Ethics, Life and Institutions. an Attempt at Practical Philosophy by Sokol Jan;Cairns Neil;Pauzerová Markéta;

Author:Sokol, Jan;Cairns, Neil;Pauzerová, Markéta; [Sokol, Jan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: PHI000000 PHILOSOPHY / General; PHI005000 PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy
Publisher: Karolinum Press
Published: 2019-07-21T00:00:00+00:00

1) The natural law is given by God the Creator, and 2) it necessarily applies to all human beings, 3) who can, through the exercise of reason, come to know it. 4) The good logically precedes the right, so that 5) right action is that which corresponds to the good and 6) is not fundamentally flawed or blemished. 7) Some of these flaws in action can be proscribed by universal rules, such as the Ten Commandments.316

The fourth and fifth points connect the natural law with the searching after ends and virtues, whereas the sixth precludes the possibility that a person could attain a good end through bad means. In this form, the idea of natural law determined a considerable amount of modern moral thinking and Christian doctrine. It also played a decisive role in the formation of modern natural law as unconditional corrective against the despotism of lawmakers; our notion of human rights is also based on this.

Most modern theories of morality have attempted to avoid referring to the divine origin of natural law, emphasising instead its accessibility to reason. But if the content of natural law is not positively expressed in divine revelation, it must have as a prerequisite some form of ‘real existence’; this is why we speak of ‘moral realism’ in the contemporary debate. Critics of the ethics of knowable good object primarily to this ‘existence’; this is really a formal objection. Others point to the variety of moral ideas in different cultures and finally to the problematic nature of all general moral rules. According to Bernard Williams, debate is made more difficult as many thinkers regard moral theories as ‘aggressive weapons’ with which to destroy their opponents (through logic). The correct response to that is a reminder of Aristotle’s ‘proportionate’ accuracy; practical philosophy is not logic.

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