Ethics

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EthicsThe Basicsby John Mizzoni

• CHAPTER THREE
• NATURAL LAW ETHICS

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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?

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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?

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• These four conditions must be met in applying the
  Principle of Double Effect
• If the good effect rather than the evil effect
  is intended
• If the evil effect is outweighed by the resultant
  good effect
• If the nature of the act itself is not evil, and
  
• If due diligence is taken to minimize the evil
  effect
• SO, WHAT IS NATURAL LAW ETHICS?

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• Natural Law Ethics is a tradition
• Developed in the Middle Ages
• Derived from Aristotles ethics
• NLE associates what is good with what is
  natural, or from nature
• WHO DEVELOPED NATURAL LAW ETHICS?

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• Natural Law Ethics is associated with
• Saint Thomas Aquinas
• Aquinas was a Dominican friar
• and scholar, who saw
• connections between Aristotles
• ideas, the beliefs of the Catholic 1225-1274
  CE
• Church, and life in this world .
• WHAT IS THE NATURAL LAW?

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• According to Aquinas, there are four kinds of
  law
• Eternal Law
• Natural (Moral) Law
• Divine (Biblical) Law
• Human (Civil) Law

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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 Platos thought. They
  ignored Aristotle.

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• For these Muslim, Jewish, and Christian
  theologians, including Aquinas, God is the
  Designer and Planner and Lawgiver.
• The Logos, The Word in Johns Gospel, is pure
  Reason.

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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 societys
  customs, but through human reason.

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• We need only to look at natural human
  inclinationshuman natureto understand what the
  natural law is and what it requires us to do.
• WHAT ARE FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN GOODS?

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• Aquinas Four Categories of Goods
• Life
• Procreation
• Sociability
• Knowledge
• ARENT THESE NATURAL INCLINATIONS?

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• The Golden Rule
• Do unto others as you would have them do unto
  you (Matt 712 Cf. Luke 631)
• 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• The Pauline Principle
• It is not morally permissible to do evil so that
  good may follow. (Cf. Rom 38)
• (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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• Advantages of Natural Law Ethics
• 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• 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
  mothers life by causing an abortion

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• NLE and the Origins of Ethics
• Ethical standards have their ultimate origin in
  Gods 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• 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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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• 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 Gods will)

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• NLE and History
• CAN YOU THINK OF EXAMPLES FROM HISTORY IN WHICH
  NATURAL LAW ETHICS WAS APPLIED?

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EthicsThe BasicsNATURAL LAW ETHICS

• NLE and Popular Culture
• CAN YOU THINK OF EXAMPLES FROM POPULAR CULTURE IN
  WHICH NATURAL LAW ETHICS IS MENTIONED?