Natural law and the ethical matrix: putting theory into practice

R.J. Lynch

Natural law and the ethical matrix: putting theory into practice

In: Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

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R.J. Lynch

R.J. Lynch Department of Philosophy, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AA, United Kindgodm; r.j.lynch@rdg.ac.uk

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 376–380

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.3920/9789086866731_064

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In this paper I will argue that the philosophical justification of the ethical matrix (EM) should come from natural law theory (NL). In order to construct this argument, I assume that NL is the right system of moral philosophy to employ in life generally, not only in the ethical assessment of e.g. agricultural and food biotechnologies. I shall employ a modern representation of NL which has as its central tenets the notions of practical reason and basic goods. The basic goods are self-evidently good and in practical reason these basic goods guide our judgment in distinguishing between acts that are reasonable allthings- considered and those that are not. Something’s being reasonable is synonymous with its being morally right. The terms practical reason, basic goods and self-evidently good will all be defined at the outset of the paper. I will argue that the EM operates in accordance with this representation of NL. Wellbeing, autonomy and fairness are, I shall argue, self-evident goods and the only basic goods we need to guide us in our moral decision making both generally and specifically when applied to the consideration of emerging technologies. As a reasoning process that aims to reach a conclusion concerning what we should do via a consideration of the impact of a specified course of action on different interest groups as assessed through the medium of self evident basic goods, the EM is an instance of NL. A potential problem with using NL to support the EM lies in the anthropocentric nature of much of the work in the NL tradition. Anthropocentricity will make it hard to justify the impartial consideration between human and non-human interest groups that the EM demands. I will argue, however, that the concepts of sustainability and speciesism can be employed (in opposite directions) to suggest that anthropocentricity is unreasonable and that impartial consideration between human and non-human interest groups is not only justified but also demanded by NL.

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Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

E-Book ISBN:: 9789086866731

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 30 Oct 2009

Subjects
- Life Sciences

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Natural law and the ethical matrix: putting theory into practice

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Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

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