Natural Law
Introduction
If you spend any time reading about the many social controversies of the day, you will sooner or later run into the term natural law. Usually, it is used to highlight the fact that opposition to things such as abortion and homosexual sex are not due exclusively to religious reasons. Yet, rarely do any of the vast number of articles and essays on these subjects attempt to inform the reader as to what the natural law is or what it entails. Hopefully, this first of a series of articles on natural law, its content, history and place in the public square will help you in some small to cut through the philosophical fog.
If you spend any time reading about the many social controversies of the day, you will sooner or later run into the term natural law. Usually, it is used to highlight the fact that opposition to things such as abortion and homosexual sex are not due exclusively to religious reasons. Yet, rarely do any of the vast number of articles and essays on these subjects attempt to inform the reader as to what the natural law is or what it entails. Hopefully, this first of a series of articles on natural law, its content, history and place in the public square will help you in some small to cut through the philosophical fog.
Natural law – From the ground up
Okay, so what is natural law? For starters, if may be helpful to restate the term “natural law” as “the law of nature.” This makes it easier to see that at the most basic level, natural law means that all things follow, or should follow the pattern nature has set for them. All this means is that when an electron and a proton are attracted to each other, when the presence of water, sun and soil cause a plant to grow and the apple falls from the tree rather than flying off into space they are simply following the dictates of the natural law. In the same way, when dolphins swim, dogs mate and a lion runs down a gazelle, they are all following the natural law.
Now, naturally, you may be thinking that since all of these examples differ so much they cannot possibly be an example of a single natural law. In a way, this is true. There is not a single natural law that applies in the same way, to all things. However, what the examples do point to is not that the natural law dictates the same actions for all things but that each thing does what it does to fulfill its nature. So as the electron spins around the nucleus of the atom it is fulfilling its nature as an electron and the lion is fulfilling its nature as a lion as it brings down the gazelle.
Now, naturally, you may be thinking that since all of these examples differ so much they cannot possibly be an example of a single natural law. In a way, this is true. There is not a single natural law that applies in the same way, to all things. However, what the examples do point to is not that the natural law dictates the same actions for all things but that each thing does what it does to fulfill its nature. So as the electron spins around the nucleus of the atom it is fulfilling its nature as an electron and the lion is fulfilling its nature as a lion as it brings down the gazelle.
Okay, that's the ground floor, the lowest common denominator if you will. Having established that the natural law implies different actions for different orders of creation and different species within those orders, how does it apply to us? After all, that's what we're really interested in isn't it?
First, we must do those things that are in accord with our nature as human beings. And what is in accord with our nature is good and what is contrary to it is evil. This brings us to St. Thomas Aquinas’ first principle of natural law, “we are to do good and avoid evil.” Naturally, that is a little vague, so let’s flesh it out a bit.
First, we must do those things that are in accord with our nature as human beings. And what is in accord with our nature is good and what is contrary to it is evil. This brings us to St. Thomas Aquinas’ first principle of natural law, “we are to do good and avoid evil.” Naturally, that is a little vague, so let’s flesh it out a bit.
Starting again at the most basic level, this refers to those things or inclinations relating to preserving our life and that of the species. This of course means that self defense and sexual intercourse are in accord with the natural law. But as Aquinas again points out there are other inclinations unique to man due to his capacity to reason. These things include our inclinations to live in an ordered society, to create (or sub-create if you prefer) and to seek to know the truth about the world in which we live and above all to seek the truth about God. Incidentally, some will say that this last bit gives away the fact that natural law is merely dogma dressed up as philosophy. This question is beyond the scope of this short article so I will simply say here that the idea that we are inclined to seek the truth about God doesn’t actually say anything about His nature or even whether or not He exists. We’ll go more in depth on this particular question later in the series.
In short, all of our natural inclinations, provided that they are ruled and guided by reason are considered to be part of the natural law.
Natural Law – From the abstract to the particular
Natural Law – From the abstract to the particular
We are still dealing largely with abstractions, so let’s keep fleshing out the particular injunctions of natural law, especially as it relates to our daily lives. Here, we find that the cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance, justice and courage serve as invaluable guides in conforming our actions to the natural law. To understand that the virtues are themselves part of the natural law, simply take their opposites, addiction/fanaticism/
Now, let’s take a look at how those virtues help guide us in particular actions and behaviors, especially when we find ourselves swimming in somewhat murky waters.
Now, let’s take a look at how those virtues help guide us in particular actions and behaviors, especially when we find ourselves swimming in somewhat murky waters.
Naturally, the injunction to avoid evil acts prevents things like lying, cheating, stealing etc. as they are contrary to justice. Other things like gluttony and substance abuse offend against temperance. Yes, this means getting drunk is bad, even for Catholics. Excessive gambling or telling people every bad thought you have about them are contrary to both prudence and temperance. And a tendency to avoid any and all conflict is of course contrary to courage. This means that there is a difference between turning the other cheek and being a doormat.
On the more positive side of things, donating time, talent and treasure to your parish or some sort of charity, simply performing our daily jobs to the best of our ability, telling the truth, not eating four doughnuts at the morning meeting, are all in accord with the virtues and thus with natural law.
On the more positive side of things, donating time, talent and treasure to your parish or some sort of charity, simply performing our daily jobs to the best of our ability, telling the truth, not eating four doughnuts at the morning meeting, are all in accord with the virtues and thus with natural law.
Now, this may give you the impression that there is some sort of natural law checklist or flow chart tucked away in an appendix of the Catechism. For better or worse, there is no such thing. One reason is that the combination of actions, virtues, intentions and circumstances results in an infinite number of possibilities. This is one of the reasons why we have been given the ability to reason (and incidentally, why we are obligated to use this ability) so that we can determine how to apply the concepts outlined by the cardinal virtues to the particular circumstances that we come across in our daily lives.
Let’s take a couple of examples. Say a person has some spare money that he want to give to an organization that relies on donations for support. This organization provides counseling and cancer screening services which are both matters of particular concern to our generous donor. However, the organization also performs abortions. According to the natural law he can’t give to this organization since they are engaging in an activity that directly contradicts the injunction to preserve the species as well as the injunction to avoid killing innocent life. But what if the circumstances are somewhat different? Say, the organization is perfectly fine. Rather than abortions, the organization provides material aid to single mothers? But now our would-be donor has had to take a severe pay cut and to donate the money he was planning on would mean that he cannot provide adequate food for his family? The virtues of prudence and justice would require our generous donor to hold off for a while, or at least to make a smaller donation.
These examples are fairly simple and certainly one can imagine more complicated scenarios. Yet, they do indicate how the application of basic principles can help us navigate particular circumstances. Of course, one can also imagine people reaching different conclusions in these and other circumstances. In fact, there is even a large amount of disagreement about the principles themselves as well as the methods we should use to apply them. How can we say then that there is a natural law that can be known by human reason without the aid of revelation? This question will be explored in the next article.
Let’s take a couple of examples. Say a person has some spare money that he want to give to an organization that relies on donations for support. This organization provides counseling and cancer screening services which are both matters of particular concern to our generous donor. However, the organization also performs abortions. According to the natural law he can’t give to this organization since they are engaging in an activity that directly contradicts the injunction to preserve the species as well as the injunction to avoid killing innocent life. But what if the circumstances are somewhat different? Say, the organization is perfectly fine. Rather than abortions, the organization provides material aid to single mothers? But now our would-be donor has had to take a severe pay cut and to donate the money he was planning on would mean that he cannot provide adequate food for his family? The virtues of prudence and justice would require our generous donor to hold off for a while, or at least to make a smaller donation.
These examples are fairly simple and certainly one can imagine more complicated scenarios. Yet, they do indicate how the application of basic principles can help us navigate particular circumstances. Of course, one can also imagine people reaching different conclusions in these and other circumstances. In fact, there is even a large amount of disagreement about the principles themselves as well as the methods we should use to apply them. How can we say then that there is a natural law that can be known by human reason without the aid of revelation? This question will be explored in the next article.
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