The Natural Law:

St. Thomas Aquinas

(HUM 02 BSAIS 3A)
Prof. Raul Samson
Who is St. Thomas Aquinas
• An Italian Catholic priest who belongs to the religious
Order of Preachers (OP) or Dominicans.

• Was born in 1225

• The title Aquinas identifies his place of origin,

• He was born to an affluent and influential family, his

father was recognized as the count of Aquino;
Who is St. Thomas Aquinas
• His early studies were under the tutelage of the
Benedictine Abbot of Monte Cassina;
• But at the age of 14 he enrolled at the University of
Naples
• He was deeply impressed by the Dominicans whom
he later met at the University of Naples that made
him decided to join the Order of Preachers at the age
of 19 in 1244 instead of the Benedictines who were
his first teacher.
Who is St. Thomas Aquinas
• Thomas became the Master of Theology;
• His remaining life were spent on lectures,
instructions, writings and quodlibets (the traditions of
answering questions posed by participants who were
in a dialogue somewhat akin to the ancient syposium
of the Greeks.)
• Thomas died on March 7, 1274 having behind him
notable works like Summa Contra Gentiles ("Book on
the truth of the Catholic faith against the errors of the
unbelievers),
Who is St. Thomas Aquinas
• The Catholic church honors him as a Doctor, a title
given to saints who are recognized as giver of
particularly important insights in the understanding of
Christian doctrine or faith.
Who is St. Thomas Aquinas
• Summa Theologiae (focuses on religious matters
pertinent to the organization and doctrine of the Catholic
faith, discussions of virtues and the Sacraments, and the
nature of the Christian triune God and His creation);

• De Veritate (combines a theory of knowledge with a

partial psychology, a methodology for the investigation of
truth, and a scheme of natural religion. );
Who is St. Thomas Aquinas
• The Catholic Church honors him as a Doctor, a title
given to saints who are recognized as giver of
particularly important insights in the understanding of
Christian doctrine of faith.
Etsi Deus non daretur
• loosely translated means 'as though God did not
exist.

• St. Thomas’ perspective presupposes the existence

of God who is the author (source) and the goal (end)
of all reality.

• This Creator for St. Thomas, however relates in

freedom with the human person and so enables
him/her in freedom to recognized through reason, the
very principle of foundations of all things.
Etsi Deus non daretur
• In accordance with this foundational knowledge, the
human person can choose to act in such a way that
is worthy of one’s very reality.
• One who can reach the wisdom at the very heart of
all things is obliged to act in accordance with his/her
dignity.
• The human being then is said to be gifted with “the
ability to know the highest good” that engages
him/her in freedom in “choosing to act on the good
that he/she ought to do.
Etsi Deus non daretur
• Freedom here is knowing the best goal and being
able to reach for it through decisive action.

• For St. Thomas, God reveals his Goodwill as the

eternal Law reflected in the order of reality.

• Relating with the Law emanates to govern all that is.

• The reality then of live as growth, nutrition, and

reproduction is founded on the will that is eternal.
Conscience and Natural Law
• The ability of man to know is important in his/her
acting ethically.

• If, one follows St. Thomas’ discussion on conscience,

one is inclined to conclude that “ it is the proper
functioning of reason in moving the human person
towards an end goal that is fitting of his/her dignity.”

• One cannot do the right thing if one does not know

what it is.
Conscience and Natural Law
• The famous dictate then to follow the conscience
absolutely is tied to an obligation to educate it.

• Even one does not know, he/she is obliged to know.

• If one acts badly out of ignorance and does not act to

rectify the situation by bothering to learn, that person
is to be held accountable.
Conscience and Natural Law
• There are different kinds of conscience that may lead
us to wrongdoing:

• CALLOUS,
• PERPLEXED

• SCRUPULOUS

• IGNORANT
Conscience and Natural Law
• The uninformed conscience simply lacks education,
while the perplexed one needs guidance in sorting
out one’s confusion.
• The callous and scrupulous are binary opposites but
both are malformed in being to lax or too strict.

• Callousness of the conscience results in the long-

time persistence in doing evil that the self is no
longer concerned whether what he/she does is good
or bad.
Conscience and Natural Law
• Scrupulousness, on the other, fails to trust one’s
ability to do good and, hence overly concerns itself
with avoiding what is bad to the point of seeing
wrong where there really is none.
Three Contemporary Questions

• Who am I?
• Who do I want to be?
• How can I get there?
Three Contemporary Questions
• Who am ?
• Thomastic Natural Law interrogates the identity of
the human person.
• If one is endowed with his/her own facticity, history,
and abilities, his/her present reality is accessible to
him/her through self-knowledge and reflection.

• This assessment of one’s own strengths and

weaknesses is critical in being able to do good and
avoid evil.
Three Contemporary Questions
• Who am I?
• This ethical task is not only an outward truth.

• Doing good determines the actor in a reality that is

good and doing bad malforms him/her too.

• The reality of human identity is that it is something

defined yet also always in process.
Three Contemporary Questions
• Who do I want to be?
• Defining the self gives one a chance to clarify his/her
goal;
• The human person’s self-knowledge is dynamic, that
is, it is always open to the direction set by what one
wants to make of himself/herself.
• Self-knowledge here is malleable towards self-
determination.
Three Contemporary Questions
• Who do I want to be?

• Ethical acts give direction through freedom to build

up the self towards a particular goal.

• The human reason is so gifted that it is able to

discern through options and daily realities.

• Decisions are the basis of one’s freedom in choosing

what one wants to be.
Three Contemporary Questions
• How can I get there?
• Fully utilizes the sound judgment of human reason
and evaluates the best route to get to the goal
decided upon.
• This last question breaks down the task to be done
into the particulars of actions and daily routine.

• Self-knowledge and self- determination are here

bridged by self-governance.
Three Contemporary Questions
• How can I get there?
• The human person does not only access reason to
assess his/her personal identity and personal goal;
he/she is also gifted with the will to command the self
to go through the steps and, hence be able to do the
transition from knowledge to a fully determined self.
• Goal setting through reason and decision is
complemented by the ability to freely move the self
and command the body in action.
Three Contemporary Questions
• How can I get there?
• It is in orchestrating the actions to be consistent with
the end in mind that the self reaches improvement.

• For instance, if one wishes to get the goal of finishing

a degree, one starts with the reality of the self.

• Knowing what one needs to improve on supports the

goal of graduating.
Three Contemporary Questions
• How can I get there?

• A sound decision helps the student to maximize the

training and studies that go with being enrolled in the
university/college.

• One knows in honesty that a paper diploma that

reflects a degree is hardly of value without true
knowledge and mastery of what one is expected to
know.
Any question?