What's So Natural About Natural Law?
I have heard the challenge to the idea of a natural moral law many times. "It can't be against natural law - after all, animals do it all the time!" Anyone in dialogue about moral issues is bound to run across the concept of natural law. For the sake of honest dialogue it is important to know exactly what this term means. As a moral theology teacher, I also want people to know why the concept of natural law is good news!
Natural Law Is About Human Nature
Human fulfillment is the goal!
The truth is that natural law is not about "nature" as we commonly think of it. Natural law actually refers to human nature. Human beings are a composite of physical and spiritual faculties. We share the physical faculties with animals and we share the spiritual faculties with spiritual beings (i.e. angels). However, human beings are the only creatures that are a composite of physical and spiritual faculties.
Examples of Physical Faculties
Faculties that human beings share with animals
- Senses
- Physical desires
- Emotions
- Locomotion (the ability to get up an move)
- Memory & problem solving
The Spiritual Faculties
Faculties that we share with the angels
- Intellect: the ability to think about non-physical concepts, and ultimately to contemplate the very nature of a thing's existence.
- Free Will: the ability to freely choose between various physical and spiritual goods, and ultimately to determine our own character and final destiny.
What is Natural Law?
Natural Law is simply living true to human nature. For Christians, this means being who God created us to be.
Becoming Your Best Self
The good news of natural law
The purpose of the natural moral law is to guide us to become the best persons that we can be. The natural moral law guides us to fulfill our human nature by maximizing all of our human powers. It also encourages us to seek good and avoid evil so that we are able to develop spiritually as well as physically. Natural law guides us to protect the most important goods - the fundamental goods that are necessary for human fulfillment.
Following natural law isn't always easy. For example, we may be tempted to treat sexuality as a simple physical pleasure. Our biological drives for pleasure are very strong. However, by following natural law our sexuality becomes an intensely meaningful act that empowers human relationships to bring new life out of love and brings about a family. Our ability to control our sexual drive and the power of the intellect to understand the deeper meaning of sex give the act great beauty.
Following natural law isn't always easy. For example, we may be tempted to treat sexuality as a simple physical pleasure. Our biological drives for pleasure are very strong. However, by following natural law our sexuality becomes an intensely meaningful act that empowers human relationships to bring new life out of love and brings about a family. Our ability to control our sexual drive and the power of the intellect to understand the deeper meaning of sex give the act great beauty.
Who Wouldn't Want to Become Their Best?
The purpose of the natural moral law is to guide us to become the best persons that we can be. The natural moral law guides us to fulfill our human nature by maximizing all of our human powers. It encourages us to . . .
- Live thoughtful, reflective lives. The human intellect empowers us to understand what we are doing and to find meaning.
- Be free. The human will frees us from becoming slaves to our instincts, drives and desires and empowers us to choose who we want to be.
- Enjoy the best of both worlds! The physical appetites are not evil. Physical goods are meant to be enjoyed. However, we do not find happiness in overindulgence. Natural law teaches us balance so that we can enjoy both physical and spiritual goods.
- Do good and avoid evil. People often think of moral law as restricting our fun, but doing good means bringing goodness into our lives - just like exercising and eating healthy bring health into our lives.
- Protect the most cherished and fundamental human goods. These goods help us to live fully human lives and to find happiness. Everyone has a right to have access to these goods.
Role of Natural Law
Do good, avoid evil
Basic human goods
Become more human
Basic Human Goods
Derived from Christian Moral Principles by Germain Grisez
- Life, health & safety
- Religion
- Procreation & education of children
- Education (intellectual development)
- Contribution to human society
- Freedom (ability to choose the best possible good)
- Appreciation of beauty
- Justice & friendship
- Creative work & play
- Personal integrity
Deeper Reflections
Deeper reflections on natural law in the <strong>From the Abbey</strong> webistes!
Articles at www.fromtheabbey.com are a little more theological than the Squidoo lenses, but are meant to educate lay Catholics.
- What is Natural Law?
- This article goes just a little deeper than this lens, sharing some of the theology behind natural law.
- Becoming More Human | Moral Theology in a Nutshell| From the Abbey Library
- I once had an argument with a colleague about homosexuality. He told me, "I don't understand why the Church claims that homosexuality is against Natural Law. You find homosexuality all over the place in nature."
- Attaining the True, the Good and the Beautiful | Moral Theology in a Nutshell| From the Abbey Library
- By making us more human, the natural moral law orients us toward attaining what is truly good. Human reason can conclude by examining human nature that the goal of human life is to attain what is good, what is true and what is beautiful . . .
- Attaining the Good
- This is an interactive chart illustrating the role that various human faculties have in our goal to attain the good. Hover your cursor over the boxes to see how each aspect of human life relates to the attainment of the good (the second tenant of the natural moral law)
- HumanNature
- This is an interactive chart illustrating the physical and spiritual dimensions of human nature. Hover over the images to see a definition of vegetative (plant) nature, sensitive (animal) nature, and rational (human) nature.
- Faculties Definitions & Examples
- This is an interactive diagram defining each of the four main human faculties and giving examples of abilities that come from each one. Hover over each faculty to see its definition and some examples of how the faculty works in human life
- Commentary: Gaudium et Spes Chapter 1| From the Abbey Classroom
- The first chapter of Gaudium et Spes (the Sacred Constitution of the Church in the Modern World) from the Second Vatican Council discusses human nature and human dignity. This is From the Abbey's commentary on this chapter.
From Our Bookstore
Check out these relevant items at the <b>From the Abbey</b> online bookstore!
- Becoming the Best Version of Yourself
Matthew Kelly offers specific steps for improving various aspects of your life and to strengthen your intellect, will and body in order to become fully human. Audio CD
Other Websites on Natural Law
These sites are worth a visit!
- The Revenge of Conscience
- Things are getting worse very quickly now. The list of what we are required to approve is growing ever longer. Consider just the domain of sexual practice. [. . .]Conscience is not a passive barrier but an active force; though it can hold us back, it can also drive us on. Moreover, conscience comes not from without but from within: though culture can trim the fringes, the core cannot be changed. The reason things get worse so fast must somehow lie not in the weakness of conscience but in its strength, not in its shapelessness but in its shape.
- The Second Tablet Project
- According to the mainstream of the natural law tradition, the reality of God and of our duty to Him are among the things everyone really knows. They are part of ?general? revelation; we have natural knowledge not only of the Second Tablet of the Decalogue, but of the First. Needless to say, some people find this claim scandalous. They deny the natural knowledge of God, deny the natural knowledge of the First Tablet of the Decalogue, and deny the natural knowledge of the first precept of the Summary of the Law. Apart from direct or ?special? revelation, they think ethics should acknowledge neighbor only. [. . .] his goal is widely shared. Insofar as it wishes to get by on the Second Tablet without the First, we might call it the Second Tablet Project.
Latest from Gaudium Veritatis
From the Abbey's moral theology blog
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byBooks on Natural Law from Amazon
What We Can't Not Know: A Guide
Amazon Price: (as of 11/10/2009) 
Written on the Heart: The Case for Natural Law
Amazon Price: $11.56 (as of 11/10/2009)
The Revenge of Conscience: Politics and the Fall of Man
Amazon Price: (as of 11/10/2009)
In Defense of Natural Law
Amazon Price: $40.50 (as of 11/10/2009)
The Abolition of Man
Amazon Price: $8.63 (as of 11/10/2009)
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by Arrowood
Hey there! My name is Jeff Arrowood. I am a Catholic educator and a moral theologian with a master's degree in theological studies. I am currently a s... (more)
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