“Received Opinion” Strikes Again
Pope Benedict frustrates yet again with his recent comments in Africa sustaining the Church’s ban of all forms of contraception, in this particular case the use of condoms in the fight against AIDs. I can’t help but wonder why Thomist scholars don’t take apart the “received opinion” of the Church’s use of natural law to condemn contraception. Probably don’t want to lose their jobs or are tired of beating a dead horse. It appears to me to be an utter and complete misreading.
I’ve found only one article, from 1965, which contains a common sense statement of the application of natural law to contraception.
Contraception and the Logical Structure of the Thomist Natural Law Theory
Richard H. Beis
Ethics, Vol. 75, No. 4. (Jul., 1965), pp. 277-284.
Here’s the full article. And here are some excerpts:
Consequently, no consideration relevant to the realization of human nature, for example, the world population problem, financial inability to support more children, psychological and physical health of the marriage partners, etc., is extrinsic to the determination of the moral goodness or evil of contraception in terms of Thomist natural law. On the contrary, such considerations are necessarily included in that determination. …
Tags: natural law
