Explain what is meant by natural law Essay

innate(p) moral up adjustness contains honest theories which express that there is a internal order to our world that should be followed. A quote from Cicero, De Republica elaborates on the stem that native rightfulness ethics is a widely distributed and a prescriptive ethical possibility, The rightfulness will non lay down nonpareil rule in Rome and another in Athens there will be atomic number 53 law eternal and unchangeable, binding at entirely times upon all people. Natural law suggests deonto rational and absolutistic ideas although there seems to be some form of flexibility. The infixed order, according to the theory, which mankind supposedly obtain, is from some supernatural power.Natural law relies on homosexual reason and how we interpret antithetical situations and acting accordingly if all gentleman share this similar reasoning then we moldinessinessiness all unpatterned the same ethical code. The earliest date that has been found of a theory of natur al law appeared amongst Stoics. It explains how all mankind being slang something within that back up them to live according to personality. Interestingly the early theories state that humans eat up a choice in abiding by laws exactly they must procedure their reason to understand and decide to abide or not. This differs approximately from doubting Thomas doubting Thomas view as he believes in precepts that must be abided by.Aristotles ideas can be tied with natural law, much(prenominal) as the 4 causes. Aristotle explains in his work that all object has a specific nature, point and function. It is based on the religious conviction that immortal created the world, creating a sense of order and calculate to reflect his will. Furthermore, he believes that every object has a ultimate impregnable, for humans that are happiness. A sowing harass can be used as an example of supreme purpose, its purpose is sentinel though materials but its supreme practised is to thread though a material as effort as accomplishable by being as sharp as it can be.Aristotle believes that the supreme near(a) for humans is to flourish in society and to live a life history of reason. This is the same reason that humans must use to guide them though decisions in their life. Also in Aristotles work he says the natural is that which everywhere is is equally valid, and depends not upon being or not being received what Aristotle means here is that natural law exists whether or not we accept it , it will unendingly be there for eternity. St Thomas Aquinas theory of natural law was generally influence by the works of Aristotle and Plato.Aquinas was a Christian philosopher and theologian who developed a fuller account of the natural law. He describes natural law as a moral code existing within the purpose of nature that reflects Gods law, in a sense it is am aid to allow humans to achieve Gods given laws. Aristotles idea of purpose may have influenced him to expand on the idea. Aquinas theory of natural law differs from worshipful command theory as Natural law is more cordial to all and it relies on reason. Furthermore Aquinas theory evaluates both acts and attitude as it allows humans to glorify God an express what a good God is.Like Aristotle, Aquinas explains how humans aim for a purpose but unlike Aristotle who believes this is happiness, he believes all humans are do in the image of God. Therefore the supreme good must be the development of this image of God, which is perfection. This perfection, according to Aquinas was not practicable to be achieved in this life but only in the side by side(p) life and the purpose of morality is to allow us to fulfill our desires. A fundamental part of his theory Is to achieve as much good as possible and avoiding evil. He believes this because we were created for one purpose and that is perfection .Aquinas believed that there was no such(prenominal)(prenominal) thing as evil as we are all made in the im age of God, therefore it is logical for Aquinas to say humans do not carry step forward evil but apparent goods. For example if a person commits adultery he or she believes that it is good , although this is an error of reason they have ostensibly done the right thing according to them. Aquinas theory of natural law greatly stresses the fact that our nature is knowable and we need to use our reason to know it and understand it. The fundamental aboriginal principles of natural law are of great importance to Aquinass theory.They are always true and always apply to everyone. They are the preservation of life, continuation of species, educating children, lives in society and worshiping God, which is the most important. Although some aspects of these precepts can be debatable, masturbation is against the primary precept as it does not preserve life. But then one can rebuttal and say that rape would be acceptable as it preserving life. The secondary precepts are more flexible and real istic they are a specific application of primary precepts, such as do not murder and defend the defenseless. much(prenominal) examples do not need operative tabu the moral code as they take into account our human limitations and weaknesses, therefore they are presented as relatively straight forward. Natural law is unjust Discuss In my opinion there is no ethical theory that pleases everyone, there is bound to one or more flaws. Such theories that have been worked on very many years ago shew hard to search for answers concerning our modern world. Natural law finds it exceedingly repugn to relate to complex decisions to basic principles, for example should more money be spent helping charities or on hospitals.It leaves one stuck between cardinal options. Abortion would be considered against the natural ethic code. Having an abortion is stopping life and limiting reproduction, against many and multiply. But putting abortion in the context of saving a life shows a different persp ective. If the come was in a situation where she would not be able to backing a child, surely that would benefit instead create life that would suffer. another(prenominal) topic that is disputable is contraception. Similarly with contraception it is prohibiting new life but then again it can be for the great good.For example saved sex prevents sexually transmitted diseases. Furthermore a weakness to natural moral law according to Aquinas is that it assumes everyone carries out good acts, I find this slightly deluded and optimistic. I find hard to believe that acts such as rape an apparent good, surely one who carries out such an action knows that this is wrong some people may want to be perceived as evil for unknown reasons. Different societies have different natural values therefore it is hard accepting one universal law.Among the weaknesses, there are several strengths to natural law. It does give a concise, vindicated approach to morality and establishing common rules which d ay to day topics can be related to. It has a fairly positive approach by mainly concentrating on the potential goodness than the wrong. Furthermore Natural law concentrates on the character of humans and there potential for goodness rather than the right or wrong decisions on certain acts, it attempts to bring the best out of a situation, it proves to allow some degree of flexibility.It also emphasizes the fulfillment of our natures, all the things we require for happiness health, friends, the purpose of our existence and morality. Some aspects of natural law I believe to be unjust, such as abortion for the greater good. It seems to be a very optimistic ethical view, which seeks only the good in humans, but in a sense it seems to shun drab as a whole which In my opinion is unjust.