Lesson 1: Intro: St Thomas Aquinas' Ethics

Natural and Unnatural

In October 2016, newspapers reported that Pantaleon Alvarez, Speaker of the House of
Representatives, was intending to draft a bill which would amend the country's Family Code,
thereby allowing for the legalization of same-sex unions. This would result in the possibility of
two men together or two women together being identified as a couple with rights guaranteed
and protected by the law. However, as one newspaper report revealed, even before anything
could be formally proposed, other fellow legislators had already expressed to the media their
refusal to support any such initiative. [1]

The reasons given in the news article vary, ranging from the opinion that seeing two men kiss is
unsightly, to the statement that there is something "irregular" about belonging to the Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community, and to the judgment that two people of the
same sex being together is unnatural.

We are used to hearing people justify done something by making the appeal that, what they
maintain is what is "natural," and therefore acceptable. Likewise, people would judge something
as unacceptable on the basis that it is supposedly "unnatural." Thus, we are no longer surprised
when we hear people condemn and label many different things as "unnatural": maybe receiving
blood transfusions, eating meat, or, as our news report shows, engaging in sexual relations that
one might consider deviant. We also realize that sometimes we might find ourselves astonished
or perplexed as to what different people might consider "unnatural."

In order to proceed, it is therefore necessary to ask: "What do the words natural and unnatural
mean?" Sometimes, the word "natural" seems to be used to refer to some kind of intuition that a
person has, one which so apparently true to him that it is unquestioned. For example, a woman
may claim that it is simply "unnatural" to eat any kind of insect, and what this means is that she
personally finds herself averse to the idea of doing so. In other instances, the word is used to try
to justify a certain way of behaving by seeing its likeness somewhere in the natural world. For
example, a man might claim that it is okay for him to have more than one sexual partner, since,
in a pride of lions, the alpha male gets to mate with all the she lions. In yet other instances, the
word "natural" is used as an appeal to something instinctual without it being directed by reason.
For example, a man may deem it all right if he were to urinate just anywhere because after all
he sees it as "natural" function of humans. Lastly, we also easily find people using the word
"natural" to refer to what seems common to them given their particular environment. For
instance, a Filipina may suppose that eating three full meals of rice and ulam every day is what
is "natural" because everyone she knows behave in that way.

Given these varied meanings of the term "natural," we need to find a more solid and nuanced
way to understand the term. In this module, we will explore how Thomas Aquinas provides this,
emphasizing the capacity for reason as what is essential in our human nature. This
understanding of human nature anchored on our capacity for reason will become the basis of
the natural law theory, a theory which will provide us a unique way of determining the moral
status of our actions.

NOTE 
[1] Cayabyab, Marc Jayson. "Minority Solons Oppose Same Sex Union: It's-Unnatural-
Unsightly." Newinfo.inquirer.net, 5 October 2016 http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/822013/minority-
solons-oppose-same-sex-union-its-unnatural-unsightly-2. Accessed 26 July 2017.

Source: Bulaong, Oscar G, Calano, Mark Joseph T, Lagliva, Albert M, Mariano, Michael

Ner E, Principe, Jesus Deogracias Z. Ethics: Foundations of Moral Valuation. Manila: Rex
Book Store, Inc., 2018.