Chapter III: In particular, morality was, he claimed, based on

Aristotle’s argument that all human beings share a

Natural Law
common human nature.
We are used to hearing people justify something by
Human nature is a bundle of characteristics, including
making the appeal that what they maintain is what is
ways of thinking, feeling, and acting, which humans
“natural,” and therefore acceptable. Likewise, people
are said to have naturally. The term is often regarded
would judge something as unacceptable on the basis
as capturing what it is to be human, or the essence of
that it is supposedly “unnatural.”
humanity.
Thomas Aquinas -emphasizing the capacity for
reason as what is essential in our human nature. This
understanding of human nature anchored on our The essence of humanity is to strive towards the
capacity for reason will become the basis of the freedom of the will based on real knowledge of the
natural law theory, a theory which will provide us a world .
unique way of determining the moral status of our
actions.
The Context of the Christian Story
- was probably the greatest
philosopher and theologian of the last 2000 years. He The fundamental truth maintained and elaborated by
used the philosophy of Aristotle -which had been kept Aquinas in all his works is the promise right at the
alive in the great Islamic centres of learning - to make center of the Christian faith: that we are created by
sense of Christian morality and theology. God in order to ultimately return to Him (Summa
Theologiae).
- begins from the standpoint of
faith. His perspective presupposes the existence of a
God who is the author( source )and the goal (end )of
all reality. In other words, salvation is only possible through the
presence of God’s grace and that grace has become
was influential in his articulation of perfectly incarnate in the person of Jesus.
theory of natural law.
THE GREEK HERITAGE
Natural Law provide us a unique way of determining
the moral status of our actions. In the hands of the Neoplatonists, Plato’s idea of the
good, which is the source of all beings, becomes
Natural law is the concept of a body of moral identified with the One and the Beautiful. This is the
principles that is common to all humankind. ultimate reality which is the oneness that will give rise
to the multiplicity of everything else in the cosmos. All
Natural law is therefore distinguished from -- and
these beings have a single goal, which is to return to
provides a standard for -- positive law, the formal legal
that unity.
enactments of a particular society
Through Neoplatonists like Plotinus, the Platonic idea
In accordance with this foundational knowledge, the
of the good would continue well into the Christian
human person can choose to act in such a way that is
Middle Ages, inspiring later thinkers and allowing it to
worthy of one’s very reality. The human being then is
be thought anew in a more personal way as a creative
said to be gifted with “ the ability to know the highest
and loving God.
good”

In every heart, of every human person as the dictate

of “doing good and avoiding evil”
Aristotelian Being and Becoming

Any being, according to Aristotle, can be said to have Under the governance of the Divine, beings are
four causes – material, formal, efficient, and final. directed as to how their acts are to lead them to their
end, which is to return to Him.
We recognize that any being we can see around is
corporeal, possessed of a certain materiality or THE ESSENCE AND VARIETIES OF LAW
physical “stuff.” We can refer to this as the material
Essence
cause.
In thinking about what is good for us, it is also quite
The “shape” that makes a being a particular kind can
possible that we end up thinking exclusively of our
be called its form. Thus, each being also has a formal
own good. Aquinas reminds us that this will not do;
cause.
we cannot simply act in pursuit of our own ends or
There is something which brings about the presence of good without any regard for other people’s ends or
another being. This can be referred to as the efficient good. Since we belong to a community, we have to
cause. consider what is good for the community as well as
our own good. This can be called the common good.
The sense of end or “that for the sake of which” a
thing is done is the final cause. A being has an A law, therefore, is concerned with the common good.
apparent end or goal. In a way, making of a law belongs either to the whole
people or to a public person who has care for the
common good or is tasked with the concern for the
good of the community or of the whole people.

Varieties

Aquinas points out that while reflecting on our human

nature will provide us the precepts of the natural law,
these are quite general and would have to be made
more specific, and at the same time more concrete in
the actual operation of human acts. For this reason,
there is also human law.

Natural Law

It is that all those things to which man has a natural

Synthesis inclination, are naturally apprehended by reason as
being good, and consequently as objects of pursuit,
The idea of a transcendent good prior to all being and their contraries as evil, and objects of avoidance.
resurfaces in Aquinas in the form of the good and
loving God, who is Himself the fullness of being and of In Common with Other Beings
goodness; as Aquinas puts it, God is that which Human beings, are both unique and at the same time
essentially is and is essentially good. participating in the community of the rest of creation.
However, while beings are good because they are Our presence in the rest of creation does not only
created by God, the goodness possessed by being mean that we interact with creatures that are not
remains imperfect. human, but that there is also in our nature something
that shares in the nature of other beings.
Given that we are beings with a capacity for reason,
our way of reaching God is by knowing and loving Him.
 In Common with Other Animals

Aquinas then goes on to say that there is in our human

nature, common with other animals, a desire that has
to do with sexual intercourse and the care of one’s
offspring.

Uniquely Human

We have an inclination to do good according to the

nature of our reason. With this, we have a natural
inclination to know the truth about God and to live in
society.

LESSON SUMMARY

In this chapter,

1. We have seen how a natural law theory is

instrumental to an ethics that is rooted in
the Christian faith.
2. In elaborating this, we explored how Aquinas
had synthesized concepts of the ancient Greeks to put
forward an intellectual grounding that can overcome
the limitations of a simplistic divine command theory.

3. We are provided an objective basis for ethics:

our own natural inclinations. Since these are given by
God, they provide us the path toward our perfection.

4. Our natural inclinations enumerated by

Aquinas include the desire to preserve our being, the
sexual act and its fecundity, and our use of reason.