
The decision NOT to have a
therapeutic abortion, and NOT
to have a life-saving
hysterectomy that might
endanger the unborn child:
Saint Gianna Beretta Molla
Ethics—The Basics
NATURAL LAW ETHICS
• According to Natural Law Ethics (NLE), it
is wrong to have an abortion.
• According to NLE, based on the “Principle
of Double Effect”, it is acceptable to have
a different life-saving procedure, even if
an unborn child might die as an
unintended consequence.
WHAT IS NATURAL LAW ETHICS?
Ethics—The Basics
NATURAL LAW ETHICS
According to “The Principle of Double
Effect”, in situations where an
unintended evil effect occurs in the
course of a good action, it is morally
permissible to perform the action if
four conditions are met.
WHAT ARE THE FOUR CONDITIONS?
Ethics—The Basics
NATURAL LAW ETHICS
These four conditions must be met in applying the
Principle of Double Effect:
1. If the good effect rather than the evil effect is
intended
2. If the evil effect is outweighed by the resultant
good effect
3. If the nature of the act itself is not evil, and
4. If due diligence is taken to minimize the evil effect
SO, WHAT IS NATURAL LAW ETHICS?
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
Natural Law Ethics is a tradition
–Developed in the Middle Ages
–Derived from Aristotle’s ethics
–NLE associates what is “good” with
what is “natural”, or from nature
WHO DEVELOPED NATURAL LAW ETHICS?
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
• Natural Law Ethics is associated with
Saint Thomas Aquinas
• Aquinas was a Dominican friar
and scholar, who saw
connections between Aristotle’s
ideas, the beliefs of the Catholic 1225-1274 CE
Church, and life in this world .
WHAT IS THE “NATURAL” LAW?
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According to Aquinas, there are
four kinds of law:
–Eternal Law
–Natural (Moral) Law
–Divine (Biblical) Law
–Human (Civil) Law
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Eternal Law is the law through
which God governs the universe
• It lies beyond time and space
• It includes
– All physical laws
– All moral laws (Natural Law)
– All revealed religious laws (Divine Law)
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
Human Law, or Civil Law, includes all
the laws that are designed,
proposed, passed, and enacted by
humans
It includes, for example
– All international laws
– All federal and state laws
– All local laws (e.g., municipal and township laws)
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
Divine Law, or Biblical Law, is more
specific guidance revealed by God to
complement what we know from
natural law which is informed by our
reason and reflection.
The Ten Commandments, sometimes
called the Decalogue, is an example of
Divine Law.
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
• Aristotle did not believe in God,
but he believed that everything in
nature has a purpose.
• The world, therefore, is an orderly
rational system, with each thing
having its own proper place and
serving its own special purpose.
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
• Aristotle believed that nature has
made all things specifically for the
sake of man.
• Early Christian theologians, such as
Augustine, followed the ethics of
Divine Command Theory and may
have been influenced by Plato’s
thought. They ignored Aristotle.
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
• Muslim, Jewish, and Christian theologians
rediscovered and reformed Aristotle: The
world is created according to a divine plan.
–Affirms the supreme value of human life
–Explains why humans can use the rest of
nature
• The divine plan is a rational plan.
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• For these Muslim, Jewish, and Christian
theologians, including Aquinas, God is
the Designer and Planner and Lawgiver.
• The Logos, “The Word” in John’s
Gospel, is pure Reason.
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
• Natural law (moral law) is derived
from the natural order of things:
– Things are as they ought to be when they are
serving their natural purposes
– When they do not or cannot serve those
purposes, things have gone wrong
• Natural Law Ethics (NLE) is a form of
universalist ethics.
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
Aquinas and NLE address the problem
of relativism:
– If everyone has the same natural law written
on their hearts, why do we see diverse ethics?
– Everyone has the same moral law available to
them, but things get complicated in daily life,
and our judgment can become clouded,
especially by bad habits or misguided passions.
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
For Aquinas, there are universal moral
standards, and we come to know
these universal standards, not
through human law, not through
human feelings/emotions, not
through our society’s customs, but
through human reason.
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
• For Aquinas, although we come to
know these standards through
reason, their ultimate source is of
divine origin.
• Aquinas, like Aristotle, holds that
ethics is rooted in human nature, and
that human nature is universal.
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Both Aquinas and Aristotle hold that
when we observe human nature and
human natural inclinations, we see that
humans are naturally directed to basic
and fundamental values and goods.
These goods are naturally
apprehended by human reason, and
opposites, or evils, are to be avoided.
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
We need only to look at natural
human inclinations—human
nature—to understand what the
natural law is and what it requires us
to do.
WHAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN GOODS?
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Aquinas’ Four Categories of Goods:
–Life
–Procreation
–Sociability
–Knowledge
AREN’T THESE “NATURAL” INCLINATIONS?
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• Life: Everyone seeks to preserve life
–Instinct to protect ourselves
–Instinct to “make a living”
• Sexual activity and Reproduction:
Everyone seeks to preserve the species
–Sexuality naturally leads to
reproduction
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
Sociability: Everyone seeks to get along
with others in social networks
–Parents and children
–Siblings
–Neighbors
–Peers/friends
–Communities
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Knowledge: Everyone seeks to gain
knowledge of information
–“All men, by their nature, desire to
know” (Aristotle, Metaphysics)
–We are naturally curious
–We have a natural inclination to
knowledge and the truth
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
First Principles of Natural Law
(Self-evident Truths):
• Principle of Identity
– “Each being is what it is.”
• Principle of Non-contradiction
– “Nothing can be true and false at the same time and
in the same respect.”
• Principle of the Excluded Middle
– “A thing either is, or it is not; there is no in between.”
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
Four Natural Law Ethical Principles:
• The Golden Rule
• The Principle of Natural Law
• The Pauline Principle
• The Principle of Double Effect
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
• The Golden Rule
–“Do unto others as you would have them
do unto you” (Matt 7:12; Cf. Luke 6:31)
• The Principle of Natural Law
–“We ought to perform those actions that
promote the values specified by the
natural [rational ] inclinations of human
beings.”
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
• The Pauline Principle
– “It is not morally permissible to do evil so that
good may follow.” (Cf. Rom 3:8)
(“The end does not justify the means.”)
• The Principle of Double Effect
– “It is morally permissible to perform an action
that has two effects, one good and the other
bad, if certain conditions are met.”
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
Advantages of Natural Law Ethics
1.Offers answers to the metaphysical and
epistemological objections to moral
philosophy
–What are the facts that make moral
claims true?
–How can we know which moral claims are
true?
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Advantages of Natural Law Ethics
2. Makes moral claims objective
3. Offers a clear motivation to be moral
4. Resolves many moral conflicts
5. Unifies reason (the known) with faith
(the unknown)
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Disadvantages of Natural Law Ethics
1. NLE does not appeal to atheists and
evolutionists, since it presumes a divine
Designer of the natural world
2. NLE is theocentric and/or anthropocentric;
science supports neither of these views
3. NLE offers no proof for the rationality of
the world; perhaps the mind “imposes” it
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Disadvantages of Natural Law Ethics
4. If the world is rational and orderly, NLE
offers no evidence that it will continue to
be rational and orderly
5. NLE is absolutist, maintaining that some
actions are always wrong; this forbids any
exceptions in moral conflicts, such as
saving a mother’s life by causing an
abortion
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NATURAL LAW ETHICS
NLE and the Origins of Ethics
Ethical standards have their ultimate origin in
God’s plan for the world:
• Ethical standards originate in human nature
• God is responsible for human nature being
what it is
• Ethical standards do not originate in society
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NLE and the Problem of Relativism
Although Aquinas accepts the fact that there
is cultural diversity and disagreement in
ethics, this is not proof that no ethical
universals exist
• Ethics are grounded in the universal features of human
beings
• The standards exist as surely as God exists
• Ethical standards do not originate in society
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NLE and the Problem of Human
Nature
Human beings are rational and social
beings that are naturally striving
toward basic goods
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NLE and the Problem of Right +
Wrong
NLE uses a Natural Law framework to
answer questions about:
• How to determine the right thing to do (an action is
right when it is consistent with the Natural Law)
• How one should live a life
• What principles can be used to make moral
determinations
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NLE and Virtue Ethics
NLE incorporates Virtue Ethics
• Character is developed by following the Natural Law
• The acquisition of virtues is the normal result of
following the Natural Law
• Aquinas accepts all the virtues of Aristotle, BUT seems
to re-prioritize them, and add to them
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NLE and Virtue Ethics (continued)
However, NLE goes beyond Virtue Ethics:
• It emphasizes the analysis of moral actions
• It emphasizes the application of moral principles
• It focuses analysis on intentions (Are we intending to follow
Natural Law?)
• It adds the 3 theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity
• It places ethics and virtues in a religious framework (When we
develop virtues, we ultimately follow God’s will)
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NLE and History
CAN YOU THINK OF EXAMPLES FROM HISTORY IN
WHICH NATURAL LAW ETHICS WAS APPLIED?
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NLE and Popular Culture
CAN YOU THINK OF EXAMPLES FROM POPULAR
CULTURE IN WHICH NATURAL LAW ETHICS IS
MENTIONED?