nature; on this basis, birth control through artificial means is condemned as an intrinsically immoral act."6 However, if a conclusion deduced from biology is applied to ethics, the encyclical letter can be criticized for using the naturalistic fallacy that an "is" necessarily leads directly to an "ought.'

However, suggestions that the content of the encyclical is naturalistic, which consequently leads to a rejection of the precepts of natural law on which the encyclical hinges, must be emphatically rejected in the name of common sense (and all the more if the Church's teachings are to be dealt with in good faith). If something which had previously been incorrectly defined is later rejected, then this is an inevitable consequence of this erroneous premise. This would mean attributing an interpretation to the positions of the Church's teachings that the Church itself, in fact, does not advocate, simply for the sake of questioning said positions and eliminating them as legitimate courses of action.

The fallacy of biologism, I would argue, results from a flawed analysis of the concept of nature on which Humanae Vitae is based. This essay will therefore begin by analyzing this concept and will then provide underpinnings in terms of moral philosophy.

The Dual Dimensionality of Conjugal Acts

With reference to the encyclical's precepts of natural law, the statement in §12 is of paramount importance: "This particular doctrine, often expounded by the magisterium of the Church, is based on the inseparable connection, established by God, ... between the unitive significance and the procreative significance, which are both inherent to the marriage act."7 Only if both of these essential qualities are taken into consideration at the same time, will sexual intercourse in marriage "fully retain its sense of true mutual love," the Pope continued. In other words, it is not some sort of biological order that needs to be respected simply because it exists; instead, the conditions of true love-the order of love-are what constitutes the meaning of the conjugal act in the first place. The final sentence of this entire section provides the key to this statement: "We believe that our contemporaries are particularly capable of seeing that this teaching is in harmony with human reason." Appealing to reason opens up a broader perspective, something that transcends mere biology.

The reasons for this harmony with human reason are cited in §13.

6 Friedo Ricken, "Art, Naturrecht I :. Altkirchliche, mittelalterliche und römischkatholische Interpretationen, in: Theological Real Encyclopedia 24 (2000): 132-53, at 150.7 Paul VI, Humanae Vitae, §12.

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Order of Nature–Order of Love: Arguments against a Naturalistic (Mis-)Interpretation of Humanae Vitae

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