ETHICS

Jozen Marie C. Feliciano

Instructor
 UNIT 3:
N AT U R A L L AW
LESSON 1:
THE LGBTQ+ QUESTION
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 legally 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 positing the judgement that two people of
the same sex being together is unnatural.
QUESTION:
What reasons were given in the report for refusing
to support the same-sex initiative?
Do you agree with those reasons that were given?
We are used to hearing people justify doing some
particular thing 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 persons

condemn and label many different things as “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.” In order to proceed, is it therefore necessary
to ask: “What do the words “natural” and “unnatural” mean?”

Sometimes, the word “natural” seems to be used to refer to some

kind of intuition that a person has, one which is so apparently true
to him that it is unquestioned. For example, a woman may claim
that it is simply “unnatural” to eat any kind of insect, and what this
means is that she has never done so, and when confronted with
the very idea of it, her immediate response is one of aversion.
Along similar lines, we also easily find people using the word
“natural” to refer to what seems common to them given their
particular environment. For instance, a Filipina may suppose
that eating three full meals of rice and ulam every day is what
is “natural” because everyone she knows behaves in that way.

Somewhat differently, in other instances, the word is used to try

to justify a certain way of behaving by seeing its likeness for
him to have more than one sexual partner, since, in a pride of
lions, the alpha male gets to mate with all the she-lions.
In yet other instances, the word “natural” is used as an
appeal to something instinctual or corporeal without it
being directed by reason.

For example, a man may deem it all right if he were to

urinate just anywhere because after all he takes it to be
a “natural” function of the human body.
Given these varied meanings of the term “natural,” we
need to find a more solid and nuanced way to understand
the term. St. Thomas Aquinas emphasizes the capacity for
reason as what is essential in our human nature.

This understanding of human nature anchored on our

capacity for reason will become the basis of the natural law
theory, a theory which will provide us a unique way of
determining the moral status of our actions.
LESSON 2:
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS AND THE CHRISTIAN CONTEXT

Thomas Aquinas
There have been various thinkers and systems of thought
emerging throughout history that could be said to present a
natural law theory. Among them, the one we will be
focusing on is the medieval thinker Thomas Aquinas. It has
to be recognized, however, that this natural law theory is
part of a larger discussion, which is his moral theory taken
as a whole. This moral theory, in turn, is part of a larger
project, which is Aquinas’ vision of the Christian faith.
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Hailed as a doctor of the Roman Catholic Church, one of the figures
who have fundamentally shaped the way we understand the
Christian faith, Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican friar who has
become the preeminent intellectual figure of the scholastic period of
the Middle Ages, arguably contributing to the doctrine of the faith
more than any other figure of his time, and perhaps even in the
whole history of the Church.

The Summa Theologiae, Aquinas’ magnum opus, is a voluminous

work that comprehensively discusses many significant points in
Christian theology. He was canonized in 1323.
The Context of the Christian Story
The fundamental truth maintained and elaborated 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 opus Summa
Theologiae follows the trajectory of this story.

There are three parts to this voluminous work. In the first part,
Aquinas speaks of God, and although we acknowledge that our
limited human intellect cannot fully grasp Him, we nevertheless
are able to say something concerning His goodness, His might,
and His creative power.
Recognizing then that we are created by God, we
move on to the second part, which deals with man or
the dynamic of human life.

This is 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.
Our striving for this ultimate happiness, while important,
will not in itself bring us to this blessed state.

In other words, salvation is only possible through the

presence of God’s grace and that grace has become
perfectly incarnate in the person of Jesus. Thus, the
third part focuses on Jesus as a Savior.
The Context of Aquinas’ Ethics
A full consideration of Aquinas’ ethics would require us to explore
his discussion of other matters, such as how, in our pursuit of
happiness, we direct our actions toward specific ends. We might
explore how emotions – “the passions” – are involved in this
process, and therefore require a proper order if they are to
properly contribute to a good life.

We might explore how our actions are related to certain

dispositions (often referred to as “habits”) in a dynamic way since
our actions both arise from our habits and at the same time
reinforce them.
We might explore his discussion of how we develop either
good or bad habits with a good disposition leading us toward
making moral choices, thereby contributing to our moral virtue,
and a bad disposition inclining us toward making immoral
choices, bringing us to vice.

The Christian life, therefore, is about developing the capacities

given to us by God into a disposition of virtue inclined toward
the good. Aquinas also puts forward that there is within us a
conscience that directs our moral thinking. This does not refer
to some simple intuition or gut feeling.
For Aquinas, there is a sense of right and wrong in us that we
are obliged to obey. However, he also adds that this sense of
right and wrong must be informed, guided, and ultimately
grounded in an objective basis for morality.

So, we are called to heed the voice of conscience and enjoined

to develop and maintain a life of virtue. However, these both
require content, so we need something more. 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.
Being told that one should heed one’s conscience or
that one should try to be virtuous, does very little to
guide people as to what specifically should be done in
a given situation.

Thus, there is a need for a clearer basis of ethics, a

grounding that will more concretely direct our sense of
what is right and wrong. For Aquinas, this would be the
natural law.
QUESTION:
In the community that you belong to – village,
school, or maybe workplace – to what extent
does the religious faith determine or at least
influence the rules and other norms to which
people adhere? What are the pros and cons of
this religious presence?