Today’s Assignment:

Natural Law
Objectives from reading:
• EMP (15 pages)
Natural Law
– The Tradition of Natural Know difference between descriptive
Law (Lucas), pp. 195-198; (scientific ), prescriptive (natural and
divine), & human (civil, positive,
from “Summa Theologica statue) laws
(St. Thomas Aquinas), pp.
Comprehend Aquinas’ features of a
199-202; from The Ethics law, how natural law can be explained
of Natural Law (Harris), in terms of moral standards and the 4
natural inclinations of human beings.
pp. 203-209.
Comprehend the concept of “the
common good” vs. concept of
“greatest good for the greatest
number.”

Know & apply the Principle of

Forfeiture and the Principle of Double
Effect
The Peacemaker
 Natural Rights & Natural Law
• In the “Declaration of
Independence,” Thomas Jefferson
(following the English philosopher,
John Locke) makes reference to
“self-evident” truths, among which
are certain “inalienable rights”

• Martin Luther King makes reference

explicitly to “natural law” (as well as
the U. S. Constitution) to argue that
racist laws are inherently unjust

What is this “natural law”?

 Natural Law
Two important things about natural law
theory:

(1) Natural laws are prescriptive; they tell us

how we ought to behave.

In this sense, they are unlike physical

laws aka laws of nature (e.g., gravitation),
which tell us how things do in fact behave
and are, therefore, descriptive.

“Unlike rocks, we are always at liberty to

disobey the natural laws that pertain to
us. This is how we sin.”
 Natural Law
(2) Natural laws are absolute, because the
goods in which they are grounded are
incommensurable
- that is, there is no common metric that
would allow us to compare them.

Hence, there can be no ‘trade-offs’

between, say, protecting life and seeking
knowledge; or, more importantly, between
protecting this life rather than that life.
 Natural Law

• Encompasses tradition of moral and legal philosophy

reaching back to Aristotle & Roman Stoics (Cicero)

• There is a secular and a theological version

– (the latter connect nicely to the notion of “divine command”
theory; cf. St Paul)

• Neither focuses upon “civil” law (what we normally

mean by “law”);
– instead, these traditions use “Law” in the same sense as
Kant – the “moral law”
 Sources of
Natural Law Tradition
• Suppose we took the world’s current
major legal systems and threw out any
provisions that were unique to one or
only some.
– Would there be anything left?

• Political Problem of the Roman Empire:

– “How do we govern a multinational,
multicultural, pluralistic commonwealth
encompassing many nationalities, religions,
ethnicities, and legal systems?

– What laws shall we uniformly enforce upon

ALL subjects (regardless of race, color, or
religious creed)?”
 Transition from Secular to Sacred

Solution: Common legal core, the Roman code

But of this code, Cicero writes:
“True law is right reason in agreement with nature;
it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it
summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing
by its prohibitions. . .

…We cannot be freed from its obligations by Senate or People, and we

need not look outside ourselves for an expounder or interpreter of it . . .

…There will not be different laws at Rome and at Athens, or different

laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law
will be valid for all nations and all times,
times and there will be one
master and ruler, that is God, over us all, for he is the author of this
Cicero(106 BC-43 BC)
law, its promulgator, and its enforcing judge.”
judge
 Natural Law:
St Thomas Aquinas
• God’s law is “imprinted upon us . . . The light of natural 1225-1274

reason, whereby we discern what is good and what is

evil, is nothing else than an imprint on us of the divine
light”

• There are at least some moral truths, derived from God

and grounded in God, that everyone, regardless of their
religious beliefs or cultural background, must be
responsible for knowing

• Distinguish this (as Romans did) from “civil” or “positive”

law, and also from “divine” or “revealed” law (the Church
has custody of this)

In his Summa Theologica, Aquinas acknowledges universal moral truths

 Examples of Natural Law

– “Golden” Rule
– Principle of reciprocity
– Prohibition of
unjustifiable homicide
– Respect for Life
Danger: mistaking one’s own
cultural or religious habits (or even
Everyone, everywhere prejudices) for universal natural law
seems to have some
versions of these e.g., Which of the 10 Commandments
would you challenge as not being a
“Natural Law”?
 Impact/Influence of
Natural Law Tradition
• International Law (Grotius, Pufendorf)
• Constitution & U. S. Declaration of
Independence (Jefferson)
• JUST WAR THEORY (jus ad bellum
AND jus in bello – law of war)
• Kant and the Categorical Imperative

• Gandhi, King, and notion of principled

civil disobedience
 Natural Inclinations

• Self-preservation
– Natural inclination to live
• Procreation
– Natural inclination to reproduce
• Knowledge
– Natural inclination to learn
• Sociability
– Natural inclination to love and seek affection
 Two Important Principles of
Natural Law (“Casuistry” in Harris’s essay)

1. The Principle of Forfeiture

and

2. The Principle of Double Effect

 Principle of Forfeiture:

If I threaten your life…

(i.e., violate the principle
concerning the protection of
life),
…I forfeit my right to life.

Thus, killing in self-defense is

morally permissible.
“If you take another life, you forfeit your own right to life”
 Principle of Double Effect
• A wrong or evil result brought about as a consequence
of some morally right action (undertaken with intention to
do good) is not itself blameworthy
– Most common in medicine & military

• Sometimes it is permissible to perform an action that

has,
besides its desired (good) effects,
a second effect that it would be impermissible to bring
about, either as an end or as a means.

Secondary evil must be a consequence…not a catalyst!

 Principle of Double Effect

• Is the act good / morally permissible?

• Is the bad effect unavoidable?
• Is bad effect means to achieve good
effect?
• Does good effect outweigh bad effect?

Sometimes the answer to the middle two questions is not readily apparent…

Key points are: “intentions” and “avoidability”

 Doctrine of Double Effect

Is it Is the Bad Is the Bad Not

Act Yes No Intended Is the Bad Effect
Permissible? Effect Effect the No

Act is Permissible
Disproportionate?
Avoidable? Means of (Side
Producing a Effect
No Only)
Yes, Good
Yes
It is Effect?
avoidable

Yes, Bad
Effect is
Intended

Not Permissible…
…Forbidden
 Case 1
A pregnant women is diagnosed with uterine
cancer. If her uterus is removed, she will be
saved, but the fetus will die. So the
hysterectomy will have evil effects.

May a surgeon perform the operation?

Similar case : Conjoined twins

 Case 2
Terror Bombing vs Strategic Bombing
Sometime in 1940, British policy
regarding bombing changed to mandate
the targeting of built-up areas as
opposed to military and industrial
targets.

It’s estimated that 300,000 German

civilians were killed and 780,000 injured
as a direct result of this terror bombing.
In Dresden alone, 100,000 civilians were
killed.
 Case 2 (con’t)
1. In the context of war, bombing
the enemy is a morally
legitimate action.

2. The direct effect of the

bombing was the deaths of
civilians and the promotion of
terror. This is not morally
acceptable.

3. The intent of the British policy

was to incur terror. Killing
civilians was indeed an
essential part of the plan.
Questions on Natural Law?
 Reading for Next Class
Applying the Doctrine of Double Effect

• EMP (7 pages) Objectives from

– Natural Law and the
Principle of Double Effect:
Six Hypothetical Cases
(Lucas), pp. 211-217.
• CSME (6 pages)
– Incident at Shkin (Schoultz),
pp. 7-11; Terror and
Retaliation-Who is Right?”
(Rubel), p. 57.
reading:
Natural Law
Comprehend the concept of
“the common good” vs
concept of “greatest good
for the greatest number.”
Know & apply the Principle
of Forfeiture and the
Principle of Double Effect
 Mid-term Review
• Responsible for course material through Unit 13
(Applying the Doctrine of Double Effect)
• 2 sections
– Short essay: Using case study, discuss ethical decision
making framework (Constitutional Paradigm, Categorical
Imperative, Doctrine of Double Effect or Principle of Utility)
– Short answer questions to validate knowledge of core
concepts…
• Example 1: Describe the major legal constraints on military force
and give an example of each
• Example 2: Describe differences between Jeremy Bentham’s and
John Stuart Mills theory of Utilitarianism