Main Tenets Of Natural Law Essay
Charlie Wass 7598
What are the main tenets of Natural Law? Do the strengths outweigh the weaknesses? (25)
Natural law is the belief that man desires happiness, however for the philosopher Thomas Aquinas, he believes this mean fulfilling our purpose as humans. Natural law was an ethic rooted in the philosophy of Aristotle, in the 4th century. He came up with the idea that everything in life serves a purpose and therefore distinguished efficient causes from final causes. The efficient cause is what gets things done. For example, the food a child eats to grow, is the efficient cause of its growth. The final cause is the end product, this could be seen as the adult who is looking after a child and the one nurturing it, is the final cause. There is also a formal cause which is the idea before something is created, for example an architect before a building is created. Aquinas came up with 5 primary precepts which were, to live, to learn to …show more content…
The majority of people who strong religious believers in God, who believed in him through fear of not reaching heaven, if they did not worship him. There are many gaps in his writing such as committing to the belief that moral law comes from God, where nowadays it can be proven that moral law is a belief which has been made from mankind. Also, Aquinas writes that every human should reproduce, and if they do not they are not fulfilling their purpose as human being, this is seen as unfair in modern times as there are plenty of reasons on why humans cannot reproduce, such as being infertile or because of their sexuality. However, it should be considered that some strengths of natural law are reasonable, such as the equality idea, however it should be argued that it is unrealistic as in the selfish world we live in there will never be full
What are the main tenets of Natural Law? Do the strengths outweigh the weaknesses? (25)
Natural law is the belief that man desires happiness, however for the philosopher Thomas Aquinas, he believes this mean fulfilling our purpose as humans. Natural law was an ethic rooted in the philosophy of Aristotle, in the 4th century. He came up with the idea that everything in life serves a purpose and therefore distinguished efficient causes from final causes. The efficient cause is what gets things done. For example, the food a child eats to grow, is the efficient cause of its growth. The final cause is the end product, this could be seen as the adult who is looking after a child and the one nurturing it, is the final cause. There is also a formal cause which is the idea before something is created, for example an architect before a building is created. Aquinas came up with 5 primary precepts which were, to live, to learn to …show more content…
The majority of people who strong religious believers in God, who believed in him through fear of not reaching heaven, if they did not worship him. There are many gaps in his writing such as committing to the belief that moral law comes from God, where nowadays it can be proven that moral law is a belief which has been made from mankind. Also, Aquinas writes that every human should reproduce, and if they do not they are not fulfilling their purpose as human being, this is seen as unfair in modern times as there are plenty of reasons on why humans cannot reproduce, such as being infertile or because of their sexuality. However, it should be considered that some strengths of natural law are reasonable, such as the equality idea, however it should be argued that it is unrealistic as in the selfish world we live in there will never be full