Natural Law PDF

CHAPTER III NATURAL Law DELA CRUZ, ABBIEL R.  WHAT IS NATURAL LAW? Natural law is a system of universal moral principles inherent to human nature, discoverable by reason, and independent of man-made laws. It suggests that certain rights and wrongs are natural and apply to all people, i...

CHAPTER III NATURAL Law DELA CRUZ, ABBIEL R.  WHAT IS NATURAL LAW? Natural law is a system of universal moral principles inherent to human nature, discoverable by reason, and independent of man-made laws. It suggests that certain rights and wrongs are natural and apply to all people, influencing concepts like justice and human rights. In October 2016, newspapers reported that Pantaleon Alvarez, Speaker of the House of Representatives, was intending to draft a bill which would amend the country's Family Code, thereby allowing for the legalization of same- sex unions. This would result in the possibility of two men together or two women together being identified as a couple with rights guaranteed and protected by the law. However, as one newspaper report revealed, even before anything could be formally proposed, other fellow legislators had already expressed to the media their refusal to support any such initiative. The reasons given in the news article vary, ranging from the opinion that seeing two men kiss is unsightly, to the statement that there is something "irregular" about belonging to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community, and to the judgment that two people of the same sex being together is unnatural. We are used to hearing people justify done something by making the appeal that what they maintain is what is "natural," and therefore acceptable. Likewise, people would judge something as unacceptable on the basis that it is supposedly "unnatural." Thus, we are no longer surprised when we hear people condemn and label many different things as "unnatural": maybe receiving blood transfusions, eating meat, or, as our news report shows, engaging in sexual relations that one might consider deviant. We also realize that sometimes we might find ourselves astonished or perplexed as to what different people might consider "unnatural." WHAT IS NATURAL & UNNATURAL? In order to proceed, it is therefore necessary to ask: "What do the words natural and unnatural mean?" Sometimes, the word "natural" seems to be used to refer to some kind of intuition that a person has, one which is so apparently true to him that it is unquestioned. For example, a woman may claim that it is simply "unnatural" to eat any kind of insect, and what this means is that she personally finds herself averse to the idea of doing so. In other instances, the word is used to try to justify a certain way of behaving by seeing its likeness somewhere in the natural world. For example, a man might claim that it is okay for him to have more than one sexual partner, since, in a pride of lions, the alpha male gets to mate with all the she-lions. In yet other instances, the word "natural" is used as an appeal to something instinctual without it being directed by reason. For example, a man may deem it all right if he were to urinate just anywhere because after all he sees it as "natural" function of humans. Lastly, we also easily find people using the word "natural" to refer to what seems common to them given their particular environment. For instance, a Filipina may suppose that eating three full meals of rice and ulam every day is what is "natural" because everyone she knows behaves in that way.  Given these varied meanings of the term "natural," we need to find a more solid and nuanced way to understand the term. In this chapter, we will explore how Thomas Aquinas provides this, emphasizing the capacity for reason as what is essential in our human nature. This understanding of human nature anchored on our capacity for reason will become the basis of the natural law theory, a theory which will provide us a unique way of determining the moral status of our actions.  The fundamental truth maintained and elaborated by Aquinas in all his works is the promise right at the center of the Christian faith: That we are created by God in order to ultimately return to Him. The structure of Aquinas’ magnum opus, Summa Theologiae, follows the trajectory of this story. THOMAS AQUINAS  SUMMA THEOLOGIAE There are three parts to this voluminous work: In the first part, Aquinas speaks of God, and although we acknowledge that our limited human intellect cannot fully grasp him, we nevertheless are able to say something concerning His goodness, His might, and His creative power. Recognizing then that we are created by God, we move on to to the second part, which deals with man or the dynamic of human life. This is characterized by our pursuit of happiness, which we should realize rests ultimately not on any particular good thing that is created by God, but in the highest good which is God Himself. Our striving for this happiness, while important, will not in itself bring us to this blessed state. In other words, salvation is only possible through the presence of God’s grace, and that grace has become perfectly incarnate in the person of Jesus. Thus, the third part focuses on Jesus as our savior. Given that our concern here is the question of ethics, it would seem clear that what would be of greatest interest to us is the second section of this story that centers on human life and its striving towards God. However, bringing up the notion that living a good life leads us to God could easily be misunderstood as a simple exhortation to obey certain rules as given to us through Church doctrines or by following certain passages lifted randomly from sacred Scriptures. In other words, we may fall into the danger of the divine command theory. Instead, we should hope to find that there is much greater complexity, but also coherence, to the ethics of Aquinas.  THE CONTEXT OF AQUINAS’S ETHICS A full consideration of Aquinas’s ethics would require us to explore his discussion of other matters, such as how, in our pursuit of happiness, we direct our actions towards specific ends. We might explore: how our emotions (“the passions”) are involved in this process, and therefore require a proper order if they are to properly contribute to a good life. how our actions are related to certain dispositions (often referred to as “habits”) in a dynamic way since our actions both arise from our habits and at the same time reinforce them. his discussion of how we develop either good or bad habits, with a good disposition leading us toward making moral choices, thereby contributing to our moral virtue, and a bad disposition inclining us toward making immoral choices, bringing us to vice. The Christian life, therefore, is about developing the capacities given to us by God into a disposition of virtue inclined toward the good. Aquinas also puts forward that there is within us a conscience that directs our moral thinking. this does not refer to some simple intuition or gut feeling. For Aquinas, there is a sense of right and wrong in us that we are obliged to obey. However, he also adds that this sense of right and wrong must be informed, guided, and ultimately grounded in an objective basis for morality. So, we are called to heed the voice of conscience and enjoined to develop and maintain a life of virtue. However, these both require content, so we need something more. We need a basis for our conscience to be properly informed, and we need a clearer guidepost on whether certain decisions we make lead us toward virtue or vice. Being told that one should heed one’s conscience or that one should try to be virtuous, does very little to guide people as to what specifically should be done in a given situation. Thus, there is a need for a clearer basis of ethics, a ground that will more concretely direct our sense of what is right or wrong. For Aquinas, this would be the natural law. NATURAL the specifics LAW  IN COMMON WITH OTHER BEINGS We have to consider how we, human beings, are both unique and at the same time participating in the community of the rest of creation. Our presence in the rest of creation does not only mean that we interact with creatures that are not human, but that there is also in our nature something that shares in the nature of other beings. Aquinas thus identifies that there is in our nature, common with all other beings, a desire to preserve one’s own being.  IN COMMON WITH OTHER BEINGS For example: a makahiya leaf folds inward and protects itself when touched. a cat cowers and then tries to run away when it feels threatened. Similarly, human beings have that natural inclination to preserve their being. For this reason, Aquinas tells us that it is according to the natural law to preserve human life. We can thus say that it would be a violation of the natural law, and therefore unethical to take the life of another.  IN COMMON WITH OTHER BEINGS Murder, for instance, would be a clear example of a violation of the natural law. On a more controversial note, it seems that taking one’s own life would be unacceptable, even in the form of physician-assisted suicide. On a more positive note, we can confidently posit that acts that promote the continuation of life are to be lauded as ethical because they are in line with the natural law.  IN COMMON WITH OTHER ANIMALS Aquinas then goes on to say that there is in our human nature, common with other animals, a desire that has to do with sexual intercourse and the care of one’s offspring. As a matter of fact, animals periodically engage in sexual intercourse at a specific time of “heat”, and this could result in offspring. In human beings, too, that natural inclination to engage in the sexual act and to reproduce exists. The intrinsic connection between the sexual act and fecundity gives rise to a number of notions of what is acceptable and unacceptable in varying degrees of contentiousness.  IN COMMON WITH OTHER ANIMALS An ethical issue that is hotly contested in some parts of the world is whether abortion is acceptable. From the stance of natural law, the act of preventing the emergence of new life would be considered unacceptable. Not so controversial, perhaps, would be the claims that we could more easily make about how it is good to care for the young, to make sure they are properly fed, sheltered and educated. On the other hand, it is bad to abuse the young, to force children into hard labor or to deprive them of basic needs or otherwise abuse them in a physical or emotional way.  IN COMMON WITH OTHER ANIMALS With regard to the sexual act, the moral judgments get more volatile. This argument seems to provide ground for rejecting various forms of contraception since these allow for the sexual act to take place, but inhibit procreation. This also seems to justify the claim that any form of the sexual act that could not lead to offspring must be considered deviant, such as the homosexual act. The question can be raised as to whether all animals “naturally” engage in heterosexual (rather than unisexual/homosexual) intercourse as Aquinas (with the much more rudimentary scientific knowledge of his time) believed. Another question is whether there must be a necessary connection between the act of sexual intercourse and procreation.  UNIQUELY HUMAN After the first two inclinations, Aquinas presents a third reason which states that we have an inclination to good according to the nature of our reason. With this, we have a natural inclination to know the truth about God and to live in society. It is of interest that this is followed by matters of both epistemic and a social concern. the examples given to us of what would be in line with this inclination are to shun ignorance and to avoid offending those people with whom one lives. We could surmise on this basis that acts of deception or fraud would be unacceptable to Aquinas. This, as mentioned, is surmise because this is not something we are told directly by Aquinas.  UNIQUELY HUMAN In fact, a characteristic of the text is that Aquinas does not go into great detail here enumerating what specific acts would be clearly ethical or unethical. Instead, he gave certain general guideposts: the epistemic concern - we know we pursue the truth; the social concern - we know we live in relation to others. The question of what particular acts would be in line with these or not is something that we have to determine for ourselves through the use of reason.  UNIQUELY HUMAN Let us elaborate on this further. First, we know that preserving the self is good, and that contrary to common misconception, the sexual inclination and the sexual act are considered good things, not something to be deplored or dismissed. However, reason is not only another inclination that we have in par with the others. Instead, reason is the defining part of human nature.  UNIQUELY HUMAN Aquinas tells us that there is a priority among the powers of our soul, with the intellectual directing and commanding our sensitive and nutritive capacities. What this amounts to is the need to recognize that while our other inclinations are good, as they are in our nature, what it means to be human is to exercise our reason in our consideration of how the whole self should be comported toward the good.  UNIQUELY HUMAN You cannot simply say, “sex is natural,” if what you mean by that is that you could engage in the act in any way you like without thought or care. Instead, you have to make full use of your reason and determine when the performance of your natural inclinations is appropriate.  UNIQUELY HUMAN Second, recognizing how being rational is what is proper to man, the apparent vagueness of the third inclination that Aquinas mentions is counter-balanced by the recognition that he is not interested in providing precepts that one would simply, unthinkingly, follow. To say that the human being is rational is to recognize that we should take up the burden of thinking carefully how a particular act may or may not be a violation of our nature. It is to take the trouble to think carefully about how our acts would either contribute to, or detract from, the common good.  UNIQUELY HUMAN For this reason, in making human laws, additions that are not at all problematic for the natural law are possible. If it has been decided that these laws contribute to the common good, then they could be considered proper extensions of the natural law. As Aquinas puts it, nothing hinders a change in the natural law by way of addition, since our reason has found and can find many things that benefit individual and communal human life.  THAT’S ALL THANKYOU !!!