F. Lesson 9

Normative Ethics
- prescriptive in nature as it seeks to

set norms or standards that regulate
right and wrong or good and bad
conduct
- normally attempts to develop
guidelines or theories that tell us how
we ought to behave
Lesson 9
NATURAL LAW
* What is law?
* What are the kinds of law?
* What is the Ethics of Natural Law?
Tommaso
d’Aquino
(1225 – 7 March 1274)
SUMMA THEOLOGIAE
“Treatise on Law”
Questions 90-108
A. What is LAW?
* St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 7 March 1274) defines

law as “nothing else than an ordinance of
reason for the common good, made by
him who has care of the community, and
promulgated”.
* This Thomistic understanding leads to the
essential properties of law.
* The essential properties of law are:
a) to be directed to the common good;
b) to direct human behavior according
to the order of rightness; and,
c) to urge people to do what is
jurisdically prescribed
B. The Kinds of Law
1. Eternal Law
* the divine and rational model
according to which God created the
world
* the divine plan of the universe
* Aquinas argued that the world is ruled by Divine
Providence or ‘Divine Reason’, that is, the whole
community of the universe is governed by
Divine Reason.
* Since time does not exist for the Divine Intellect,
therefore, His understanding is eternal, simply, it
is not temporal, thus, it is eternal.
* Aquinas argued, however, that nobody except
God and the blessed can know this law in itself.
* Nevertheless, “every rational creature knows it
in its reflection, greater or less. For every
knowledge of truth is a kind of reflection and
participation of the eternal law”.
* By participation in cognition of truth, man learns
something about eternal law, for this law “is the
unchangeable truth”.
* So, according to the order of eternal law, all
creatures participate in eternal law, because
each creature has some imprint of Divine
Reason. This imprint directs creatures to their
proper operations and ends.
2. Divine Law
* derived from God and guides man to
perform acts in order to reach his or her
end, which is ‘eternal happiness’
* the divine revelation expressed in the
Holy Scriptures which assists man in
understanding the requirements of law
and morality
* Aquinas argued that man’s natural inclination is
towards virtue or goodness, and that by acting
according to reason, man acts in accordance
with virtue.
* He maintained that man’s ‘good’ tendencies
are to preserve human life, to have children, to
live in society, and to know God.
* For him, the purpose of law was to promote the
‘common good’, which leads to the ‘perfect
community’.
* Moreover, he argued that the Divine Law is
given to men to reduce the quantity of human
errors and to increase the certainty of what
should be done and what should be avoided.
* It was necessary for four reasons:
a) man is ordained to a supernatural end which
surpasses his natural reason
b) because of the uncertainty of human
judgments, different and contradictory laws
result
c) human law could not sufficiently direct interior
acts
d) human law cannot punish or forbid all evil
deeds
* He argued that the Divine Law is given directly
by God, therefore it is not the result of human
judgment but the gift of Divine Grace.
* At the same time, Divine Law does not
contradict human reason, but completes it by
presenting additional rules for life and behavior.
3. Natural Law
* the process whereby man, as a rational
being, participates in the Eternal Law
* Aquinas said that the natural law is “something

appointed by reason” and “nothing else than
the rational creature’s participation of the
eternal law”.
* Aquinas argued that Natural Law is called ‘law’
only because of man’s participation. While
irrational beings are subject to the Eternal Law,
they cannot participate in a rational manner.
* He further maintained that natural law in men,
because of the participation of Divine Reason,
reveals itself by the inclination to seek for good
and shun evil, but first of all, it directs human
actions to the end.
* Aquinas said that the first principle of practical
reason is one founded on the notion of good,
that is, "good is that which all things seek after."
* Hence, this is the first precept of law, that "good
is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be
avoided”.
* Natural law simply implies three essential points:
it is appointed by reason, it is an inclination
towards the good (to do good and avoid evil),
and it is man’s participation of the eternal law.
4. Human Law
* emerges when a public person
entrusted with ‘care of the community’
exercises human reason in order to
interpret the Eternal Law and create
laws
* the application of natural law to
particular societies by way of
“conclusions” and “determinations”
* A private person cannot make laws because
he or she does not have coercive power, or the
power to ‘inflict penalties’.
* A Human Law creates a moral obligation if it
has been promulgated to men by the law-
maker, and if it is just or consistent with ‘divine’
reason (i.e., promotes the common good, does
not exceed law-maker’s authority and does not
impose a disproportionate burden on
individuals).
C. The Ethics of Natural Law
* Man possesses reason – speculative (intellect)
and practical (will).
* Man’s intellect is always inclined towards the
Truth while his will, towards the Good.
* The concept of good is the most fundamental
concept of the practical sphere which is related
to the fundamental precept of natural law that
"good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to
be avoided”.
* The natural law’s precept is the beginning of
ethics; all the rest of ethical precepts
concerning what is to be done and what is to
be avoided are based on it.
* Practical reason understands the precepts of
natural law as human good, and is able to
decide how to fulfill them without recourse to
evil actions.
* The ability of practical reason to discern moral
principles, rules and duties, made Aquinas call
the natural law, “the light of natural reason”.
* This way natural law is understood as practical
reason’s innate inclination, which enables
reason to make moral decisions.
* Understanding the inclinations of human nature
as good, reason directs them towards
corresponding actions.
* Therefore, the order of natural inclinations
corresponds with the order of the directives of
natural law, that is, man has innate orientations
on how to live and behave in this world.
* He then classified man’s natural inclinations as
a natural and rational being.
* There are three levels of them.
1. The first natural inclination to preserve its
own being is common to all substances.
* Therefore, “whatever is a means of
preserving human life, and of warding off its
obstacles, belongs to the natural law”.
Hence, man is obliged to preserve his own
existence.
2. The second level of natural inclination is
directed to the preservation of the species.
* Thus, “in virtue of this inclination, those things
are said to belong to the natural law, ‘which
nature has thought to all animals’, such as
sexual intercourse, education of offspring and
so forth”.
3. The third level of inclinations belong those
which are according to reason.
* Aquinas indicates two of them: “to know the
truth about God, and to live in society”.
* This level involves faith, truth and social
relations.
* This classiﬁcation shows that first of all a human
person strives for self-preservation; secondly, he
seeks to live in community, especially in a
family. Life in a family presupposes an
understanding of the instinct of self-preservation
not only for one’s own sake but also for others.
This way the notion of the common good
comes into being, which on the third level is
understood as the good of society.
* The principle of self-preservation, which
conditions social relations, has to be ordered by
reason, i.e., by law, rules and demands, which
have their own moral significance.
* Thus, the compatibility of action with the demands
of natural law, i.e., with the common good, is an
extremely important criterion for defining its
righteousness. Only those actions which meet that
criterion, does Aquinas call moral, and by this
aspect natural law is moral law.

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Normative Ethics

- prescriptive in nature as it seeks to

* St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 7 March 1274) defines

* Aquinas said that the natural law is “something

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