Back to TGE 1257 - Ethics in Applied Technology

Part 4.4: Ethical Excavations (Natural Law)

Authors: Clayn D. Lambert
License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Topic Outcomes

By the end of Part 4, you should be able to:

  • Excavate existing natural law patterns in your personal reasoning

  • Analyze origins and development of your universal principle-focused thinking

  • Navigate tensions between natural law and other reasoning approaches

  • Apply archaeological analysis method to discover rather than learn framework concepts

  • Integrate natural law insights into your ongoing conflict map through citations and addenda

Topic Summary

Excavate Existing Natural Law Patterns in Personal Reasoning

Students will identify where universal principle-based, objective moral order-focused, and human nature-centered thinking already appears in their ethical decision-making.

Evidence of Learning:

  • Recognizes existing appeals to universal moral truths that transcend cultural or individual preferences

  • Identifies personal assumptions about objective right and wrong based on human nature or rational order

  • Discovers unconscious natural order considerations in decision-making patterns

  • Maps where universal principle reasoning conflicts with relativistic or contextual approaches

Analyze Origins and Development of Natural Law Thinking

Students will trace how their universal principle-focused reasoning patterns developed through personal experience and cultural influences.

Evidence of Learning:

  • Connects natural law patterns to religious background, philosophical education, or formative moral experiences

  • Explains how focus on objective moral order might have been shaped by personal history

  • Identifies sources of their approach to universal human nature and rational moral discovery

  • Recognizes environmental or experiential factors that encouraged belief in transcendent moral principles

Navigate Tensions Between Natural Law and Other Reasoning Patterns

Students will explore conflicts between universal principle thinking and culturally relative, agreement-based, or consequence-focused approaches in their reasoning.

Evidence of Learning:

  • Identifies specific conflicts between objective moral claims and cultural sensitivity or individual autonomy

  • Explores tensions between rational moral discovery and emotional or intuitive moral responses

  • Recognizes where natural law logic conflicts with utilitarian flexibility or social contract negotiations

  • Analyzes situations where appeal to universal principles feels dogmatic or culturally imposed

Apply Archaeological Analysis Method to Philosophical Framework

Students will use AI-guided excavation to discover rather than learn about natural law concepts, treating themselves as the primary source.

Evidence of Learning:

  • Maintains focus on personal reasoning patterns rather than theoretical knowledge

  • Uses AI to probe for hidden universal principle assumptions and objective moral claims

  • Engages in genuine discovery of existing patterns rather than confirmation of framework

  • Demonstrates honest assessment of natural law presence (or absence) in their thinking

Integrate Natural Law Analysis into Ongoing Conflict Map

Students will add natural law insights to their developing understanding of personal ethical complexity through citations and addendum creation.

Evidence of Learning:

  • Creates natural law addendum that identifies specific patterns and tensions

  • Adds citations to existing conflict map indicating universal principle reasoning

  • Updates understanding of ethical complexity based on natural law excavation

  • Builds cumulative analysis that integrates multiple philosophical perspectives

Topic Sources

Topic Authors

Clayn D. Lambert