Natural Law Issues

Meaning of Natural

Certain actions are wrong because they are un natural and unnatural consisting the violation of the basic principles of human biological functioning EG the end of sexual activity is human procreation so in Action is wrong if it is a at odds with the relevant biological function Egypt mouth of designs for eating talking not kissing and hands are not designed for typing even though they are adaptable. Also this seems to imply very broken up view of human nature as individual organs each of which has its own particular purpose and it’s not holistic

perhaps it could be sought to distinguish non-functional activities which frustrate biological functions kissing does not prevent eating where is homosexuality does prevent procreation however it is only the exclusive homosexuality that does sow and Aquinas question on celibacy was that procreation was the duty of the Species as a whole not the individual

Unnatural could mean threats or impediments To Freedom for example unnatural restrictions of a citizen movements by an authoritarian state - unnatural could be to do with a threat to the exercise of some essential property of Human Nature the basic value not just any human intervention in natural development. ( misanthropy is unnatural as opposed to the specifically human ability and propensity to love, killing members of your own species is unnatural in animals as in humans we consider both to be a natural; and stubbornly remaining in ignorance about what is right and wrong is unnatural supposed to desire to know- this would be a domestic hierarchy of natural inclinations

Provision can be defined as Excel habits that are seriously unnatural even in a sense against nature such as extreme violence cannibalism torture parent child incest comatorium in ancient Rome liposuction

Freud describes in general sexual perversion in terms of the common attitude to sexual mores “ it is a characteristic common to all the positions that in them reproduction as the name is put aside. this is usually the Criterion by which we judge whether a sexual activity is perverse” (ksinz)

Notion of Law

Laws of physics are only metaphorically laws to describe ingrained habits of matter how are the natural law by classic NL theory is low in a real sense lay down by The Creator accompanied by serious actions Cicero thought Severus penalties if broken. NL of finis is not law in the sense but only as an analogy they are not really laws and acted by some authority operating a distinct compartment for my mobile commitments

Cicero main section of breaking natural law is a sense of alienation from oneself and general internal distress can’t would say he who does not obey the law of nature flies from himself and does violence to the very nature of Man

Physicalism

Who is to define purpose ?

If function of genital organs is so two people who love each other to be able to express their love and obtain pleasure in doing so then sexual foreplay and adultery could be allowed but not masturbation and homosexuality or for example the purposes enough who is to decide if kissing is included.

Problem of teleology

With darwinism and evolution animals seem to have developed by chance rather than being regulated by the power of the Gods they do not develop because of the purpose they try to achieve but because of natural selection difficult to find purposefulness in an ocean of chance occurrences

However in biology animal nature’s du service Sutton ends EG animals strive to satisfy their needs plants try to grow - goals are part of any biological explanation. Both Aristotle and Aquinas thought of ethics based on the linear progression towards the only concrete good sought for its own sake - happiness Aristotle; divine Providence operating behind the scenes for thomas – as end of man is Supernatural. Kant sort of a human person is end for itself.

The concept of human flourishing for maturity for humans means aspiring to certain ontological and biological perfections so hurry of functions is relevant for example try to reproduction can be superseded to rational goals and self Preservation in saving the lives of another

Is-Ought

Strengths of natural law Theory is that it does not try to derive small judgements biological analysis and abstract reasoning without any consideration of human inclinations. Hume says that repugnance for murder is the objective feeling not freezing so what we feel we must do is injected by internal sentiments as reactions to state of affairs that reason sees as existing however feeling themselves don’t have moral definite bearings. Rejecting the is from Otley is working within a metanarrative Wacom and she is seeing as progressively free yourself from the bonds of nature

Hegel it is just these inclinations and drives that constitute self-actualizing self-consciousness that should not be repressed but should be conformable to reason”. Practical reason as to join forces with natural inclination to make any more choices and engage in any moral activity” because more action is nothing but consciousness actualizing itself therefore giving itself the configuration of a drive” (kai z)

Fact- value

Holding fact value distinction is wider than the is ought distinction Isobel you can be aesthetic political religious as well as ethical you can refuse to derive oughts from is but accept fact value Egypt accepting that there is some facts which are also values, also that there are some Morally significant things that people would not characterizes fact that are factual Eg emotions are inclinations happiness is already intrinsically value Laden and natural law is susceptible to the criticism but nature or natural refers to something when more values are already embedded

Empirical descriptive ethics have no prescriptive are normative significance however people have tried to find an a posteriori empirical method collating sociological and anthropological data to search for principles applicable at all times and all places. Clusters basics moral values would offer an interesting Convergence of fact and value the values would simply Be embedded in the facts

Naturalistic fallacy

Ambiguity in the meaning of natural or nature which has either descriptive or normative meaning American edition of depend on distinctively moral rather than prudent reasons and natural law insect fails to do so since the argument is for living in accordance with one’s nature – not to do so would be self destructive and the main historical support for this is a Christian award of reward and Punishment.

But even apart from this having the belief that one has a determinant nature means you have to live recording with it’s imperative – we cannot say much about human nature and sufficient detail beyond that it is rational

This maybe pint pot of the mind body problem as rational beings constantly have an influence on their bodies and via bodies on the physical world. If the law of nature are expressed as the imperious drive to happiness which is above all other commands like the drive to self Preservation and reproduction and knowledge Dan this is the form of experience of authoritative laws who’s disobedience can put us at peril of losing ourselves

The issue of slavery

If we believe that natural laws applies to all times and places that slavery challenges this has a large number of people have alternatively considered it was acceptable for example Aristotle St Paul Aquinas gracias as well said it was acceptable if the slaves free choice or as a means of subsistence or are natural slaves – slaver as a law of nationd (grotius suarez)The suggest natural law is r subjectivist. Mardons consider freedom to be a right but that was not the case in mediaeval Worlds Christian Freedom was seen as an escape from the slavery of Sin there were property rights in Roman law citizen rights in Athens Buddhist freedom from desire and suffering but the idea of individual freedom and multiplicity of Rights associated with it as a result of modern cultural Revolution with democratic political institutions. They did not connect natural law with the theory of natural rights.