TELEOLOGICAL

SCHOOL OF
THOUGHT

2/10/17 Prepared by:

ALABA, MICHELLE
BENITEZ, WINNIE
DALISAY, ARMAN
ESCALANTE, JR. LEO
LAURENTE, KATHLEEN KAYE
MERCADO, REGINA
SALCEDO, JULEI
TESORERO, AMY ELVINIA
 Teleological School of Thought

Teleological School of Thought

THE CONCEPT

Teleological is from the greek words “telos” end and “logos” study.

This school of thought thinks of the nature of the law in terms of the moral and rational
nature of humankind. It understands the law as strictly connected with morality and naturality.
Under this school of thought the law is ordained for the achievement of righteousness, justice,
fairness, and equity in the legal order.

The fundamental point of view presupposes that a good legal order can be deduced
from the natural law, thus making the law universally valid for all peoples.

The teleological concept of law is based on the natural law philosophy. For the
teleologists, natural law has a great role in shaping the concept of law than any other idea.
This is based on their view that there is a very present bond or relationship existing between
positive law and natural law. In other words, it is upon the precepts of the natural law that the
completeness of the legal order can be achieved.

NATURAL LAW

Natural Law, as defined by Plato and Aristotle, “is a discipline to which human conduct
and relations must conform in order to realize both the individual and the common good.”

It is also defined as “the universal discipline of virtue in the exercise of their rights, in the
performance of their obligations, in the observance of rules, and the preservation of order and
unity.”

ANCIENT ETHICS AND MODERN MORALITY

Human understanding of the law, and the concept of ethics and morality vary thought
out the time. The weakness of one concept paves the way to the birth of another concept.
Proper understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of one concept over the can be used
to overcome current ethical problems and to initiate fruitful developments in ethical reasoning
and decision-making.

The teleological school of thought was developed and refined through out the course of
time. The first one to deal on the study of the nature of law are the Greeks. The Greek concept
of the study of the nature of law is greatly shaped by 3 Greek philosophers: Plato, Socrates
and Aristotle.

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THE GREEK CONCEPT

The philosophers of ancient Greece felt the need for an unassailable starting point in
the study of the nature of law. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle believed that good faith in dealing
with one another is the condition of life in society.

 Socrates’ Absolute Justice

 Platos’ Rational Justice
 Aristotles Particular Justice

Socrates' Absolute Justice

He has two considerations, which he inculcated in the

minds of his students. The first is no person is intentionally
bad or evil because of the knowledge of justice. The second
consideration that he emphasized is that only the temperate
person knows himself or herself and, thus, able to bring his
other emotions under control. He emphasized this two
considerations exhibit the moral nature and good faith of a
person, guiding him or her even over the written statutes of
the state.

For the first consideration Socrates believe that the failure to do what is just and avoid what
is unjust is really due to morbid physiological appetites, mistakes, or even bad company. He
drew a distinction between absolute knowledge of justice (episteme) and mere opinion of
justice (doxa).

For the second consideration, Socrates explained that in relation to the gods a
temperate person will do what is virtuous and just, in relation to rights and obligations a
temperate person will do what ought and avoid what ought not, and in relation to other persons
a temperate person will act properly, patiently enduring when necessary.

Plato's Rational Justice

Plato taught his students that there is a hierarchy

of reality and drew a sharp line between ideal reality and
physical reality. He explained that apart from objects and
entities that are observable to the physical senses there
exists another timeless dimension of reality. He gave the
name “ideas” to this other entities, which have reality and
distinctiveness in the mind or intellect. He assailed that
the physical reality is only a representation of the ideas
by virtue of their relationship to them.

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For Plato, human beings are capable of discerning justice from injustice. And, for him,
rational justice is sufficient to enable a person to attain his or her moral nature and good faith,
and to keep his or her self-respect by doing good and shunning evil.

In his de Republica, he posited justice as the central theme of his concept of the law.
Rational justice dictates that every individual in the state should attend to his or her own
business in a certain way. The individual has to keep his or her own role or position in order to
preserve social peace and harmony and prevent disturbance.

Aristotle's Particular Justice

For Aristotle, the concept of justice is nothing more that the

virtue of “epiekeia”, justice which grows out of the sense of
fair equality. He said that justice is sound and sensible when,
in light of events and circumstances, it is fair and equal. That
a person cannot be unfairly or unequally treated even with his
or her consent because consent cannot justify an unfair or
unequal treatment. Thus, for Aristotle, the hallmark of a
person's moral nature and good faith is fair equality. D. Law
as the Product of reason Related to Justice and Equity. To the Greek philosophers, a thing is
realized in its true nature when it is fully developed. In the case of human beings' true nature ,
they do not only have nutritive soul (primitive state) but also a rational soul (fulfilled reality).
Thus man is a rational and free willing being. In the case of law, its fulfilled reality is found in
the realization of the precepts of the natural law in the legal order.

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THE ROMAN CONCEPT

The Roman jurisprudents subjected the nature of the law to technical analysis and
endorsed it with their practical genius for colonization. Roman jurisprudence subjected it to
technical analysis and endorsed it with their authority and practical genius, unlike the Greek’s
concept of nature of law, which was only a philosophical speculation. Conception of justice
began to have a definite legal content.

Overview of Roman Law

 753 BC – Roman law evolves from traditional founding of Rome until the fall of the
Eastern Roman Empire (AD 1453)

 Rome was first ruled by Kings

 Papirius (pontifix) – a priest compiled set of laws concerning customary and religious
norms.

 509-27 BC – Roman Republic was initially threatened by conflict between patrician and
plebian orders.

 451-450 BC – Twelve Tables was created by officials called decemviri resolved in part
the conflict.

 Republican constitution had three elements: the magistrates, the senate and the
assemblies.

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Magistrates

 Magistrates – consuls which has powers of declaring war, introducing or executing

decrees.

 Praetors – whom held coercive power which entitled judicial capacity

 Aediles - maintenance of public order

 Quaestors – financial concerns

 Censors – census and supervision of morals

Senate

Senate is literally known as “council of elders” that controls public finance, investigates
public crimes such as treason, conspiracy and assassinations and in charge of
embassies of foreign countries.

Assemblies

Assemblies are the sole constitutional authority over the imposition of honors and
punishment; its power is limited because it could not initiate legislation. It could only
approve and reject a measure placed by magistrate, which had been discussed and
approved by senate.

Centuriate is the most powerful assembly organized into classes based on wealth as
index to military capacity which elected magistrates such as the consuls with supreme
power and had the right to declare war or ratify treaties.

Tribal Assembly is the elected lower magistrates and adjudicated some non-capital
cases while the Plebian Assembly is formed by plebians to resolve their conflicts

Cicero

Cicero learned his law from Quintus Muscius Scaevola II who was a sincere adherent of
the Stoic school of philosophy. He brought the Greek concept of the nature of the law into
contact with the Roman legal system at a time when there was a need for some means of
controlling an empire already extending around and beyond the Mediterranean Bassin. He said
that the law must be based on the principle of utility or the interest of the ruler and not for the
interest of the governed because human king is governed naturally by utility. He introduced
compulsion as an element of law. Thus law cannot be an effective means of control on the
basis of rationality alone but must also be able to compel obedience.

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Gaius Gracchus (121 BC)

In his Institutes, Gaius advanced the view that the rules established by the citizens to
govern themselves fall under the jus civile, while the rules common to all other persons based
on the natural law are classified under the jus natural. This view is evident in his work,
the Institutes. For him, those that are in derogation of the precepts of the natural law are not
laws at all. If such laws exist it is because the sanctions attached to them, not because they
are laws. They do not contribute to the maintenance and preservation of lawness. On the
contrary, they are conducive to lawlessness.

In identifying this aberration in the legal order, Gaius advocated for a continuing process
of removing such unnatural laws. His idea was that law must be reexamined by the lawmaking
body everyone in a while. This process would, then, provide the means for legal cleansing
whereby any abnormality or irregularity in the legal order could be adjusted to comply with the
end and purpose of the law.

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THE AQUINIAN CONCEPT

Aquanian concept of natural law is base on the notion of eternal law promulgated by a
creator (God). Thomas Aquinas begins his explanation of natural law by defining the law in its
generality. Law for Aquinas is a dictate of reason from the ruler for the community he rules.

Based on that definition of law Aquinas believed that rulers rule for the sake of the
governed, for the good and well being of those subject to the ruler. Since God rules the world
with his reason, therefore, his reason is the eternal law. The eternal law is ordained for the
universal good. Based on the tenet that creator knows His creation very well and He knows
what is good for them.

God imprinted this eternal law to the nature or essence of man. Man acts according to
nature. God also endowed man with free will and reason. The concept of proper acts and
purpose of man is derived from the law that is written into his nature. Man must exercise his
natural reason to discover what is best for him in order to achieve the end to which their nature
inclines.

Man through his reason and free will participate in the eternal law of God. He uses his
knowledge of the eternal law and his purpose based on that laws to discern what is good and
evil. To do what is good and refrain what is evil.

Four Types of Law

Aquinas introduced the Four Types of Law, which includes:

ETERNAL: Direct Word of God, governs all creation

NATURAL: human adherence to eternal law, discovered by reason
DIVINE: the law as defined in the Scriptures
POSITIVE: made by man/ government and it relies on the government for its power.

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Moreover, Aquinas emphasized the four cardinal virtues essential in man, which
includes: Prudence, Temperance, Justice and Fortitude.

Reason

Aquinas retained the basic belief while studying reason. He believed that humans could-
through reason alone- know much of the natural order, moral law, and the nature of God.

He posited the idea that universal good can be achieved through the combination of the
rational soul and human will of every person. With this, Aquinas used Sophia, the human
reason to arrive to such end because he believed that right reason is the institution of human
to do good and promote good and avoid evil which he believed where the precept of natural
law is based on.

However, human reason cannot access the divine law, only its precepts. Thus, human
reason influenced by physiological sensations, resulted to varied human ideas on what is right
and just which thereof lead to humans non-discovery of universal good and tends to separate
positive law from the precepts of natural law.

Human law has the nature of law when it partakes right reason, when it deviates from
that, it is no longer law at all for it is the governing rule of human conduct.

Law is an expression of righteousness which does not proceed from mere impulse or
just anybody in the society but it is willed by the source in the society as a whole which is
concerned with the common good.

Summa Theologica: Most well-known and best work of Aquinas

The Summa Theologica authored by Aquinas was his most well-known and best work. It
was intended as a sort of introduction to theology and the main theological points of Church
Doctrine.

It has three parts:

Part 1: God’s existence, the creation of the world, angels, and the nature of man
Part 2: Morality (general and specific)
Part 3: Christ, the Sacraments, and the end of the world

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THE KANTIAN CONCEPT

CONCEPT:

Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804) was a German philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment.
He is regarded as one of the most important thinkers of modern Europe, and his influence on
Western thought is immeasurable.

Immanuel Kant is famous for his Kantian Duty Ethics. For Immanuel Kant the morally
important things are not a consequence but the choices made by man. Kant says that only one
thing is inherently good that is good will. The will is good when it acts out of duty, not out of
inclination. Rightness is measured by doing your duty, acting with respect for the moral law, not
just accomplishing things simply because it makes you feel good or because you will gain
something from it. Man for Kant is not simply a means to an end but an end in themselves.

Knowing what the moral law is, is very important for one to be able to act out of duty. According
to Kant man will be able to know the moral law if he uses the so called categorical imperative.
Categorical Imperative is a rule for testing the morality and universality of a rule. It has two
steps. First, you have to consider the maxim or principle on which you are acting before you
act. Then you have to generalize that principle. If, once generalized, it no longer makes any
sense because it contradicts itself, then it is wrong to use that maxim as a basis for action. If
the generalized version makes sense, then ask whether you would choose to live in a world
where it was followed by everyone. It is right to perform such action.

3 MAIN WORKS OF KANT ON MORAL PHILOSOPHY

1. ”Critique of Pure Reason”

2. "Critique of Practical Reason”
3. ”Critique of the Faculty of Judgment

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Concept of Law and Right

According to Kant, the concept of law and right is something derived exclusively from
pure reason. Precepts of the natural law are not prompted by sense-experience but by the
ethical attitude to do what is right and avoid what is wrong with the use of the unique faculties
of human consciousness, namely: thinking, volition and judgment.

Based on the categorical imperative, for an action to be permissible, it must be possible

to apply it to all people without a contradiction occurring.

When you already found out an action that is proper to act on the concept of perfect and
imperfect duties arises. The perfect duty always holds true in every race, every time, every
place. Imperfect duty are those that are good but can be made flexible and applied in particular
time and place.

Critique of Pure Reason

Kant started with the traditional distinction between "truths of reason” and "truths of
fact”. He added to this two other concepts: a priori knowledge (Rationalism) and a posteriori
knowledge (Empiricism). Kant maintained that the two can be combined

Law and right as such "are the sum total of those conditions by which the free moral will
of one person can be reconciled with the free moral will of another person according to a
universal law of moral freedom."

Concept of Law and Moral

Law and morals have certain duties in common, but not the manner in which these
duties are compelling. “Legality" and "morality" have to be distinguished.

Moral duties turns all legal duties into moral duties, or to be more exact, into “indirect
ethical duties."

THEORY OF CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE

Immanuel Kant introduced modern deontological ethics in the late 18th Century, with his
theory of the Categorical Imperative.

The concept of this theory elaborates on the capacity that underlies deciding what is
moral is called pure practical reason, which is contrasted with pure reason (the capacity to
know without having been shown) and mere practical reason (which allows us to interact with
the world in experience).

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Kant formulated it in three different ways:

 Act only in such a way that you would want your actions to become a universal law,
applicable to everyone in a similar situation.

 Act in such a way that you always treat humanity (whether oneself or other), as both the
means of an action, but also as an end.

 Act as though you were a law-making member (and also the king) of a hypothetical
"kingdom of ends", and therefore only in such a way that would harmonize with such a
kingdom if those laws were binding on all others.

1. Act only in such a way that you would want your actions to become a universal law,
applicable to everyone in a similar situation.

Kant started by observing that it is an observable empirical fact that people have moral
and ethical views and, for them to have any meaning at all, people must have some element of
free will.

Kant focuses on the rightness or wrongness of the actions themselves, as opposed to

the rightness or wrongness of the consequences of those actions or the character of the actor,
and holds that ethical rules bind people to an ethical duty.

2. Act in such a way that you always treat humanity (whether oneself or other), as both
the means of an action, but also as an end.

Hypothetical imperatives apply to someone who wishes to attain certain ends. For
example:

If I wish to quench my thirst, I must drink something.

If I wish to pass this exam, I must study.

A categorical imperative, on the other hand, denotes an absolute, unconditional

requirement that must be obeyed in all circumstances and is justified as an end in itself. It is
best known in its first formulation: Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the
same time, will that it should become a universal law.

A categorical imperative would denote an absolute, unconditional requirement that

exerts its authority in all circumstances, both required and justified as an end in itself.

He considered it an unconditional obligation, regardless of our will or desires, and

regardless of any consequences which might arise from the action.

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Illustration:

The justifications for punishment typically take five forms, such as retributive,
deterrence, preventive; rehabilitative, and restitutionary.

According to the deterrence justification, punishment of a wrongdoer is justified by the

socially beneficial effects that it has on other persons. On this view, punishment deters
wrongdoing by persons who would otherwise commit wrongful acts. The problem with the
deterrence theory is that it justifies punishment of one person on the strength of the effects that
it has on other persons.

It can never be right to manipulate, abuse or lie to individuals, even in the interests of
others or even the perceived greater good.

He asserted that each person is his own moral agent, and we should only be
responsible for our own actions, not those of others.

3. Act as though you were a law-making member (and also the king) of a hypothetical
"kingdom of ends", and therefore only in such a way that would harmonize with such a
kingdom if those laws were binding on all others.

The third way requires the following steps:

TEST ONE. Before you act, consider the maxim or principle on which you are acting. If,
once generalized, it no longer makes any sense because it contradicts itself, then it is wrong to
use that maxim as a basis for action.

TEST TWO Generalize that principle (aka Reversibility). If the generalized version
makes sense, then ask whether you would choose to live in a world where it was
followed by everyone. If not, do not act on that maxim.

Illustration:

Kant's example of the Bad Samaritan (Using Tests One and Two).

The Maxim: I may refuse to help another person in distress who cannot pay me even
though I could do so at little cost to myself.

Generalized: Anyone may refuse to help another person in distress who cannot pay her
even though it would cost her little to help.

 Can it be conceived? Yes.

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 Could you will this to be a universal law? Probably not, because you might find yourself
in a situation of extreme need and nobody else would help you.

 Result: You cannot act on the "Bad Samaritan" maxim.

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Reference:

Groundwork for the Metaphysic of Morals. N.p.: Jonathan Bennett, n.d. Web. 5 Sept. 2016.
<http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/kant1785.pdf>

Bentham, Jeremy, 1789 [PML]. An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.,
retrieved at http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/bentham1780.pdf

Seagle, William (1945) "Rudolf von Jhering: Or Law as a Means to an End," University of
Chicago Law Review: Vol. 13: Iss. 1, Article 4. Available at:
http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclrev/vol13/iss1/4

http://people.wku.edu/jan.garrett/ethics/kant.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative

http://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_kant.html

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/

http://www.iep.utm.edu/law-phil/

http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3879&context=ndlr

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