NATURAL

LAW
Prepared by:
jcmirasol, PhD
Course Instructor
 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

• Summa Theologiae
3 parts

• God
• Man
• Jesus as Savior
MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACTS

1. Ignorance -absence or lack of required knowledge.

 Invincible
 Vincible
o Simple
o Supine
o Affected

2. Passion/Concupiscence -tendencies toward something desirable

or away from undesirable.
 Antecedent
 Consequent
 MODIFIERS…

3. Habits - learned behavior that becomes reflexive over time

4. Fear
o Disturbance of the mind of the person confronted by
danger.

5. Violence
o External force exerted by one person to another for the
purpose of compelling him to do something against
his/her will.
FOR AQUINAS…

Christian life is about

developing the capacities given
to us by God into a disposition
of virtue inclined toward the
good.
BASIC GOODS

1. Life
2. Reproduction
3. Educate one’s offspring
4. Seek God
5. Live in society
6. Avoid Offense
7. Shun Ignorance
GREEK HERITAGE

• Plato
o Ideal society
o Why should I bother trying to be good?
o Why can’t good be just whatever I say it is?

• Idea of the Good

“A good which is prior to all being and is even the
cause of all being”
ARISTOTLE

• Being and Becoming

• 4 Causes of Beings
Material
Formal
Efficient
Final
AQUINAS

• Transcendent GOOD prior to all beings

• GOOD and LOVING God.

• Efficient and Final Cause

• “Since each being in his way participates in God’s

goodness, each being is in some sense GOOD.”

• imperfect
• NATURE
 Unique way that we have been created.
 Coming from God it is good, but in its limitations, it
has yet to be perfected.
 HOW?
a) Fulfilling our nature the best we can,
realizing what God has intended for us to
be.
b) Fulfilling and actualizing the potencies
that are present in our nature.
Man’s nature is….
Capacity to
Reason
REASON AND LAW

Law according to St. Thomas Aquinas

“An ordinance of reason
promulgated for the common
good by one who has charge
of society.”
A GOOD LAW IS..

• Just

• Honest

• Possible of fulfillment

• Permanent
KINDS OF LAW

1. Eternal law- what God wills for His creation

2. Divine Law -precepts/instructions from God.
3. Natural Law- natural inclination of beings to their end.
4. Human Law -promulgated by human authorities
 Civil law
 embodied in the Constitution, Code of Civil Law
 Ecclesiastical law
 Embodied in the Canon Law(Catholics)
NATURAL LAW

• IN COMMON WITH OTHER BEINGS

 Desire to preserve one’s being.
 Preserving human life.

• IN COMMON WITH OTHER ANIMALS

 To procreate and take care of off-springs.
o Abortion
o Child labor
o Contraception
o Intercourse and procreation
• UNIQUELY HUMAN
 Inclination to do good according to the nature of our
reason.
 Inclination to know the truth and live in a society.

REASON is the defining part of human

nature.
TO BE TRULY HUMAN
MEANS…
• Exercising our reason in considering our actions
toward the good.

• Taking up the burden of thinking carefully how a

particular act may or may not be a violation of our
nature, or would contribute or detract from the
common good.
WHAT IS MORAL LAW ?

• comes from God’s Eternal Law.

• It is Divine law expressed in human
nature(natural law).
• “DO GOOD AND AVOID EVIL”
How do we know that one is acting in
accordance with the good?
GOOD IS…

• That which is suitable to human nature.

• Hence, an action is good if it is guided by
conscience.
3-fold natural inclination of the human person:
1. SELF -PRESERVATION
2. JUST DEALING WITH OTHERS
3. PROPAGATION OF THE SPECIES
What actions are Good?
Those that are in accordance
to natural law.
E.g. Do not kill
For each negative law,
there is a corresponding
positive injunction.
Respect/protect life
 IF OBEYING THE LAWS
CONTRIBUTE TO THE COMMON
GOOD, THEN THEY CAN BE VIEWED
AS EXTENSIONS OF THE NATURAL
LAW.
 A just law is a man-made code that
squares with the moral law or the law of
God. An unjust law is a code that is out
of harmony with the moral law. To put it
in the terms of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an
unjust law is a human law that is not
rooted in eternal and natural law.