Natural Law and Human Dignity
Subtitle: Universal Ethics in an Historical World
Contributors: Brian McNeil (Translator)
Publisher: Catholic University of America Press
Published: October 2003
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 336
ISBN-13: 9780813213408
Subjects: Ethics & moral philosophy; Theology; Religious aspects; Christianity - Theology - General; Christian ethics; Religion - Catholicism; Religion - Classic Works; Religion; Ethics; Christian Theology - Catholic; Christian Theology - Ethics; Sociology of Religion; Catholic authors; Christian Theology - General; Catholic Church; Natural law
First sentence: OF ALL THE CENTRAL concepts of Christian ethics, it is the concept of the natural law that most forcefully reminds theological ethical reflection of the debates and problems connected with the question of its own foundations.
Description: Publisher's description: Do human rights apply only to a certain culture group or can they be demanded of all cultures and religions? This discussion about a common world ethos demonstrates how relevant and explosive that question is. In his study of ethical relativism and historical thinking, Eberhard Schockenhoff shows how the universal recognition of fundamental norms that guarantee the minimum conditions for human existence can be substantiated. Dealing critically with the two most important branches of research in present-day moral theology--autonomous morality and teleological ethics--the author presents a new theological-ethical theory of natural law. Integrating the theory of practical reason and Aquinas₂ understanding of natural inclinations, Schockenhoff compares this synthesis to the insights of present-day anthropology. This method allows him to re-establish a connection to classical natural law ethics. In so doing, he indicates how ethics can fulfill its most important duty: to arrive at the recognition of anthropologically grounded material norms without falling prey to a logical error. According to Schockenhoff, claims of natural law and of human rights formulate an indispensable minimum, while biblical ethics (the decalogue and the Sermon of the Mount) and the high ethos of the world religions point the way to an encompassing realization of the concept of the good life.