The_Strengths_and_Weaknesses_of_Absolutism

Strengths An obvious strength of natural law is that It gives guidance on how to live which fits in with human nature, it gives us a little support in respecting others and our environment. If as natural law says its instinctive that we know what is right and what is wrong then everyone should have very basic knowledge already of what and what not to do and therefore we are living in society’s where everyone knows the basic laws and rules and as long as we follow these we can live in an ordered society. So therefore our instinctivness guides us towards the primary precepts, naturally we are attracted to other people for example and so we instinctively know that sex is a huge part of our lives because we are expected to have children. The secondary precepts give people direct guidance as to how to live their everyday lives, for example if a primary precept of a primary precept like ordered in society was don’t graffiti then this helps us understand ways we should act within our society – it teaches us what we are expected not to do. Another strength is that reason is used in making moral decisions. People are treated the same because the situation of an act is not taken into account, it means that everyone is right or wrong and there is no way round it. Weaknesses Natural Law takes an absolutist and deontological view of morality. It takes the view that there are common rules that apply to all people in all communities. Natural law’s main weaknesses are that it assumes that humans are similar, from the research that i did on my PowerPoint i noticed the general outlook is that all humans have moral bases and to some extent know if they are right or wrong – this is not the case. For example, a herion addict is so controlled by the drug they wont think about robbing an old lady is wrong, all their moral values and self-respect goes. Natural Law assumes that all cultures have similar moral standards. It assumes openly that all cultures get the basic idea murder is wrong and should be punished etc. The Natural Law theory assumes all things work towards a common purpose, this may be true for the majority of nature but say i flopped out of school by choice and decided i wanted to sit on my bum all day at home for the rest of my life, I’m not abiding by natural law. As natural law is very strict and absolutist, actions are judged irrespective of their outcomes, this also makes it deontological. This is a weakness because someone may really intend for good but have to do a bad thing to get there for example, if a man was mugging a little old lady and i walked up to him and hit him round the face to protect the woman, i would be seen as going against natural law purley for the fact i hit the man which is wrong as it is assult. So although i ment well because i did a bad action, natural law will say i am wrong. A really bad weakness, although this is a debated as religions may say its a strength is that homosexual people are judged seen as wrong because they cant have children, therefore natural law says its unnatural.