Natural

Law

St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas

❖ Also known as Doctor Angelicus and Doctor

Communis
❖ Born in 1225 Aquino, Italy
❖ Died in 1274 in Italy
❖ Referred to as Thomas Aquinas (AQUINO)
refers to where he was born.
❖ Italian Dominican friar, philosopher,
Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church
❖ Theologian, and jurist in the tradition of
scholasticism
❖ Begins his natural law theory by
differentiating human acts from acts of man.
 Aquinas was a theologian who
used philosophy in the service of
his theological arguments.
He aimed to show how theology
benefited from philosophical
argumentation, especially that of
Aristotle, whom he regarded as
St. Thomas "The Philosopher." In his works
such as the Summa Theologica, he
of scrupulously and methodically
gave the arguments both for and
Aquinas against every question he raised.
His view on the human person,
however, was strongly influenced by
the earlier tradition going back to
Augustine. He retained the view of
the primacy of the soul but there is
no negative character of opposition
to the body. For him, matter and
spirit are always united. For the
most part, Aquinas studiously
avoided any dissociation or dualism
in his view on the human person.
By defining the soul as the form of the body,
Aquinas eliminated all dualistic ideas, such as the
preexistence of the soul. Moreover, he stressed
that the bond between body and soul is not an
accidental union. The soul has no independent
being apart from the body; there is no body
without a soul and the latter can only express
itself and be actualized in the body.

But Aquinas reversed the description given by

Tertullian, a notable Christian apologist, of the
human person as an animated body, by saying that
the human person is an embodied spirit. He made
the essential point, however, that body or matter is
not a prison in which the soul is enslaved.
 Natural Law
– Natural law is a system in which actions are
seen as morally and ethically correct if t
accords with the end purpose of human nature
and human goals.
– Follows the fundamental maxim, ‘do good
and avoid evil’.
 Human Acts

– Human acts as Aquinas expressed proceeds from the will.

Acts of Man

– Is an action that does not proceeds from

the will
Moral Object
– The intention inherent in the action
that one is actually performing.
– It specifies the human act and is the
purpose that the act accomplishes as a
means to the ultimate goal of life.
– Although the moral object or finis
operis is the fundamental element of
the morality of the human act, that is
also the circumstance.
Circumstance
- is the part of the human act
that must be considered
in order to evaluate the
total moral act. Can be
considered in various moral
questions, thus, be might
ask, ‘who’, ‘when’, ‘how
much’ or ‘in what
manner’.
Intention / Motive
– The ultimate reason that
determines the moral act
– Is a means towards
attainment of true happiness
both of a agent and the
common good.
Principle of
Double-Effect
 Principle of Double-Effect

o Designed by Aquinas

o Used in order to judge the moral acceptability of

the human act that has two effect:
o GOOD
o EVIL
Traditional Moral Theology, presents
four conditions for the Double-effect
Principle to be applied:
1. The action is good
itself or at least
indifferent
2. The Good effect must
come first before the evil
effect or a least
simultaneously
3. The Good effect must
be intended
 4. There must be a
proportionately grave reason
for the evil effect to happen
THOMAS AQUINAS
Medieval Thinker Thomas
Aquinas

– This natural law of theory is part of

a larger project, which is Aquinas’
vision of the Christian faith.
 The Context of Aquinas’ Ethics
o How in our pursuit of happiness we direct our
actions toward specific ends.
o How our actions are related to certain dispositions
in a dynamic way since our actions arise from our
habits and at the same time reinforce a good
disposition leading us toward making moral
choices.
 The Context of Aquinas’ Ethics
o The Christian Life is about developing the capacities given
us by God into a disposition of virtue inclined toward the
good
o Aquinas also puts forward that there is within us a
conscience that directs our moral thinking
o We are called to heed the voice of conscience and enjoined to
develop and maintain a life of virtue.
 The Context of Aquinas’ Ethics
o However, we need a basis for our conscience to
be properly informed, and we need a clearer
guidepost on whether certain decisions we make
lead us toward virtue or vice.
o Being told that one should heed one’s
conscience or that one should try to be
virtuous, does very little to guide people as to
what specifically should be done in a given
situation
 The Context of Aquinas’
Ethics

o There is a need or a clearer basis of ethics, a

ground the will more concretely direct our sense
of what is wrong and right
o For Aquinas, there should be Natural Law
THE
ESSENCE
AND
VARIETIES
OF LAW
ESSENCE OF LAW
ESSENCE OF LAW
–ACTIONS are directed
toward attaining ends or
goods that we desire.
ESSENCE OF LAW
– There are many possible
desirable ends or goods, and we
act in such ways to pursue them.
– ACTS are rightly toward
their ends by reason.
 •AQUINAS reminds us that we
cannot simply act in pursuit of our
own ends or good without any
regard for other people's end or
good.
We are not isolated beings, but
beings who belong to a
community.
 •Since we belong to a community, we have to
consider
what is good for the community as well as our
own good. This can be called COMMON
GOOD.

•We should recognize the proper measure or the

limits in our acts in a way that we can pursue ends,
about our own and that of others, together. The
determination of the proper measure of our acts can
be referred to as LAW.
•We should recognize the
proper measure or the limits
in our acts in a way that we
can pursue ends, about our
own and that of others,
together. The determination of
the proper measure of our
acts can be referred to as
LAW.
•A LAW, therefore, is
concerned with the
COMMON GOOD.
 •I t is also necessary for
rules or laws to be
communicated to the
people involved in order to
enforce them and to better
ensure compliance. This is
referred to as
PROMULGATION.
 •"The definition of law may be
gathered; and it is nothing else than an

ordinance or reason, for the common

good, made by him who has care of the

community and promulgated." —

Aquinas
VARIETIES OF LAW
VARIETIES OF LAW
– "He governs all the acts and
movements that are to be found in
each single creature, so the type of
Divine Wisdom, as moving all
things to their due end, bears the
character of law."
 • What God wills for
creation

ETERNAL • How each participant in it

is intended to return to
LAW Him

We must recognize that we are part of the eternal law and we participate in it in a special
way.
 Irrational creatures are participating in the
eternal law, although we could hardly say
that they are in any way "conscious" of this
law
.

Aquinas notes that "we cannot speak of them

by obeying the law, except by the way of
similitude"
 "Wherefore it has a share of the
.

External Reason, whereby it has a

natural inclination to it's proper act
and end"
- this participation of the external
law in the natural creature is called
NATURAL LAW
 HUMAN LAW

refers to all
instances wherein
human being
construct and
enforce laws in
their community
 ETERNAL LAW

refers
specifically to
the instances
where we have
what is handed
down to us in
sacred scripture
 "So then no one can
know the eternal law,
as it is in itself, except
the blessed who sees
God in His Essence."
 IN COMMON IN
OTHER BEINGS
We have to consider how we, human beings, are both
unique and at the same time participating in the
community of the rest of creation. Our presence in the
rest of creation does not only mean that we interact with
creatures that are not human, but that there is also in our
nature something that shares in the nature of other
beings.
 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. As the matter of fact, animals periodically
engage in sexual intercourse at a specific time of “heat”, and this could
result an offspring. In human too, that natural inclination to engage in
the sexual act and to reproduce exists.
Thomas writes certain special sins are said to be against nature, thus
contrary to sexual intercourse,
which is natural to all animals, is unisexual lust, which has received the
special name of the unnatural
crime.
UNIQUELY
HUMAN
 Uniquely Human
o We have an inclination to do good
according to the nature of our reasons.
o With this, we have a natural inclination to
know the truth about God and to live in
Society.
o It is of interest that this is followed by
matters of both an epistemic and a social
concern.
 Uniquely Human
o General guideposts:
o Epistemic Concern – which is that we know we
pursue the
truth

o Social Concern – which is that we know we live in relation to

others
Uniquely Human

St. Thomas tells us that there is

a priority among the powers of
our soul, with the intellectual
directing and commanding our
sensitive and nutritive
capacities
 Uniquely Human
Recognizing how being rational is what is proper to
man, the apparent vagueness of the third
inclination that Aquinas mentions is
counterbalanced by the recognition that he is not
interested in providing precepts that one would
simply, unthinkingly follow
 Uniquely Human
o In making human laws, additions that are not
at all problematic for the natural law are
possible.
o As Aquinas puts it, nothing hinders a change
in the natural law by way of addition, since our
reason has found and can find many things
that benefit individual and communal human
life.
THANK YOU!!!