Theories Of Natural Law

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My purpose in this essay is to explain the theory of natural law, and whether or not I find this theory of morality philosophically plausible. I do agree that the theory of natural law is one that could be implemented in one’s life as a just way of morally justifying actions.
According to Aquinas the natural law theory is a theory of ethics that holds that there are certain moral laws which are found in nature and are distinguishable by the use of reason. The nature of a particular kind of thing is defined by its particular telos or its goal. For example, the telos of an athlete is to play his sport well. Further, everything that has a particular telos is additional defined by a particular ergon or function that allows it to achieve …show more content…

The first being goods pertaining to life or vita, which is things that are necessary to live and stay alive and things that are necessary to live a good and happy life. Secondly, social goods pertaining to love or amor. These are things that promote human togetherness, such as marriage, family, friendship, and neighborliness. The next are goods pertaining to truth, veritas, and knowledge, scientia. These are good mean to seek truth and knowledge as well as whatever is necessary to achieve those abilities. Aquinas believes it is better to have an excess of knowledge than to be un-education. Next in line is goods pertaining to beauty or pulchritude; this includes beauty itself, natural beauty such as sunrises, and the creation of beautiful things like art. Lastly, there are the goods pertaining to freedom or voluntas. This includes freedom of the will and whatever is necessary to maintain it. Having this freedom allows a person to have the ability to choose whether or not to try and live in accordance with the natural law. A person who is already good at implementing the natural law is more likely to accept the divine law when they encounter it. According to Aquinas the basic goods of the natural law are all equally valuable. The fact that the basic goods are intrinsically valuable is undeniable to anyone who has reason. These intrinsic goods do not have to be proven or

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