Name: Melvin S.

Dejito Course and Year: BTLED-HE 1B

My understanding about the Natural Law Ethics

What is Natural Law Ethics?

- Natural Law Ethics is a popular name attributed to the model of Ethics
developed by Saint Thomas Aquinas during the Medieval Period, because
it is developed by St. Thomas Aquinas, Natural Law ethics is also called
"Thomistic Ethics " the basic idea in Natural Law Ethics is that "Reason" is
the source of the moral law and it directs us towards the "Good", According
to Aquinas, the good is the ultimate goal of the person's actions and for
Aquinas the good is discoverable within the person's nature this explains
why the basic goal of natural law ethics is "TO DO GOOD AND AVOID
EVIL"

Now how do we know if a person is acting rightly or wrongly?

: Well, according to Acquinas an act is morally right if it is done in
accordance with the moral law.

What is the Moral Law?

: As already mentioned, "Reason" is the source of moral law; hence the
moral law is the dictate of reason.

But for Aquinas, the moral law comes from God's Eternal Law indeed for
Aquinas the moral law is the "DIVINE LAW" expressed in human nature
which reads "DO GOOD AND AVOID EVIL".

And so if the moral law is doing good and avoiding evil, then
How do we know that one Is acting in accordance with the good?
: Again according to Aquinas, the "GOOD" is that which is suitable to
human nature or that which is proper to human nature and for Aquinas we
know that an action is good that is suitable to human nature if it is done in
accordance with CONSCIENCE.
Aquinas understands conscience as the inner voice of the intellect or
reason which calls the human person to follow the moral law that is to do
GOOD and avoid EVIL, as we can see in natural law ethics
"CONSCIENCE" serves as the guide in making moral decisions,

Now, how do we know that one's action obeys conscience?

: According to Aquinas an action obeys conscience if it satisfies the
three-fold natural inclination of the human person, namely;

THREE-FOLD NATURAL INCLINATION OF THE HUMAN PERSON

1. Self-preservation - self-preservation for Aquinas is a natural inclination

that urges the human person to take care of one's health or not to kill or put
oneself in danger.
This explains why for Aquinas suicide is best absolutely wrong.

2. Just dealing with others - This urges us to treat others with the same
respect that we accord ourselves.
Thus for Aquinas all forms of humanity such as exploitation, seduction,
deception, manipulation, cheating, kidnapping, murder, and intimidation are
absolutely wrong too

3. Propagation with human species - Acquinas believes that the

reproductive organ is by nature designed to reproduce and propagate
human species.
Any act of intervention therefore that frustrates the very purpose of the
reproductive organ is unnatural hence immoral.
This explains why even masturbation is immoral in natural law ethics.

It must be noted that for Aquinas in at least one of these three natural
inclinations of a human person is violated then an act does not obey
conscience; it is therefore IMMORAL.
needless to say for an action to be considered moral in natural law ethics, it
must be done in accordance with conscience, it must be done in
accordance with the moral law that is "doing good and avoiding evil"

THREE DETERMINED MORALITY OF A HUMAN ACT

In addition to the three-fold natural inclinations of a human person, Aquinas
introduced three that that determined the morality of a human act namely;

1. Object of the human act - The object to the act refers, that which the
WILL INTENDS primarily and directly. It may either be a thing or an action.
Take for example the physician's act of removing a tumor as you can see
the direct object of an act is to remove a tumor. Note that the circumstance
and the end are also intended here but not directly.

2. Circumstance - Circumstance refers to the CONDITIONS which affects

the morality of an action. It is important to note that the circumstance may
aggravate or mitigate the morality of a human act.

Aquinas classified circumstance into:

1. Quality of the person (WHO) - it is bad to rape a woman, but it is worse

to rape a daughter.
2. Quality/Quantity of the moral object (WHAT) - the act of a taxi driver
who returns a wallet containing a couple of thousand dollars is good in itself
but that of one who takes the initiative of returning fifty thousand dollars left
by a tourist is even better.
3. Circumstance of place (WHERE) - smoking in public may not be good
but it is worse if one smokes inside a church.
4. Circumstance of means (BY WHAT MEANS) - to pray for a sick person
is good in itself but to give money for medicine or medication is better.
5. Circumstance of end (WHY) - helping an orphan kid finish schooling is
good but doing it with the intention of employing him/her later is better.
6. Manner in which the action is done (HOW) - killing might generally be
conceived as evil but in the case of a just aggression it might be morally
right to kill the aggressor.
7. Time element (WHEN) - it might not be a good idea to smoke inside the
church but it is worse to do it while the mass is going on.

3. END - the end of the act refers to the purpose of the doer or the agent of
the human act itself. According to Aquinas it can be taken as a
circumstance because the end is an integral part of every moral act. For
example, Marrying a person one is engaged to is good in itself, but doing
so while motivated by the selfish and obsey taking a big share with
inheritance makes the whole action morally wrong.

It must be noted that for Aquinas all the three determinants of a human act
must be all GOOD for an act to be considered good or morally right.

Sometimes, a human act may produce two conflicting results that is one is
GOOD and the other is EVIL, to adjust this dilemma, Aquinas formulated
the Four Principles of Double Effect namely;

1. The action intended must be good in itself, or at least morally indifferent,

otherwise, the act is evil at the very outset;
2. The good effect must follow the action at least as immediately as the evil
effect, or the good and evil effect must occur simultaneously;
3. The foreseen evil effect should not be intended or approved, but merely
permitted to occur; and
4. There must be a proportionate and sufficient reason for allowing the evil
effect to occur while performing the action.

According to Aquinas all of the Four Principles must be satisfied for an

action to be considered morally right.
Let us take for example:

• The act of removing a cancerous uterus of a pregnant woman which

necessarily implies abortion

So as we can see the act will produce two results, one GOOD and the
other is EVIL, of course the removal of the cancerous uterus of a pregnant
woman will definitely save her life which is the good result but at the same
time it will kill the fetus which is the evil result, so what is the morality of the
action if we apply Aquinas's Four Principles of Double Effect?
Please note that the act is simply to remove the cancerous uterus so
obviously
Principle # 1: The intention is removing the cancerous uterus is good in
itself we may even view it as morally indifferent,
Principle # 2: The good effect that is the recovery of a pregnant woman
follows the action immediately and even if the fetus does after the removal
of the cancerous uterus at least this evil effect occurs simultaneously with a
good effect.
Principle # 3: Abortion, that is the death of the fetus was not intended, it
was just allowed to happen as we can see the main intention of removing a
cancerous uterus of a pregnant woman is to save her life even the death of
the fetus was foreseen. According to Aquinas it was just allowed to occur
Principle # 4: There is indeed a sufficient reason for allowing the evil effect
that is abortion or the killing of a fetus to happen, needless to say if we
don't remove the cancerous uterus then we lose both the lives of the
woman and the fetus, that if we remove the cancerous uterus, at least as
Aquinas would have as believed we saved one life.
As we can see the removal of a cancerous uterus of a pregnant woman
which implies abortion is morally right.
• Killing a Drug Lord

As this well known illegal drugs have been destroying many lives both
young and old and so killing a drug lord will produce a good result, however
the act produces a evil result too that is murder. So what is the morality of
the act of killing the drug lord from the vintage point of Aquinas's Four
Principles of Double Effect?
A utilitarian may argue that the act of killing a drug lord is good as it may
produce more benefits that is greatest happiness to the greatest number of
people concerned, however Aquinas, the act of killing a drug lord is
intrinsically immoral because as we can see it does not satisfy the fist
principle of four principles of double effect.
The first principle days that: the act must be good in itself or atleast morally
indifferent, but the act of killing the drug lord is evil in itself hence even of
this act produces more benefits to many people concerned for Aquinas it is
absolutely immoral this explains why the Roman Catholics would hear to
Aquinas's Natural Law Ethics strongly oppose extrajudicial killing in general
and killing a drug lord in particular and so since the first principle is violated
we need not proceed and check the remaining principles because in the
first place the act is already immoral.

In conclusion, Natural Law Ethics is the act of "DOING GOOD AND

AVOIDING EVIL".