THESIS 1:

“Law is an ordinance of Reason, promulgated by Authority and for the

Common Good.”

So many highfalutin words, right? Don’t worry, we shall be exploring deep

in order to fully grasp the meaning of this statement.

Let us first review the first clause: Law is an ordinance of Reason. Let us
first tackle the term ‘law’. Luckily, we went through Law on Obligations and
Contracts by Susan Ballada and Atty. Don James Mendoza, so we have an
inkling as to what it means, correct? If you find yourself rather spotty in your
memory, allow me to refresh: Laws are there in order to promote peace and
order in a community. It basically is a system of rules and conduct that are
applicable to everyone. Law has two general classifications, natural law
which refers to what our dear speaker last time in class said- these are
laws that we know by heart. Everyone knows that stealing is bad, everyone
knows that murder is bad, and the like. Next is the positive law, wherein it
covers only external conduct- it only governs what the person is outwardly
doing, but does nothing to correct any internal musings that they might
think of. Module 3.2 also insists that there are two (2) law classifications,
one of them being Natural Law which coincides with the definition given
earlier, and eternal law, which is, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, the
plan flowing from God’s wisdom directing all acts and movements. Eternal
law is heavily concerned with moral order.

So now that we know what law means, let us then tackle the next terms:
ordinance and reason. Ordinance basically means prescription or
authoritative order, and reason means, sourcing from our past discussions
in Christian Morality, reason is the power of mankind to think- to process
the information given to him and then form decisions grounded on logic in
order to manage the creation of God.

So, in shorter terms, basically the first clause means that the God-given
power of mankind to reason has formed and prescribed certain rules and
regulations.

Next phrase is “promulgated by Authority and for the Common good”.

Promulgated basically, if you employ the advanced tactic of right click
synonym in word means broadcasted and publicized. Authority means
those individuals or entities in a position of power.

Let us take the last terms, Common Good, aside for a while since it
requires a deeper delve into the topic.

To sum our initial explanation up, the first half of the thesis statement
means that laws are basically systems of rules and regulations that were
cooked up by the human mind due to the God-given power of reason. The
ones in power are the ones who spread the word about the laws, making
sure that many know of and follow said rules.

Now that we have kept track of our progress, here comes the best part:
common good.

What is the common good? See, the common good means the action that
would benefit the most people. Its counterpart is the greater good, which
means that one should have a standard that one should strive to achieve.

In basic terms, common good means to strive in order to minimize

disharmony, and greater good means to maximize harmony. The difference
is kinda iffy, right? But let’s put it this way:

A community has three levels: a harmonic community, a neutral community,

and a disharmonic community. Common good is less of trying to achieve a
harmonic community, but rather trying to avoid a disharmonic community. A
common good type of community may be content to sit at a neutral, gray
area kind of zone just so they can avoid disharmony. Greater good, on the
other hand, means always striving to achieve a harmonic community, even
if it means risking disharmony in the process since not everyone has the
same idea of harmony.

So to sum it up, common good means to try to please the many, and
greater good is trying to achieve a standard, despite of its repercussions.

So in short, thesis statement number 1 means that the laws were either
pre-existing or formed by human reason and logic grounded on the
ideology of maintaining peace and contentment, which are then
broadcasted and enforced by the ones in power.