Ebcas, Alfred Christian C.

GED 107 – A21

ME – Year 1 Assignment 4 (Jan. 14, 2019)
REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. Name a few aspects of Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics that Aquinas incorporates into his Natural Law Ethics.
 One of the aspects of Aristotle’s Virtue ethics that Aquinas incorporates into his Natural Law Ethics is the statement
when one is trying to work on developing his/her moral virtue, then that person is living in accord with the natural law.
When one is putting his/her self to receive God’s grace, that person is preparing his/her self for the theological virtues.
2. What differentiates natural law from civil law, eternal law, and divine law?
 The natural law differs from the civil law, because civil law was created by humans in order to conform the different
contents of the natural law.
 The natural law differs from the eternal law, since eternal law is a precept of the natural law, which is the knowing what
is right and what is wrong.
 The natural law differs from the divine law, since the divine law were followed with the goal for the humans following
it to achieve eternal salvation.
3. Explain how Natural Law Ethics depends on a certain view of human nature.
 Natural Law Ethics depends on a certain view of human nature, because it is usually based upon basic human instinct,
since we strive for survival. This means that we need to be productive and attain a stable life by working and earning,
which gives priority to our self-preservation.
4. Is it always obvious what natural law requires of us? What should we do when it is not obvious to us?
 Most of the time it is obvious that natural law is required for us, with these we just need to follow the four basic
fundamentals of human good, life, pro-creation, sociability and knowledge. When the natural law is not too obvious,
we just need to remember three principles. The first principle is the Golden rule which states that we need to be good to
others so that the others will do good to you and if you did something bad then they will do bad to you. The second
principle is the double effect principle which states that it is morally permissible to perform an action that has two
 effects, one good and the other bad, if certain conditions were met. The last principle is the Pauline principle which
states that the end doesn’t justify the means.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Why is stealing wrong? Illustrate how divine law ethical reasoning and natural law ethical reasoning differ in how they answer
this question. Be sure to mention the principle of natural law, natural inclinations, and distinguish between human law, divine
law, and natural law.

 Divine law ethical reasoning would tell the statement in the bible “thou shall not steal” since it is one of the ten
commandments that God gave to the world to follow. On the other hand, the natural ethical reasoning would tell it
differently, it will tell that each person has a natural inclination of sociability, therefore stealing is bad breaking their
social relationship, therefore stealing is immoral.

2. According to Aquinas’s Natural Law Ethics, which of the following actions is morally permissible? Artificial contraception,
killing in self- defense, masturbation, gay sex. Be sure to mention natural inclinations, the principle of natural law, and the
principle of double effect.
 As stated natural law ethics tells that we as a person were ought to perform pro-creation and avoid actions that could
stop our inclination towards sexual reproduction. In this case using artificial contraception, the act of masturbation, and
gay sex is not permissible, since it opposes our inclination towards sexual reproduction, but there were times that it was
not immoral. When in a situation where an attacker is threatening our life, and we decided to protect ourselves and
during that process the attacker gets killed, we have not committed an action that contradicts the natural law ethics,
since it is permissible if our intention was for the good.