Reference no: EM133563410

Case Study: Thomas Aquinas's theory of natural law strongly influenced the democratic ideal of natural rights (life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness) on which America was founded and which many other nations have adopted. But what do we do when the basic goods of different individuals are in conflict?

• Parent 1: Your elementary-aged child has a severe nut allergy that could be fatal if she is exposed. Your family cannot afford to homeschool or send her to private school, so she is enrolled in the local public school. The only way to assure your child's safety is for the school to ban all nut products from school (peanut butter, almond butter, granola bars, trail mix, Snickers bars, etc.).
• Parent 2: Your elementary-aged child is a picky eater, and you're constantly worried that he's underweight. The only lunch you can send to school that you know he will eat is peanut butter sandwiches. Not only will he not eat any other kind of sandwich, even if he would, you can't afford to send more expensive food with him, and although he has free lunch access at school, he does not eat the food because he does not like it. The only way to assure that your child is not going hungry each day is to send peanut butter sandwiches in his lunch.

Questions: Answer these questions.

1. What basic goods (natural law theory) are in conflict here? (Remember that the basic goods are: life, reproduce, educate offspring, seek God, live in society, avoid offense, shun ignorance, so use these terms.)
2. How do you determine whose rights are more important?
3. How does the difficulty in making this decision about whose rights are more important illustrate one of the major problems of natural law theory?
4. What connection can you make between the basic goods in natural law theory and the rights of citizens in the United States?