Todays Assignment:

Natural Law

EMP (15 pages)

The Tradition of Natural
Law (Lucas), pp. 195-198;
from Summa Theologica
(St. Thomas Aquinas), pp.
199-202; from The Ethics
of Natural Law (Harris),
pp. 203-209.

Objectives from reading:

Natural Law
Know difference between descriptive
(scientific ), prescriptive (natural and
divine), & human (civil, positive,
statue) laws
Comprehend Aquinas features of a
law, how natural law can be explained
in terms of moral standards and the 4
natural inclinations of human beings.
Comprehend the concept of the
common good vs. concept of
greatest good for the greatest
number.
Know & apply the Principle of
Forfeiture and the Principe of Double
Effect

Questions of the Day

Is it Right because God
commands it?
or
Does God command it
because it is Right?

Natural Rights & Natural Law

In the Declaration of
Independence, Thomas Jefferson
(following the English philosopher,
John Locke) makes reference to
self-evident truths, among which
are certain inalienable rights

Martin Luther King makes reference

explicitly to natural law (as well as
the U. S. Constitution) to argue that
racist laws are inherently unjust

What
What is
is this
this natural
natural law?
law?

Natural Law
Two important things about natural law theory:
(1) Natural laws are prescriptive; they tell us
how we ought to behave.
In this sense, they are unlike physical
laws aka laws of nature (e.g., gravitation),
which tell us how things do in fact behave
and are, therefore, descriptive.
Unlike rocks, we are always at liberty to
disobey the natural laws that pertain to
us. This is how we sin.

Natural Law
(2) Natural laws are absolute, because the
goods in which they are grounded are
incommensurable
- that is, there is no common metric that
would allow us to compare them.

Hence, there can be no trade-offs

between, say, protecting life and seeking
knowledge; or, more importantly, between
protecting this life rather than that life.

Natural Law
Encompasses tradition of moral and legal philosophy
reaching back to Aristotle & Roman Stoics (Cicero)
There is a secular and a theological version
(the latter connect nicely to the notion of divine command
theory; cf. St Paul)

Neither focuses upon civil law (what we normally

mean by law);
instead, these traditions use Law in the same sense as
Kant the moral law

Sources of
Natural Law Tradition
Suppose we took the worlds current
major legal systems and threw out any
provisions that were unique to one or
only some.
Would there be anything left?

Political Problem of the Roman Empire:

How do we govern a multinational,
multicultural, pluralistic commonwealth
encompassing many nationalities, religions,
ethnicities, and legal systems?
What laws shall we uniformly enforce upon
ALL subjects (regardless of race, color, or
religious creed)?

Transition from Secular to Sacred

Solution: Common legal core, the Roman code
But of this code, Cicero writes:
True law is right reason in agreement with nature;

it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it

summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing
by its prohibitions. . .
We cannot be freed from its obligations by Senate or People, and we
need not look outside ourselves for an expounder or interpreter of it . . .

Cicero(106 BC-43 BC)

There will not be different laws at Rome and at Athens, or different

laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will
be valid for all nations and all times,
times and there will be one master
and ruler, that is God, over us all, for he is the author of this law, its
promulgator, and its enforcing judge.
judge

Natural Law:
St Thomas Aquinas
Gods law is imprinted upon us . . . The light of natural
reason, whereby we discern what is good and what is
evil, is nothing else than an imprint on us of the divine
light

1225-1274

There are at least some moral truths, derived from God

and grounded in God, that everyone, regardless of their
religious beliefs or cultural background, must be
responsible for knowing
Distinguish this (as Romans did) from civil or positive
law, and also from divine or revealed law (the Church
has custody of this)
In
Inhis
hisSumma
SummaTheologica,
Theologica,Aquinas
Aquinasacknowledges
acknowledgesuniversal
universalmoral
moraltruths
truths

Examples of Natural Law

Golden Rule

Principle of reciprocity
Prohibition of
unjustifiable homicide
Respect for Life

Danger: mistaking ones own cultural

or religious habits (or even
prejudices) for universal natural law

Everyone, everywhere
seems to have some
versions of these
e.g., Which of the 10 Commandments
would you challenge as not being a
Natural Law?

Relation of Natural Law to

Other Kinds of Law
Descriptive laws of nature by contrast
summarize known physical conditions or
constraints that apply in fact w/o exception
i.e., cannot be disobeyed
e.g., Law of Gravity

Civil or Positive Law:

speed limits, tax laws, torts and contracts, property
Can be added to, but cannot contravene natural law
(cf. Martin Luther King)

Definitions
Eternal Law
The law of Gods regulative reason

Divine Law
The Law that man receives by special revelation
from God

Natural Law
That part of Gods Law that is incorporated into
human nature

Human Law
Law devised by man for specific purposes

Divine, Natural and Civil Law

Eternal Law (Divine+ Natural)
Divine or
Revealed Law
(From Deity)

Natural Law
(from Reason)

Law of
Nature
(Descriptive)

Human Laws
Civil Laws

Impact/Influence of
Natural Law Tradition
International Law (Grotius, Pufendorf)
Constitution & U. S. Declaration of
Independence (Jefferson)
JUST WAR THEORY (jus ad bellum
AND jus in bello law of war)
Kant and the Categorical Imperative
Gandhi, King, and notion of principled
civil disobedience

Natural Inclinations
Self-preservation
Natural inclination to live

Procreation
Natural inclination to reproduce

Knowledge
Natural inclination to learn

Sociability
Natural inclination to love and seek affection

Two Important Principles of

Natural Law (Casuistry in Harriss essay)
1. The Principle of Forfeiture
and

2. The Principle of Double Effect

Questions on Natural Law?

Reading for Next Class

Applying the Doctrine of Double Effect

EMP (7 pages)
Natural Law and the
Principle of Double Effect:
Six Hypothetical Cases
(Lucas), pp. 211-217.

CSME (6 pages)
Incident at Shkin (Schoultz),
pp. 7-11; Terror and
Retaliation-Who is Right?
(Rubel), p. 57.

Objectives from
reading:
Natural Law
Comprehend the concept of
the common good vs
concept of greatest good
for the greatest number.
Know & apply the Principle
of Forfeiture and the
Principe of Double Effect

POINT PAPERS are due at

the beginning of next class!!!