CHAPTER X NATURAL LAW ST.

THOMAS AQUINAS, THE SUMMA THEOLOGICA

St. Thomas Aquinas Biography

Philosopher and theologian St. Thomas Aquinas was born circa 1225 in Roccasecca, Italy. Combining the theological principles of faith with the philosophical principles of reason, he ranked among the most influential thinkers of medieval Scholasticism. An authority of the Roman Catholic Church and a prolific writer, Aquinas died on March 7, 1274, at the Cistercian monastery of Fossanova, near Terracina, Latium, Papal States, Italy.

St. Thomas Aquinas THE SUMMA THEOLOGICA

The Summa Theologica - This work immortalized St. Thomas. The author himself modestly considered it simply a manual of Christian doctrine for the use of students. In reality it is a complete scientifically arranged exposition of theology and at the same time a summary of Christian philosophy. In the brief prologue St. Thomas first calls attention to the difficulties experienced by students of sacred doctrine in his day, the causes assigned being: the multiplication of useless questions, articles, and arguments; the lack of scientific order; frequent repetitions, "which beget disgust and confusion in the minds of learners". Then he adds: "Wishing to avoid these and similar drawbacks, we shall endeavour, confiding in

the Divine assistance, to treat of these things that pertain to sacred doctrine with brevity and clearness, in so far as the subject to be treated will permit." In the introductory question, "On Sacred Doctrine", he proves that, besides the knowledge which reason affords, Revelation also is necessary for salvation first, because without it men could not know the supernatural end to which they must tend by their voluntary acts; secondly, because, without Revelation, even the truths concerning God which could be proved by reason would be known "only by a few, after a long time, and with the admixture of many errors". When revealed truths have been accepted, the mind of man proceeds to explain them and to draw conclusions from them. Hence results theology, which is a science, because it proceeds from principles that are certain. The object, or subject, of this science is God; other things are treated in it only in so far as they relate to God. Reason is used in theology not to prove the truths of faith, which are accepted on the authority of God, but to defend, explain, and develop the doctrines revealed. He thus announces the division of the "Summa": "Since the chief aim of this sacred science is to give the knowledge of God, not only as He is in Himself, but also as He is the Beginning of all things, and the End of all, especially of rational creatures, we shall treat first of God; secondly, of the rational creature's advance towards God ; thirdly, of Christ, Who, as Man, is the way by which we tend to God." God in Himself, and as He is the Creator; God as the End of all things, especially of man; God as the Redeemer these are the leading ideas, the great headings, under which all that pertains to theology is contained.

Natural Law according to Aristotle & St. Thomas Aquinas

Medieval scholasticism was the first great attempt, after the fall of the Roman empire to unite in one body knowledge and revelation, philosophy and theology.

St. Thomas Aquinas works mark the crowning achievement and summation of scholastic philosophy, his lasting accomplishment being the incorporation of Aristotelianism into Christian thought. With St. Augustine, St. Thomas is one of the two leaders in the development of church doctrine. Augustianism is the fusion of Plato & Christianity while Thomism synthesis of Aristotle and Christianity.

For St. Thomas Aquinas, Law is a rule and measure of acts, whereby man is unduced to act or is restrained from acting. The rule and measure of human acts is the reason which is the principle of human acts.

Natural Law according to St. Thomas Aquinas

Man has natural aptitude for virtue but its perfection depends on training For people prone to do evil, they must be restrained by force and fear (discipline of Law)

Human law has so much of the nature of law but any point it deflects from natural law, it is a perversion of law

General Principle for all Practical Reasoning Good is to be done and ensued and evil is to be avoided Order of Natural Inclinations of Man
1. To do good common to all (Preservation of Life)

2. To do things pertaining to himself specially (Procreation) 3. To do good according to nature of his reason

(Truth and Civil Order)

Scholasticism of Natural Law

St. Thomas Aquinas moderated the claims of reason, set limits to its power of proving spiritual truth and maintained that the mysteries of faith cannot be discovered ad proved by unaided reason.

Contribution of St. Augustine in the Philosophy of Law

Proof of the existence of God from Eternal truths: Augustine argued that the human mind apprehends universal, objective, unchanging, and necessary truths that are superior to the human mind itself Thus, an eternal God exists to explain these eternal truths.

Divine Illumination: Augustine developed an epistemology (Theory of Knowledge) Human knowledge is directly dependent upon God.

Aquinas - Aristotelian Augustine Platonic

Two aspects of Justice for St. Thomas Aquinas

Justice According to St. Thomas Aquinas

1. -

Commutative Justice arithmetical proportion Deals with the relations between individuals within a given community

2. -

Distributive Justice geometrical proportion Deals with the relation of the community as a whole to individual.

The Virtue Of Justice

Justice is the disposition of the will to render each one his due.

Justice directs man in his relations to others according to some kind of equality or rightness. This relation of rightness is what is meant by jus. It is a right that is due to other men, and it is this object which specifies the virtue.

Justice influences the actions of a person by directing his or her actions towards the Common Good just as charity directs the actions towards the Divine Good, but the characteristics of both the common good and the divine good are the proper domain of reason.

Natural Law in the Age of Scholasticism

A new philosophy and a new world order did not follow at once upon the entrance of the Christian faith into the ancient world, into a sociocultural complex that was in process of dissolution and was addicted to somber mystical beliefs and practices. Indeed, precisely because of the advancing disintegration, or rather decomposition, of ancient society and culture, a considerable number of early Christians were eschatologically minded; that is, they were unduly concerned with the supposed imminence of the last things, the end of the world and the second coming of the Lord. At all events and for a variety of reasons, the transforming power of Christian doctrine could at first accomplish little. Christianity, however, contains three ideas of decisive importance for the present problem: the idea of the super mundane, transcendent, personal God as Lawgiver in the absolute sense, the idea of Christian personality, whose eternal goal transcends the state, the law, and the mores of the polis; and the idea of the Church as the institution charged with the salvation of mankind standing alongside and, in matters of faith and morals, above the will of the state. Such ideas had in the long run to affect the whole problem of natural law: not, indeed, in order to revolutionize it, but to explore it more thoroughly, to strengthen its foundations, and to complete it materially FOR A REVIVAL OF NATURAL LAW DOCTRINE IN PHILIPPINE JURISPRUDENCE By Jorge R. Coquia

There has been a sudden increase of law schools, but a meager few have ever attempted seriously what legal philosophy they should stress to students. One of the causes is the confusion that there have been many different approaches to what proper end of law is.

There is no denying of the fact that in each attempt to enunciate a new philosophy of law, human experience has led to insoluble difficulties and to

inescapable inadequacies. The ideological conflicts in our times have forced the return to the natural law way of thinking thus giving truth to what Gilson once said that the natural law buries its own undertakers.