Title: Aristotle God
1Aquinas and Natural Law Ethics
2Thomas Aquinas
- Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
- Aquinas was dubbed the dumb ox by his fellow
students, for being large and quiet. He was
apparently quiet because he was busy thinking he
became the Catholic churchs top theologian, a
title he still holds today, without dispute.
3Major Work
- Aquinass major work, the Summa Theologica, is
divided into 4 parts. - Prima Pars (1st Part) Existence and Nature of God
- Prima Secundae (1st Part of the 2nd Part)
Happiness, Psychology, Virtues, Law (Human,
Natural, Divine) - Secunda Secundae (2nd Part of the 2nd Part) The
virtues in detail - Tertia Pars (3rd Part) Christian Doctrine
4Aquinas and Aristotle
- During the Middle Ages, Aristotles works were
lost to Western Europe, beginning in the first
few centuries AD, up until the middle of the 13th
century. - Aquinas merged Aristotle with Christianity after
the recovery of his philosophy via Muslim
scholars in the 13th century. - The purposiveness or end-directedness of
nature in Aristotle is identified by Aquinas with
Gods purposes.
5Two Part Explanation of the Term Natural Law
- Natural Law viewed from Gods perspective is how
humans participate in the Eternal Law, which is
Gods eternal plan A law is a rule of action
put in place by someone who has care of the
community Mark Murphy http//plato.stanford.edu/
entries/natural-law-ethics/ - So, Natural Law is law in that the rules are
put in place by someone by a person
6Two Part Explanation of the Term Natural Law
- Viewed from the human perspective, the principles
of natural law are knowable by human nature and
are structured to aid in furthering individual
and communal goods. - Human nature determines what is natural in
Natural Law. - This two part description of Natural Law tells
us quite a bit about how to understand moral
language and what entities are involved for
Aquinas in the nature of ethics. That is, we have
a bit of his Metaethics here. - What is Aquinass Normative ethical view though?
7Normative Theory
- Aquinass first principle of morality is
- Good should be done, and evil avoided
- We are by nature inclined toward the Good,
according to Aquinas, but we cannot pursue the
good directly because it is abstractwe must
pursue concrete goods which we know immediately,
by inclination. Those goods are - Preservation of life
- Procreation
- Knowledge
- Society
- Reasonable Conduct
8Normative Theory
- Aquinas, then, has a value-based ethical theory.
The rightness or wrongness of particular actions
is determined by how those actions further or
frustrate the goods. - Certain ways of acting are intrinsically flawed
or unreasonable responses to these human goods. - Like Aristotle, Aquinas seems sure there can be
no formula provided to determine what action is
right or wrong in all particular cases. - Prudence (practical wisdom) is required for the
most part, if not always, to determine if a given
act is intrinsically flawed or not.
9Intrinsically Flawed Action
- Murphy provides a nice account of how acts can be
intrinsically flawed or unreasonable - Aquinas does not obviously identify some master
principle that one can use to determine whether
an act is intrinsically flawed though he does
indicate where to look -- we are to look at the
features that individuate acts, such as their
objects , their ends , their circumstances ,
and so forth. An act might be flawed through a
mismatch of object and end -- that is, between
the immediate aim of the action and its more
distant point. If one were, for example, to
regulate one's pursuit of a greater good in light
of a lesser good -- if, for example, one were to
seek friendship with God for the sake of mere
bodily survival rather than vice versa -- that
would count as an unreasonable act. An act might
be flawed through the circumstances while one is
bound to profess one's belief in God, there are
certain circumstances in which it is
inappropriate to do so. An act might be flawed
merely through its intention to direct oneself
against a good -- as in murder , and lying ,
and blasphemy -- is always to act in an
unfitting way. Mark Murphy http//plato.stanford
.edu/entries/natural-law-ethics/
10Fit with Utilitarians and Kantians
- Is an action ever intrinsically flawed because it
fails to maximize goodness? Murphy, again - His natural law view understands principles of
right to be grounded in principles of good on
this Aquinas sides with utilitarians, and
consequentialists generally, against Kantians.
But Aquinas would deny that the principles of the
right enjoin us to maximize the good -- while he
allows that considerations of the greater good
have a role in practical reasoning, action can be
irremediably flawed merely through (e.g.) badness
of intention, flawed such that no good
consequences that flow from the action would be
sufficient to justify it -- and in this Aquinas
sides with the Kantians against the utilitarians
and consequentialists of other stripes. Mark
Murphy http//plato.stanford.edu/entries/natural-l
aw-ethics/
11Fit with Aristotle
- Must prudence determine the right action in every
situation, or are there at least some universal
general rules that are always valid or correct? - And while Aquinas is in some ways Aristotelian,
and recognizes that virtue will always be
required in order to hit the mark in a situation
of choice, he rejects the view commonly ascribed
to Aristotle (for doubts that it is Aristotle's
view see Irwin 2000) that there are no
universally true general principles of right.
Mark Murphy http//plato.stanford.edu/entries/nat
ural-law-ethics/
12Photo Credits
- Title Slide Library, St. Pauls College,
Washington, D.C. http//www.flickr.com/photos/lric
ecsp/2365699386
133 Slides on the Metaphysics of Goodness
14Plato On the Nature of The Good
Analogy of the Sun
The Sun
The Good
is that makes to the through the power of by
providing
an intelligible object objects intelligible soul u
nderstanding truth
a visible object objects visible eye sight light
The tree above is the visible object, the Forms
(Universals) are the intelligible objects that
the Good shines on. Both the Sun and the Good
create their objects.
http//www.boisestate.edu/people/troark/didactics/
ancient/materials/Line_Sun.pdf
15Aristotle On the Nature of The Good
The Good
as a transcendental property
Substance Quality Place Position
Action
Quantity Relation Time Possession
Passion
Socrates
is white
is in Athens
is seated
is speaking
is a friend to Plato
is one
it is noon
has a toga
is being spoken to
Is it odd that good can be predicated in any of
the 10 categories?
16Aquinas On the Nature of The Good
God Being The Good Angels Humans Animals Plant
s Rocks Mud Nothingness
The Great Chain of Being
Actuality
Potentiality
Aquinas gets the chain from Plotinus (his
student, Porphyry), Augustine, Boethius,
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, and others, and
adds to it