Thomistic Ethics (NATURAL LAW)

THOMISTIC_ETHICSPPTX.
672021
THOMISTIC_ETHICSPPTX.672021
THOMISTIC ETHICS
REPORTED BY:
CARPIO • CAWAN • GARCIA • MAGNO • RODRIGO
AQUINAS
OVERVIEW AND
THOMISTIC ETHICS • THOMISTIC ETHICS • THOMISTIC ETHICS •
SHORT SUMMARY
OF HIS LIFE
AQUINAS OVERVIEW AND SHORT

SUMMARY
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
OF HIS LIFE
FIGURE 1. AQUINAS.
ITALIAN SAN TOMMASO D’AQUINO
 also called Aquinas, by name Doctor
Angelicus (Latin: “Angelic Doctor ”),
 (born 1224/25, Roccasecca, near
Aquino, Terra di Lavoro, Kingdom of
Sicily [Italy].
 Italian
He diedDominican
March 7, 1274.
theologian, the foremost medieval
Scholastic. Italian Dominican theologian Saint Thomas
Aquinas was one of the most influential medieval thinkers
of Scholasticism and the father of the Thomistic school of
theology.

SUMMARY OF HIS LIFE
HE DEVELOPED…
FIGURE 2. SUMMA CONTRA GENTILES.
 As a theologian he was responsible in
his two master pieces, the Summa
theologiae and the Summa contra
gentiles , for the classical
systematization of Latin theology, and
as a poet, he wrote some of the most
gravely beautiful eucharistic hymns in
the church’s liturgy.
 Thomism His doctrinal system and the

explanations and developments made

SUMMARY OF HIS LIFE
//WHO WAS
SAINT THOMAS
AQUINAS?//
 Combining the theological principles of faith with
the philosophical principles of reason, Saint
Thomas Aquinas ranked among the most influential
thinkers of medieval Scholasticism. An authority of
the Roman Catholic Church and a prolific writer,
Aquinas died on March 7, 1274, at the Cistercian
monastery of Fossanova, near Terracina, Latium,
Papal States, Italy.

SUMMARY OF HIS LIFE
//EARLY LIFE OF SAINT THOMAS
AQUINAS //
 The son of Landulph, count of Aquino, Saint
Thomas Aquinas was born circa 1225 in
Roccasecca, Italy, near Aquino, Terra di Lavoro, in
the Kingdom of Sicily. Thomas had eight siblings,
and was the youngest child. His mother, Theodora,
was countess of Teano. Though Thomas' family
members were descendants of Emperors Frederick
I and Henry VI, they were considered to be of
lower nobility.

SUMMARY OF HIS LIFE
AQUINAS: BEFORE BIRTH
A holy hermit Following the Where he remained
shared a prediction tradition of the Saint Thomas
with his mother, period Aquinas remained at
foretelling that her Saint Aquinas was the monastery until
son would enter sent to the Abbey of he was 13 years old,
when the political
the Order of Friars Monte Cassino to
train among climate forced him
Preachers, become
Benedictine monks to return to Naples.
a great learner and
when he was just 5
achieve unequaled years old. In
sanctity. Wisdom 8:19, Saint
Aquinas is

SUMMARY OF HIS LIFE
To live well is to work well, to show a
good activity.
THOMAS AQUINAS
AXIOMS OF
AQUINAS
AXIOMS OF AQUINAS
How does human reason arrive at the norms of natural law?
ANSWER OF AQUINAS INVOLVES 3
THINGS:
SELF-EVIDENT TRUTHS
HUMAN INCLINATIONS
PRACTICAL REASON
Summa Theologica : Aquinas speaks of the basic norms
of natural law as being “self-evident.”
Rules of right and wrong are inherent in people
AXIOMS OF AQUINAS
IN CONTEMPORARY TERMS: Principles in natural
law are said to be analytic or true by definition
Example:
“All bachelors are single.”
AQUINAS: DEFINING GOOD
DEFINITION: “Good” means “what all things
seek after.”
FIRST PRECEPT OF NATURAL LAW: Good
is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be
avoided.
AXIOMS OF AQUINAS
IN CONTEMPORARY TERMS: Principles in natural
law are said to be analytic or true by definition
Example:
“All bachelors are single.”
AQUINAS: DEFINING GOOD
DEFINITION:“Good” means “what we ought to
seek”; “evil” means “what we ought to avoid.”
FIRST PRECEPT OF NATURAL LAW: We
ought to seek good and avoid evil.
AXIOMS OF AQUINAS
SO, WHAT THINGS ARE DEEMED
TO BE…
FIGURE 3. R. HOOD.
AND
AXIOMS OF AQUINAS
FIGURE 4. FINNIS.
JOHN FINNIS
BASIC GOODS OF
HUMAN LIFE
 LIFE/HEALTH
 KNOWLEDGE
 PLAY
 AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE
 SOCIABILITY
 PRACTICAL
CONTROVERSIES
IN THOMISTIC
ETHICS
CONTROVERSIES IN THOMISTIC
ETHICS
 Natural law is more a broadly pluralistic tradition of doing
ethics than a precisely formulated ethical theory. People in

the natural-law tradition are much impressed by the work of
St. Thomas Aquinas; but after that they go in different
directions.
 Inspired by:
 Supernaturalism
 Naturalism
 Intuitionism
ALL ARE (OR AT LEAST CLAIM TO BE) TRUE TO THE INSPIRATION OF ST.
THOMAS AQUINAS.

ETHICS
Most in the natural-law tradition are
non-consequentialists, and defend exceptionless
norms (for example, against killing the innocent).
But a few adopt a “PROPORTIONALISM”
MINDSET close to utilitarianism.
 While almost everyone in the natural-law
tradition
accepts the golden rule, many put it at the core of
morality (so that it sums up the whole natural
ETHICS
 Natural law has been especially important among

Catholics, some non-Catholics have also pursued the
natural-law tradition; prominent examples include
Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) and Samuel von
Pufendorf (1632–94).
 Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae (1967) argued, along

natural-law grounds, that the inherent natural purpose
of intercourse is to procreate life; he concluded that
the use of the birth control pill and other forms of
PRINCIPLE OF
DOUBLE EFFECT
PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE EFFECT

Four things must be present…
The act is in itself either good or indifferent;
The good effect is intended, and the bad effect is not intended
(so if you could bring about the good effect without bringing
about the bad then you would);
the bad effect is not the means to produce the good effect
(instead, the bad effect is just an unintended byproduct of an
act aimed to bring about the good effect); and
there’s a proportionate reason for permitting the bad effect (so
the good effect outweighs the bad effect and there’s no way to
produce the good without producing more bad).

\\Double effect has also been applied to cases like these:
\\ Prescribing pain medication which in fact will shorten the

patient’s life can be permissible; directly killing the patient is
not.
// Performing a hysterectomy on a pregnant woman with
uterine cancer can be permissible even if the unborn child will
die; directly killing the fetus by crushing its head is not.
\\ Throwing yourself on a live grenade to protect others can be

permissible, even if you know you’ll die, if you see your death
as an unintended side effect of shielding others from the
grenade; it’s wrong to jump on the grenade to kill yourself.

CAN YOU EVER
DO EVIL TO
ACHIEVE A
SEXUAL
MORALITY
SEXUAL MORALITY
CONSERVATIVE VIEW
 Sexual relations are only to be made
by married people.
 Other forms of sex are immoral.
 Sex when done only for pleasure
goes against natural law.
 Sex for procreating – Healthy Family
Life
SEXUAL MORALITY
LIBERAL VIEW
 There is nothing wrong with doing
sex for the sake of pleasure.
 It is an exception when it is used to
hurt other people.
 Pre marital sex and Homosexual sex
is okay.
 Sexual Gratification
SEXUAL MORALITY
MODERATE VIEW
 Does not fully follow the conservative norms
 What sexual norm is better
SEXUAL MORALITY
AQUINAS ON…
The\\SEX
members of the
FOR PLEASURE OTHER FORMS OF SEX//
body being the “[One might ask whether it
instruments of the is a sin if] one were to walk
on his hands, or do with his
soul, the end of every
feet something that ought to
member is the use of be done with his hands. The
it, as in the case of any answer is that by such
other instrument. But irregular applications as
there are members of those mentioned the good
the body the use of of man is not greatly
which is for the injured: but the irregular
emission of the semen is
intercourse of the
repugnant to the good of
sexes: that therefore is nature, which is the
their end. [Summa conservation of the species.
Contra Gentiles [Ibid, 3.122]
3.126]
THOMISTIC ETHICS
REPORTED BY:
CARPIO • CAWAN • GARCIA • MAGNO • RODRIGO

Thomistic Ethics (NATURAL LAW)

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THOMISTIC_ETHICSPPTX.

THOMISTIC ETHICS • THOMISTIC ETHICS • THOMISTIC ETHICS •

AQUINAS OVERVIEW AND SHORT

 also called Aquinas, by name Doctor

AQUINAS OVERVIEW AND SHORT

FIGURE 2. SUMMA CONTRA GENTILES.

 As a theologian he was responsible in

 Thomism His doctrinal system and the

AQUINAS OVERVIEW AND SHORT

AQUINAS OVERVIEW AND SHORT

AQUINAS OVERVIEW AND SHORT

A holy hermit Following the Where he remained

AQUINAS OVERVIEW AND SHORT

To live well is to work well, to show a

THOMISTIC ETHICS • THOMISTIC ETHICS • THOMISTIC ETHICS •

law are said to be analytic or true by definition

AQUINAS: DEFINING GOOD

law are said to be analytic or true by definition

AQUINAS: DEFINING GOOD

THOMISTIC ETHICS • THOMISTIC ETHICS • THOMISTIC ETHICS •

ethics than a precisely formulated ethical theory. People in

non-consequentialists, and defend exceptionless

 Natural law has been especially important among

 Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae (1967) argued, along

PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE EFFECT

The act is in itself either good or indifferent;

PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE EFFECT

\\ Prescribing pain medication which in fact will shorten the

// Performing a hysterectomy on a pregnant woman with

\\ Throwing yourself on a live grenade to protect others can be

PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE EFFECT

THOMISTIC ETHICS • THOMISTIC ETHICS • THOMISTIC ETHICS •

 Sexual relations are only to be made

 There is nothing wrong with doing

 Does not fully follow the conservative norms

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