Explain the word 'Natural' in Natural Moral Law
Explain the use of the word ‘Natural’ in Natural Moral Law
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In society today, we define Nature as something that is not made by humankind but rather is instinctual. St Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) believed our telos can be discovered by using our human reason to reflect on our human nature and work out what we need to do in order to achieve our particular telos. And so Natural Moral Law is defined as the moral Law of God which has been built into us at creation by God.
Aquinas’s ideas of Natural moral Law stemmed from the ideas of Aristotle who believed that every object had a final cause and also believed that when an object’s purpose is fulfilled, it achieves supreme good which leads to eudemonia and is translated as eternal happiness. An example could be a chair. Its purpose is to be a chair and when it achieves this, it leaves a lasting impact of happiness on its host, but if it were to break, it would therefore cause unhappiness and possible pain. Aquinas saw that this theory of a final cause could apply to humans and so our knowledge of reason, given to us by God when we were created can be used in order to identify whether our actions are morally right or wrong. This idea can be divided into two kinds of ‘good’; Apparent good and Real good.
In this teleological idea, Aquinas thought humans can unknowingly do what is wrong by making a bad decision in practice, in order to better themselves and to help them decide what is really right. Apparent Good is what we believed is right but has a different outcome to what we expected and Real Good is the right moral action that agrees with the human ideal of what is intrinsically good. Aristotle said in Nichomachean Ethics: “Reason is the true self of everyman” which shows that reason is put is a part of human nature and helps us to decide our telos and why God that created us. In light of this quote it shows that reason is an intrinsic aspect of humans in order to work out our true self. When we act in our
(25)
In society today, we define Nature as something that is not made by humankind but rather is instinctual. St Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) believed our telos can be discovered by using our human reason to reflect on our human nature and work out what we need to do in order to achieve our particular telos. And so Natural Moral Law is defined as the moral Law of God which has been built into us at creation by God.
Aquinas’s ideas of Natural moral Law stemmed from the ideas of Aristotle who believed that every object had a final cause and also believed that when an object’s purpose is fulfilled, it achieves supreme good which leads to eudemonia and is translated as eternal happiness. An example could be a chair. Its purpose is to be a chair and when it achieves this, it leaves a lasting impact of happiness on its host, but if it were to break, it would therefore cause unhappiness and possible pain. Aquinas saw that this theory of a final cause could apply to humans and so our knowledge of reason, given to us by God when we were created can be used in order to identify whether our actions are morally right or wrong. This idea can be divided into two kinds of ‘good’; Apparent good and Real good.
In this teleological idea, Aquinas thought humans can unknowingly do what is wrong by making a bad decision in practice, in order to better themselves and to help them decide what is really right. Apparent Good is what we believed is right but has a different outcome to what we expected and Real Good is the right moral action that agrees with the human ideal of what is intrinsically good. Aristotle said in Nichomachean Ethics: “Reason is the true self of everyman” which shows that reason is put is a part of human nature and helps us to decide our telos and why God that created us. In light of this quote it shows that reason is an intrinsic aspect of humans in order to work out our true self. When we act in our