Chapter 3 Natural Law

Chapter 3
NATURAL LAW
Natural Law
• A system of right or justice held to be

common to all humans and derived from
nature.
What do natural and
Unnatural mean?
 Referto some kind of intuition (feeling) that a person
has , one that is so apparently true to him that is
unquestioned.
 Used as an appeal (request) to something instinctual

(innate, essential) without it being directed by reason.
 Refer to what seems common to particular environment.

Ideas of Natural
Law
Thomas Plato
Aristotle
Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas
-Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church, a

Dominican friar who was the preeminent
intellectual figure of the scholastic period of
the middle ages.
Fundamental Truth
“We are created by God in order to

ultimately return to him”.
Summa
Theologiae
Man Christ
God (Strive towards (Saviour)
(Nature) God)
Creation Pursuit of Happiness Salvation

Humans have the innate nature to understand what is
good and evil.
God
P
u
r G
E o
Emotions v
p
o o Human Reason
i s d
l e
Nature
Human Being
Context of Aquinas Ethics
Moral Choices-
Good
Leads Contributes to
Disposition moral Virtue
Context of Aquinas Ethics
Bad Immoral
Disposition Leads Choices-Vices
Neoplatonic
Good
Central Belief of the Christian Faith
• God creates everything in this world that’s why he
is the only one who can govern the activities and
cares every creature in this universe.
Idea
◦ Being with the universe from which all other things reside
is the supreme source of goodness.
◦ Knowledge of the good is the highest knowledge a human
is capable of.
◦ Good is real and not something that can pretend to make up
or ignore.
Aristotelian Being and
Becoming
Being
◦ A concept encompassing object and subjective

features of reality and existence.
◦ Anything that exist is BEING.
The Four causes of Aristotle
1. Material cause
◦ The things out of which the object is created.
Example:
The material cause of water freezing into an ice
cube would be the water.
The material cause of a book being written
would be the paper and the ink.
2. Formal cause
◦ the expression, idea or plan that led to
the creation of an object.
Example:
◦ The formal cause of an object is its shape, that it
is cubic.
3. Efficient cause
◦ the way in which an object is created.
Example:
◦ The efficient cause of a book is the idea of
the story in the author.
4. Final cause
◦ the aim for which an object is created.
Example:
◦ The final cause of a book is to entertain and
educate a reader.
Becoming
◦ A continuous moving presence of the ontological
or subjective self.
◦ it is the essential nature of concrete material

objects which are always changing.
Two principles
1. Potency or Potentiality
◦ is the transition from one mode of being to another,
or the coming to be of some new being or mode of
being.
2. Act or Actuality
◦ is the motion, change or activity that
represents an exercise or fulfillment of a
possibility, when a possibility becomes real in
the fullest sense.
Aquinas
 God’s act, like an emanation of light, is the creation

of beings.
 God’s will and love is the cause of all things.
 Only God in the fullness of his being and goodness is
perfect.
 Beings are created by God in a particular way.
THE ESSENCE AND VARIETIES OF LAW
ESSENCE OF LAW
…We act in a certain way to achieve them, so goods
are sometimes referred to as the ends of action..
A politician who won the election.
Zeus pass the CPALE board exam.
Moana won the miss universe Philippines.
Mely was promoted as president of the J company.

..We cannot simply act in pursuit of our own end or
good without any regard for other people’s ends or
good.
_Aquinas
Common Good
Considering what is good for the community as
well as our own good.
Law
Is a rule and measures of acts, whereby
man is induced to act or is restrained
from acting.
The determination of the proper measure of our
acts.
Is concerned with common goods.
It is referred to as promulgation.

VARIETIES OF LAW
Eternal Law
• Refers to what God wills for creation, how
each participant in it is intended to return to
him.
• Examples
• John 3:16,
• Malachi 3:7
Divine law
Refers specifically to the instances where we
have percepts or instructions that come from
divine revelation.
◦ Example
 The Ten Commandments ( Exodus 20: 3-17)
 ..Love the Lord your God.. (Luke 10:25-28)
Human Law
Refers to all instances wherein human
beings construct and enforce laws in their
communities.
Example:
State law
Natural Law
The divine inspiration in man of the sense of

justice, fairness, and righteousness.
Specific
Concern of
Natural law
In Common In common Uniquely

with other with other Human
Being animals
Desire to Preserve Sexual Act Uniquely Human
one’s Being Care for one’s
offspring

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Chapter 3

• A system of right or justice held to be

 Used as an appeal (request) to something instinctual

 Refer to what seems common to particular environment.

-Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church, a

“We are created by God in order to

Creation Pursuit of Happiness Salvation

◦ A concept encompassing object and subjective

◦ it is the essential nature of concrete material

 God’s act, like an emanation of light, is the creation

Zeus pass the CPALE board exam.

Moana won the miss universe Philippines.

Mely was promoted as president of the J company.

Is concerned with common goods.

It is referred to as promulgation.

The divine inspiration in man of the sense of

In Common In common Uniquely

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