The Nature Of People s Beliefs - 1660 Words

Philosophy allows people to study the nature of people’s beliefs. Throughout history people’s beliefs have differed. At one time people may believe one idea and decades later people may completely disagree with that idea. Not even the ideas of the law are exempt from this occurrence. Since the spoken word, hundreds of philosophers have defined law in different ways. Seeing law in different ways people can come to different conclusions about specific cases. The Fugitive Slave Law was a controversial law in American history. The Fugitive Slave Law allowed slave-owners to capture their slaves who have fled North to free states. In United States v Morris, the emancipators challenged the Fugitive Slave Law in Boston. A group of emancipators†¦show more content†¦Philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas describes the Natural Law theory as a theory coming from the eternal law which is God’s law imprinted on us. People determine moral issues from what is right and wro ng. Aquinas did think the answers for the moral issues were clear; however, he still asserted that sometimes it is hard for people to decipher what was right and wrong. Aquinas thinks laws come from the conclusions made from basic human knowledge - knowing right and wrong. The law of nature derives from morality Aquinas would say that morality and justice are serve from the moral law and justice, and is what morality requires of us (Aquinas). Morality requires us to act righteously. If a law is not moral, thus it is not a law I don t see that you have explained why Aquinas thinks that. The Fugitive Slave Law goes against the laws of nature. Humans have their own free will and the law of nature does not permit one human to claim another human. People are not property and have their own free will. Obviously, morality says people are not possessions. One cannot approach a person and say, â€Å"I own you.† It is not morally justifiable. According to Aquinas, the Fugitive Slave L aw is not a real law because it does not follow morality. At the time of the Fugitive Slave Law, people knew slavery was wrong; so, the jurors in Morris did conduct in the appropriate manner. As stated before, natural law theory states a law requires morality. The jurors