Foundations of Healthcare Ethics Theory to Practice

The concept of natural law has a venerable past in the Western world, having its beginnings in ancient Greece. For example, in the Theban plays, Sophocles illustrates how human actions have to conform to the laws governing human beings that have been ordained by the gods. Natural law theory holds that an understanding of human nature reveals that there are basic human goods, which all human beings need in order to flourish and be fulfilled. Although there are differing views about what is to be included in the list of basic human goods, the broadest list includes life, work and play, beauty, truth, friendship, self-integration, peace of conscience, marriage and religion. Natural law holds that these goods are incommensurable, and one cannot be preferred over another – although some goods may be dominant in particular lives. Crucially, whether some goods dominate or not, we need to share in all the goods to some extent. This leads to some potential problems in terms of ethical decision-making.

The idea of a law

The idea of the natural law is very broad, and not only encompasses views about natural science and the laws governing natural phenomena, but also extends across a number of disciplines, such as law, politics, theology and, of course, ethics. In some respects, all of these areas in the natural law tradition intersect with one another, and arguably the natural law that lies at the base of all of these disciplines is the same natural law. It is claimed that it is the natural law that justifies our intuitions about what is morally right. It is morally right to do our best to heal our patients, for example, because one of the basic human goods is life and health. It is one we all need to lead flourishing lives. We shall provide a brief account of what we might understand by a natural law or law of nature, and then outline how the idea can be applied to develop a normative ethical theory with universal application.