Explain how Natural Law is both teleological and deontological.

Deontological ethics is a normative, ethical position which judges morality on one’s adherence to the rules. Deontological ethics in most cases are not interested in the consequence of obeying the rules but instead on one’s duty to the rules themselves. According to Aquinas, Natural Law is the divine will of God and thus, one is sinning if they do something which goes against Natural Law. For example, Aquinas would say that contraception is intrinsically wrong and is an apparent good instead of a real good due to the fact that it goes against the primary precept of reproduction. The fact that Natural Law focuses much on the ethicalness on an action and on the duty to a set of rules shows that without a doubt, Natural Law is deontological.

Teleological ethics judges morality on the consequence of an action instead of dogmatically following a series of rules with complete disregard to the consequences of following them. Natural Law is teleological as well, due to the fact that it is based on a teleological worldview, that good is defined by rational ends or final causes which people by nature must adhere to. Aquinas calls these rational ends, objects of the will. Furthermore, Natural Law is also teleological as the sole reason for adhering to the primary precepts is to achieve our god given telos and to allow humanity to flourish. The fact that Natural Law is concerned with the consequences of our actions show that Natural Law is definitely teleological.

However, Natural Law is not simply just deontological or just teleological but instead it is a combination of the both. This is for the reason that firstly, we have no choice on whether to follow them or not, as otherwise we would be going against the divine will of God and our own human nature and secondly, we follow Natural Law with regard to the consequences of our actions, and on whether our actions help us to fulfil our God given telos.