PHIL

2306W
O N N AT U R A L L A W
THOMAS AQUINAS

SPRING
2013

1
NATURAL LAW THEORY

What is morally right is determined by nature.

God created the world with a universal, natural order.

We can use our capacity to reason to discover what

these moral rules are, by examining natural human
tendencies.

2
NLT ON THE MORALLY GOOD
PERSON AND MORALLY RIGHT
ACTION
The morally good person lives according to natural
tendencies.

The morally corrupt person lives contrary to natural

tendencies.

Morally right action: an action that conforms to

natural human tendencies.

3
NLT ACCORDING TO AQUINAS

Nature determines what is right.

NLT is an objective moral theory, so moral principles

are objective truths that can be discovered in the
nature of things by using reason.

We can discover Gods rules by refl ecting on human

nature.

4
NLT ACCORDING TO AQUINAS

God created the universe and laws that govern the

universe.

God built into humans natural inclinations, which

are manifestations/indications of the natural law.

We discover human inclinations by using reason.

The most important human inclination: the ability to

reason.

5
NLT ACCORDING TO AQUINAS

We discover what our natural inclinations are

through the use of reason.

Moral obligation: pursue goods we are naturally

inclined to seek and do not destroy these goods.

Reason helps us discover what these goods are.

Human life, family, knowledge, and an orderly society.

6
NLT ACCORDING TO AQUINAS

Morally right action: acts that aim at

obtaining/securing these goods.

Morally wrong action: acts that aim at destroying

these goods.

7
THE DOCTRINE OF DOUBLE EFFECT

A doctrine that comes out of natural law theory.

Purpose of DDE: to determine whether an act that

results in 2 eff ects: one good and one bad is morally
permissible.

Four conditions of the DDE that must be met in order

for the act under consideration to be morally
permissible:
1. The act in itself must be either morally good or morally
neutral.
2. The bad eff ect must not be the means to produce the good
eff ect.
3. The bad eff ect and good eff ect must be proportional to
each other. 8
4. The intention must be to produce the good eff ect. The bad
 THE DDE APPLIED TO
THERAPEUTIC ABORTION
Suppose that a woman who is 6 months pregnant is
diagnosed with cancer of the uterus. Further suppose
that the only way in which her life may be saved is if
her uterus is removed. Removing the uterus will save
the womans life, however, it will also result in the
death of the fetus. Is removal of the womans uterus
morally permissible according to the DDE?

Modeling out the example (see board)

Condition 1: application
Condition 2: application
Condition 3: application
Condition 4: application