WHO IS ST. THOMAS AQUINAS? • He is an Italian Dominican theologian • He was one of the most influential medieval thinkers of Scholasticism • The father of the Thomistic school of theology. • A prolific writer and wrote the famous treatise: Summa Theologica NATURAL LAW Natural Law • As found in nature and • Directed towards not involving anything specific ends made or done by • Something that induces people us to act in a certain • A natural ability or way characteristic is one • Something that restrain that you were born with us from acting certain ways BY DEFINITION:
• The belief that certain laws of morality are inherent by
human nature, reason, or religious belief, and that they are ethically binding on humanity. In Philosophy:
• Natural law is the philosophy that there are moral laws
found in nature and discernable by the use of reason. ACCORDING TO ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
• It is to do good and avoid evil. Here it is worth noting that
Aquinas holds a natural law theory of morality: what is good and evil, is derived from the rational nature of human beings. • The natural law tradition has a long and venerable history. Hints of its beginning can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle, and natural law was the dominant view of the Greek stoics. • Natural law, as traditionally understood, has sometimes also been called higher law, and for good reason. Traditional natural law theorists typically believed that there is a source of law beyond human creation. The dictates of natural law have their source in divine command, human nature, or the order of nature itself. 4 KINDS OF LAW
• Eternal Law • Natural Law • Divine Law • Human Law ETERNAL LAW
• That law which exists because of God’s Divine
Providence • As God created the Universe, the universe is governed by His laws • Eternal Law is the basis for all other kinds of law NATURAL LAW
• The rational creature’s participation in Eternal law
• Rational creatures derive their acts and ends from natural law • Basic formulation: “do good, avoid evil” DIVINE LAW
• Specific formulations of eternal law
• Necessary for the directing of human conduct THE NEED FOR DIVINE LAW • Man’s faculties are insufficient to direct him to his proper end • Human judgment is uncertain • Some law must exist to govern internal actions • All evil deeds must be punished HUMAN (POSITIVE) LAW
• Formulations of human reason concerning
particular determinations of natural law • Concerned with transient/contingent realities • A means to enable man to live virtuously WHEN ARE LAWS JUST? • Based on right reason • Ordained towards the common good • Must not exceed the power of the lawgiver • The burden of abiding by the law must be commensurate to the attainment of the common good