Today I am looking at one last theistic ethical option which is called natural law. I hope you have benefited from some of the discussions on the relationship between God and morality over the past few weeks. Today we will tackle natural law theory and I will try to briefly and as simply as possible explain how it might clarify how God relates to morality.

Natural Law theory is a theory that grounds goodness and moral obligation in facts about human nature. In other words, when we talk about what is morally good for a human being and what kind of moral obligations he or she has, we are connecting them to facts about what it means to be human. Understanding what a human being is can provide insight on what is good or bad and what is obligatory or forbidden for human beings in question.

There are two fundamental things that are the building blocks of natural law theory that I should try to briefly explain. Natural law theory relies on the idea of teleology and that a human being has a certain nature. That's quite a mouthful. Teleology comes from the Greek which can be translated as "purpose" or "end goal." What is the purpose for human beings? What kinds of ends are human beings designed to achieve?

Moreover, the idea of there being an underlying telos built-into human nature provides the link between facts about nature and facts about morality. There is no split between what is and what ought to be on this view. That is roughly the idea behind teleology.

Having a human nature more or less means that human beings have certain capacities built-into what they are that distinguishes them from other things. Human beings can smell, hear, see, and communicate vocally as other animals can. However, human beings can do what arguably no other animal can do such as: reason, persuade, make deliberate choices with moral consequences, acquire moral virtue, and so on. Having these capacities is what makes us human.

What I just said is also related to what the term "natural" means. It always refers to the kind of beings we are in light of (1) the capacities we have in virtue of being human & (2) the flourishing we are striving to achieve which happens when these capacities are unfolded or developed.

Natural law theory has had a long history in the West with Plato and Aristotle – the latter who was responsible for having a fuller articulation of telos -, the Stoics and finally with the medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas. It was Aquinas who gave the fuller systematic layout of natural law theory.

So what does God have to do with this? If you noticed earlier when I gave a brief description of natural law, I did not mention God at least explicitly. That has presumably caused some to have further doubts about whether it is compatible with Christianity since it could be affirmed by a secular thinker. This is a reasonable concern and there are a couple of things to be said.

First, God is connected to moral principles guiding human action because He is the one who created human nature, from which these moral principles are derived. However, moral principles are rooted in human nature - based on what is good for human beings in order to flourish - but they are also rooted in God's nature Himself because He was the one who has preeminence over creation. God is ultimately the metaphysical foundation for natural law because there would be no natural law without God because creation depends on God for its existence and sustenance.

Second, because God also sustains the universe, that implies a kind of stability to moral laws which are derived from facts about human nature. As long as God is sustaining the universe He is also ensuring that human nature will never change in any substantial way. God has designed the universe a certain way and what it is will never change because of God's constant preservation of it.

Before I briefly talk about some criticisms, let's recap for a minute. Natural law theory is an ethical theory that says that there are certain moral laws that are intrinsically/inherently linked to human nature that provide the basis for human actions insofar as they are morally good.

Natural law theory also is based on the idea that human beings have unchangeable natures which contain certain capacities that contribute to human flourishing when those capacities or abilities are developed or brought about. And lastly, natural law theory says that God is the ultimate foundation for natural law because He created human nature and continuously sustains it.

There is one main criticism of natural law theory that needs to be considered. It is often pointed out that it commits the "naturalistic fallacy." Basically, natural law theory tries to arrive at moral conclusions from facts about nature which are said to be morally neutral.

The Scottish skeptic David Hume is a famous proponent of this objection. There is, according to this view, no natural connection between what we are (descriptive) and how we ought to be (prescriptive). There are atheist and even Christian thinkers who are persuaded by this objection.

So what do you think? Do you think that this ethical theory is promising? Or do you think it has serious defects? Stay tuned for next time!