PHILOSOPHICAL &

ETHICAL
FOUNDATION OF
VALUES
EDUCATION
CHAPTER III:
NATURAL LAW
CHRISTY L. GASTILO
STUDENT
 OBJECTIVES:
1. recognize how Thomas Aquinas made use of ancient Greek concepts to
provide a rational grounding to an ethical theory based on the Christian
faith;

2. identify the natural law in distinction from, but also in relation to, the
other types of law mentioned by Aquinas: eternal law, human law, and
divine law; and

3. apply the precepts of the natural law to contemporary moral concerns.

INTRODUCTION
In October 2016, newspapers reported that Pantaleon Alvarez, Speaker of the House of
Representatives, was intending to draft a bill which would amend the country's Family
Code, thereby allowing for the legalization of same-sex unions. This would result in the
possibility of two men together or two women together being identified as a couple
with rights guaranteed and protected by the law. However, as one newspaper report
revealed, even before anything could be formally proposed, other fellow legislators had
already expressed to the media their refusal to support any such initiative.

The reasons given in the news article vary, ranging from the opinion that seeing two
men kiss is unsightly, to the statement that there is something "irregular" about
belonging to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community, and to the
judgment that two people of the same sex being together is unnatural.
 We are used to hearing people justify done something by making the
appeal that what they maintain is what is "natural," and therefore
acceptable. Likewise, people would judge something as unacceptable on
the basis that it is supposedly "unnatural." Thus, we are no longer
surprised when we hear people condemn and label many different things
ds "unnatural": maybe receiving blood transfusions, eating meat, or, as our
news report shows, engaging in sexual relations that one might consider
deviant. We also realize that Sometimes we might find ourselves
astonished or perplexed as to what different people might consider
"unnatural."
WHAT DO THE WORDS NATURAL AND
UNNATURAL MEAN?
 NATURAL
- seems to be used to refer to some kind of intuition that a
person has, one which is apparently true to him that it is
unquestioned.

- is used to appeal to something instinctual without it being

directed by reason.

- to refer to what seems common to them given their

particular environment
 UNNATURAL
- The words anomalous and irregular are common synonyms of unnatural.

- While all three words mean "not conforming to rule, law, or custom,"
unnatural suggests what is contrary to nature or to principles or standards felt
to be essential to the well-being of civilized society. prisoners treated with
unnatural cruelty.

- According to a common way of thinking, an action is unnatural when it

goes against "the natural way of things" or "the way things are naturally
intended to be."
THOMAS AQUINAS

Hailed as a doctor of the Roman Catholic

Church, Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican friar
who was the preeminent intellectual figure of
the scholastic period of the Middle Ages,
contributing to the doctrine of the faith more
than any other figure of his time. His Summa
Theologiae, Aquinas's magnum opus, is a
voluminous work that comprehensively
discusses many significant points in Christian
theology. He was canonized in 1323.
 THE CONTEXT OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY
The central truth upheld and explained by Aquinas in all his works is the promise right at
the center of the Christian faith: that we are created by God in order to ultimately return to
Him. The structure of his magnum opusSumma Theologiaefollows the trajectory of this story.
There are three parts to this voluminous work:
1. Aquinas speaks of God and although we acknowledge that our limited human intellect
cannot fully grasp Him, we still are able to say something concerning His goodness, His
might, and His creative power

2. Deals with man or the dynamic of human life; characterized by our pursuit of
happiness which we should realize rests ultimately not on any particular good thing that is
created by God, but in the highest good which is God himself

3. Focuses on Jesus as our Savior

 THE CONTEXT OF AQUINAS’S ETHICS
A full consideration of Aquinas’s ethics would require us to explore his discussion of other
matters, such as how we direct our actions toward specific ends in our pursuit of happiness.

We might explore…
•how emotions–“the passions” –are involved in this process and then require a proper order if they
are to properly contribute to a good life
•how our actions are related to certain dispositions (often referred to as “habits”) in a dynamic way
•his discussion of how we develop either good or bad habits with a good disposition leading us
toward making moral choices, contributing to our moral virtue, and a bad disposition inclining us
toward making immoral choices, bringing us to vice.

Therefore, the Christian life is about developing the capacities given to us by God into a disposition
of virtue inclined toward the good.
 THE CONTEXT OF AQUINAS’S ETHICS
Aquinas also believes that there is a conscience within us that leads our moral
thinking. This is not some simple intuition or gut feeling. For Aquinas, there is a
sense of right and wrong inside us that we are obliged to obey. He also adds that
this sense of right and wrong must be informed, guided, and ultimately grounded
in an objective basis for morality.

We are then called to follow the voice of conscience and instructed to develop
and maintain a life of virtue. But we need a basis for our conscience to be
properly informed, and we need a clearer guidepost on whether certain decisions
we make lead us toward virtue or vice. Therefore, we need a clearer basis of
ethics, a ground that will more concretely direct our sense of what is right and
wrong. For Aquinas, this would be thenatural law.
 THE GREEK HERITAGE
NEOPLATONIC GOOD
God creates. This means that He brings about beings, cares for, and governs the activities of the universe and
of every creature. Inspired by divine revelation, this fundamental belief of the Christian faith has been shaped
and defined by an idea stated in the work of an ancient Greek philosopher Plato, which had been known a
thousand years before Aquinas. He is credited for giving the subsequent history of philosophy in one of its
most convincing and enduring ideas: the notion of a supreme and absolutely transcendent good.
In his work The Republic, it is often hypothetical that Plato is trying to visualize the ideal society. However,
this plan is only a part of a more important concern that animates the text, which is to provide an objective
basis and standard for the striving to be moral. It can be said that Plato was trying to answer the question such
as “Why should I bother trying to be good?” and “Why cannot “good” be just whatever I say it is?”.
Hisresponse, placed in the mouth of the main character Socrates, is that good is real and not something that
one can pretend to make up or ignore.
In the hands of Neoplatonists, Plato’s concept of the good–which is the source of all beings–becomes
identified with the One and the Beautiful. This is the ultimate reality, which is the singleness that will give
rise to the diversity of everything else in the universe. All these beings have a single goal, that is to return to
that unity.
 THE GREEK HERITAGE
ARISTOTELIAN BEING AND
BECOMING
In Aristotle’s exploration of how to discuss beings, hesuggests four concepts/causes which provide a way of
understanding any particular being under consideration.

a. Material cause- we recognize that any being we can see around is physical, possessed of a certain
materiality or physical “stuff”. A being is individuated–it becomes the unique, individual being that it is–
because it is made up of this particular stuff.
b. Formal cause–we also realize that this material takes on a particular shape: so, a bird is different from a cat,
which is different from a man. The “shape” that makes a being a particular kind can be called its form.
c. Efficient cause–one can realize that a being does not simply “pop-up” from nothing but comes from
another being that is preceding to it. Parents produce a child. A mango tree used to be a seed that itself came
from an older tree. A chair is built as the product of a carpenter. Thus, there is something which brings about
the presence of another being.
d. Final cause–since a being has an apparent end or goal, a chair to be sat on, a pen for writing, or a child to
become an adult, one can speak of the final cause of each being.
 THE ESSENCE AND VARIETIES OF LAW
ESSENCE
Since we are considered rational beings, we have free will. And through our capacity of reason, we can judge
between possibilities and choose to direct our actions in one way or another. Our actions are directed toward
achieving the ends or goods that we wish. We study to learn. We play basketball because we enjoy doing so.
These are goods, and we act in a certain way to pursue them. So, goods are sometimes referred to as the ends of
actions.
However, we cannot conclude that the end is indeed good just because we think it is good and desirable. At
first, you may suppose something is good only to realize along that doing so was a mistake. That is why it is
important to always include reason as part of the process. Acts are right towards their ends by reason; however,
this does not mean that we can figure out how to pursue something that we already had thoughtlessly supposed
to be good for us. What is more necessary is to think carefully of whiteflies in fact good for us.
It is also quite possible that we end up thinking exclusively of our own good. Aquinas, however, reminds us
that we cannot simply act in pursuit of our own ends or good while disregarding other people’s ends or good.
We belong to a community; we are not isolated beings. Since we belong to a community, we have to consider
what is good for the community along with our own good. This can be called the common good.
 THE ESSENCE AND VARIETIES OF LAW
ESSENCE
It is not always easy to determine what exactly is the common good because of many variables to consider like the
particular community we are thinking of or the particular ends that the community is pursuing. But what is of greater
relevance for us now is the recognition that we cannot act in just any way we like since we must also consider the good
of others along with our own good. We must know the proper measure or the limits in our actions to direct us in
pursuing both our own and others 'ends, together. The determination of the proper measure of our acts can be referred to
aslaw.
We can think of traffic rules, for instance. A driver cannot just drive in any way and lane he likes. He must respect
traffic rules–limit on maximum speed, for example. Such a limit is something good both for the driver and others as it
helps prevent motor accidents. For Aquinas, the law must respect properly the relationship to universal happiness.
In order to enforce the laws and to better ensure compliance, it is necessary for these laws to be communicated to the
people involved. This is referred to aspromulgation.Ideally, we can speak of law as a form of restriction and direction of
human actions in a way that common good is promoted. This is, however, without considering the reality that
sometimes rules are not properly thought of or seem to favor selected persons or groups rather than the common good.
Aquinas’s own summary of this point is worth citing:
“The definition of law may be gathered; and it is nothing else than an ordinance of reason for the common good, made
by him who has care of the community, and promulgated.”
 THE ESSENCE AND VARIETIES OF LAW
VARIETIES
Aquinas writes: “He governs all the acts and movements that are to be found in each single
creature, so the type of Divine Wisdom, as moving all the things to their due end, bears the
character of law.” This line involves the claim that the divine wisdom that directs each being
toward its proper end can be called the eternal law.
Eternal law denotes to what God wills for creation and how each participant in it is projected to
return to Him. However, we cannot fully grasp the eternal law given our limitations; and it is not
completely unclear to us. We should realize that first, we are part of the eternal law, and second,
we participate in it in a special way.
As rational beings, we participate more fully in the law given the capacity for reason. The
capacity to think of what is good or evil, and to direct ourselves appropriately is the unique
imprint upon our human nature by God. Aquinas thenwrites: “Wherefore it has a share of the
Eternal Reason, whereby it has a natural inclination to its proper act and end: and this
participation of the eternal law in the rational creature is called the natural law.”
 THE ESSENCE AND VARIETIES OF LAW
VARIETIES
Hence, we can regulate the rule and measure that should be directing our acts by looking at our human
nature and natural inclinations given to us by God. These are principles of the natural law which we will
further study in the next section. First, let us mention two more kinds of law provided by Aquinas.
a. Human Law -refers to all instances where human beings make and enforce
laws in their communities -basis for assessing the validity of a human law is whether or not it conforms
to the natural law
-when human law goes against what nature inclines us toward, it is not properly speaking a law
but instead is unjust and can be called a matter of violence.

b. Divine Law -refers to the instances where we have principles or instructions that come from divine
revelation. For example, we have what is handed down to us in the sacred Scriptures (e.g., Ten
Commandments)
-direct us toward our supernatural end; a supernatural happiness that can be achieved through the power
of God alone