Natural Law Theory

​Natural Law Theory

By Elizabeth Rauscher

Open Ended

How do you decide what is right and what is wrong? Where do you get your morals from? How do you know that something is right and something is wrong?

Earlier, we reviewed Divine Command Theory, or the theory that moral decisions come from God, or a higher power.

But this belief created a dilemma.

Is what is right what God commands, or does God command what is right?

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​Divine Command Theory

• Thomas Aquinas was an Italian Christian monk and philosophical superstar of the 13th century

• He believed morality was important for everyone, not just Christians

• His big question: How can people follow God's moral rules if they don't know about God?

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​Introducing Thomas Aquinas

• Aquinas theorized that God made us "pre-loaded" with tools to know what's good

• This became known as Natural Law Theory

• Key idea: We don't need the Bible or religious education to understand basic morality

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​Introducing Thomas Aquinas

Multiple Choice

According to Aquinas, our moral knowledge comes from

• natural law and divine revelation
• scientific reasoning and empirical evidence
• historical traditions and cultural norms
• social customs and personal beliefs

• Aquinas believed God created natural laws - predictable systems that sustain life

• God instilled all creatures with desires for things that are good for them

• Examples: Plants want sunlight and water, cats want meat, bunnies want plants

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​Natural Law Theory

Open Ended

Do you think all creatures have naturally "good" instincts? Do you think our gut instincts are always right?

• Aquinas identified seven things humans are designed to want

• These "basic goods" form the foundation of natural law

• We can use reason to understand these instinctive desires

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​The Seven Basic Goods

• All living things naturally want to sustain life and avoid danger

• We instinctively avoid swimming with sharks or other dangerous situations

• This survival instinct doesn't require conscious thought

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​Basic Good #1: Self Preservation

• The drive to create new life and continue the species

• God made reproduction feel good to ensure we do it

• This applies to all living creatures, not just humans

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​Basic Good #2: Reproduction

• Once we reproduce, we must educate our children

• Humans need school and moral lessons

• Animals teach hunting and predator avoidance

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​Basic Good #3: Education

​Knowing God: We naturally seek the divine (even atheist Sartre agreed we have a "god-shaped hole")

​​Basic Good #4

​Living in community: We're social animals who need love and acceptance

​​Basic Good #5

​Avoiding offense: We feel shame when our group turns against us

​​Basic Good #6

• We naturally want to learn and avoid ignorance

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​Basic Good #7: Seeking Knowledge

Poll

Which one of these Basic Goods do you think is the most necessary for survival?

• Self-Preservation

• Education

• Knowing God

• Community

• Seeking Knowledge

Open Ended

Explain your answer from the previous question. Which of the following basic goods do you think is the most necessary for our survival?

Self Preservation, Education, Knowledge of God, Community, or Knowledge Seeking?

Explain your answer.

• Our instincts show us the basic goods

• Reason helps us derive natural laws from these goods

• Example: I value my life → Others have valuable lives → Killing violates natural law

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​Natural Law Theory

• If we're built to seek good, why do people violate natural law constantly?

• Aquinas had two explanations: ignorance and emotion

• Sometimes we think we're doing good but we're wrong (like when doctors prescribed cigarettes)

• Sometimes emotion overpowers our reason

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​Problems

• Philosopher David Hume argued: just because something IS a certain way doesn't mean it OUGHT to be that way

• Example: We observe survival instincts, but are they always good?

• Survival instinct might lead to immoral actions in extreme situations

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​David Hume

Open Ended

Do you think humans have natural moral instincts, or do we learn all our morals from society?

Now, answer your questions in your Hamlet Packet on Natural Law Theory