The second is the Divine law which is important to this issue as it reflects the eternal law as it appears to us through revelation. Aquinas essentially saw this law as holy texts such as the Bible. It can only be seen by those who believe in God and only when God chooses to reveal it. So, if someone is deciding what the right moral action is in a particular situation they could refer to the Bible by reading a specific passage or recalling the Ten Commandments. In ‘Summa Theologica’ Aquinas wrote, ‘To disparage the dictate of reason is
With god/s grounding the moral the foundation of the moral becomes arbitrary because it would only be good because god says its so. Also calling god good would not make any sense since he decided what good is or isn't, so how could he be good unless the moral was grounding him? If piety was a certain care of the god’s we could look to do always what is Pious and in return we would be worshiping/caring for the god/s if they exists. If the God’s are looking to something the “moral,piety” then if you act pious in your actions through life you will be in a way worshiping the god’s, because you are honoring what they already honer. The problem with this idea is when people think god grounds the moral
Aristotle asked the question of ‘how does it happen?’ and believed that every object has a purpose. This is known as ‘The Final Cause’ and it was believed that perfection was only reached when an object fulfilled its purpose. In the thirteenth century, Aquinas developed natural law and explained how it was a moral code existing within the purpose of nature, created by God. It exists to help humans to direct their actions in a way, which will help them, reach their destiny with God. Aquinas described that, fundamentally, humans should do good and avoid evil.
Examine the key concepts of Natural Moral Law or Deontology or Virtue Ethics. (18) Natural Moral Law is considered to be one of the most important theories in Ethics, it is deontological therefore it focuses more on the actions/intentions rather than the outcome of a situation, it is an absolutist theory which means that NML applies to everyone; it is also an deductive theory. It was a theory put forward by Aristotle but continued by Thomas Aquinas, they said NML is God given and those who follow it are following God’s purpose. Some key concepts of NML are the primary and secondary precepts, Aquinas’ assumptions and his law and finally proportionalism. NML is seen as objectively ideal, it is something that everyone should strive for as it is an objective truth which ties in with Moral Realism, this means there are objective truths, things that we should do/should not do because they are definitely right or wrong.
Personality and moral self explain how and why human beings make free choices. The libertarianism theory has been explained by CA Campbell, who said that human beings see themselves as free agents and therefore accept moral responsibility for their actions. Humans must accept responsibility for these actions and face any consequences that may come their way. John Stuart Mill - an influencal figure in Liberatarianism – believe we are free and morally responsible for all our actions. Mill believed it was extremely important that an indivduals free will should not be crushed by society.
Even in contemporary society, we tend to associate morality with some kind of divine will, but through the Euthyphro, Socrates seems to suggesting we think along another line altogether. Is something moral because God commands it? Does morality depend on religious belief? A common view among religious, and even some secular, philosophers is that just as conventional laws require lawmakers, morals also require some ultimate source. The Divine Command Theory is the view that moral actions are those that conform to God's will.
Aquinas states that common sense tells us that the universe works in such a way, that one can conclude that is was designed by an intelligent designer, God. In other words, all physical laws and the order of nature and life were designed and ordered by an intelligent designer. The argument links in with Aristotle's cosmological argument. Thomas Aquinas is saying that while human beings do exist and think for themselves, the reason why humans exist is due to an uncaused cause which made the natural laws needed for our existence. To sum it up into easier terms, Aquinas basically said that when you
The Natural World God created the natural world through His word. This shows the nature of God as all powerful and His word as power. When God spoke, the universe and everything in it came into existence. This we know because the Bible is the word of God that it is not written by human knowledge, but by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Romans 1:20 says “that the creation has been seen and understood because of God’s invisible qualities, divine nature and His eternal power so that men may not have an excuse.” It, therefore, follows that God is seen through His creation.
This raises problems for Boethius' argument, however he addresses this and creates a counter assertment. As argued above free will is needed for just rewards/punishments, some people say this because it would be unfair to punish people who could not choose to do otherwise. Others such as Augustine believe that free will is necessary because without free will there should be no evil in the world as there is no choice to create evil where as evil does exist, without free will this must have been created by God, contradicting God's omnibenevolence. Irenaeus' view is simelar to Augustine however he adds that human beings could not be perfect, God is all that is perfect so we were given an imperfect world and free will, so that we would be a reflection of God but not perfect. Hick's approach to the necessity of free will grows from the idea that God wants humans to genuinly love him and show faith, without free will we could not make a decision as to whether or not we had faith, belief or even love for God, we would merely be robots designed to love him.
The strongest criticism to the free will defense is that God, being an all-powerful being, should be able to create free agents who make only good choices, freely. There is the option of having no free will, and no evil, and have free will and having evil, but the third option, which is less known, is the option that God can create a world where free will is possible, and evil does not exist. This would be possible