• As rational beings, we have free will.

Through our capacity for reason, we are

able to judge between possibilities and
to choose to direct our actions in one
way or the other.
• Our actions are directed toward
attaining ends or goods that we desire.
We work on a project to complete it.
Example: We study in order to learn.
• These are goods, and we act in a certain
way to pursue them, so goods are
sometimes referred to as the ends of ESSENCE
actions. Your Logo or Name Here
ESSENCE

• There are many possible desirable ends or goods, and we act in

such ways as to pursue them. However, just because we think that
a certain end is good and is therefore desirable does not
necessarily mean it is indeed good.
• This is why it is important for reason to always be part of the
process. Acts are rightly directed toward their ends by reason. But
this does not simply mean that through reason we can figure out
how to pursue something that we already had thoughtlessly
supposed to be good for us; what is necessary is to think carefully
of what really is in fact good for us.
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ESSENCE
• In thinking about what is good for us, it is also quite possible that
we end up thinking exclusively of our own good. Aquinas reminds
us that we cannot simply act in pursuit of our own ends or good
without regard for other people’s ends or good.
• We have to consider what is good for the community as well as
our own good. This can be called the common good.
• We should recognize the proper measure or the limits in our
actions that would allow us to direct our acts in such a way that
we can pursue ends, both our own and also that of others,
together.
• The determination of the proper measure of our acts can be
referred to as law. Your Logo or Name Here
ESSENCE

• As Aquinas puts it, the law must regard properly the relationship to
universal happiness.
• A law therefore, is concerned with the common good. In a way,
making of a law belongs either to the whole people or to a public
person who has care for the common good or is tasked with the
concern for the good of the community or of the whole people.
• It is also necessary for rules or laws to be communicated to the
people involved in order to enforce them and to better ensure
compliance. This is referred to as promulgation.
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• We have noted earlier how God, by His
wisdom, is the creator of all being. This
includes the proper measure governing
the acts of these beings. 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 that the divine wisdom that
directs each being toward its proper end
can be called the eternal law.
• Eternal Law refers to what God wills for
creation, how each participant in it is VARIETIES
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intended to return to Him.
VARIETIES
• The human being, as rational, participates more fully and perfectly in
the law given the capacity for reason. The unique imprint upon us, upon
our human nature by God, is the capacity to think about what is good
and what is evil, and to choose and direct ourselves appropriately..
• Human Law refers to all instances wherein human beings construct and
enforce laws in their communities.
• However, there also is another complete, happiness that surpasses
human’s nature, that can be obtained through the power of God alone –
divine law.
• Divine law refers specifically to the instances where we have precepts or
instructions that come from divine revelation (e.g. sacred Scriptures)
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 • Aquinas identifies first that there is in
our nature, common with all other
beings, a desire to preserve one’s own
being (e.g. a makahiya leaf folds inward
and protects itself when touched).
• For this reason, Aquinas tells us that it is
according to the natural law to preserve
human life.
• We can thus say that it would be a
IN COMMON WITH violation of the natural law, and
OTHER BEINGS therefore unethical to take the life of
another.
NATURAL LAW
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NATURAL LAW • Aquinas then goes on to say that there is in
our human nature, common with other
animals, a desire that has to do with sexual
intercourse and the care of one’s offspring.
• As a matter of fact, animals periodically
engage in sexual intercourse at a specific time
of “heat”, and this could result in offspring. In
human beings, too that natural inclination to
engage in the sexual act and to reproduce
exists.
• Thomas writes:”…certain special sins are said
IN COMMON WITH to be against nature; thus contrary to sexual
OTHER ANIMALS intercourse, which is natural to all animals, is
unisexual lust, which has received the special
name of the unnatural crime.”Your Logo or Name Here
 NATURAL LAW
• We have a natural inclination to know
the truth about God and to live in
society. It is of interest that this is
followed by matters of both an epistemic
and a social concern. We could surmise
on this basis that acts of the deception or
fraud would be unacceptable to Aquinas.
This, as mentioned, is surmise because
this is not something we are told directly UNIQUELY HUMAN
by Thomas.

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• First, we had been presented with these
three inclinations as bases for moral
evaluation. In light of this, we know that
preserving the self is good.
• Contrary to common misconception, the
sexual inclination and the sexual act are
considered good things, not something to
be deplored or dismissed. What this
amount to is the need to recognize that
while our other inclinations are good, as
they are in our nature, what it means to be UNIQUELY HUMAN
human is, precisely to exercise our reason in
our consideration of how the whole self
should be comported toward the good. Your Logo or Name Here
• Second, recognizing how being rational is
what is proper to man, the apparent
vagueness of the third inclination that
Aquinas mention is counter-balanced by the
by the recognition that he is not interested
is providing precepts that one would simply,
unthinkingly, follow.
• To say that the human being is rational is to
recognize that we should take up the burden
of thinking carefully how a particular act may
or may not be a violation of our nature. It is UNIQUELY HUMAN
to take the trouble to think carefully about
how our acts would either contribute to, or
detract from, the common good. Your Logo or Name Here
• For this reason, in making human laws,
additions that are not all problematic for
the natural law are possible. At first glance,
it may seem like there is nothing “natural”
about obeying traffic rules or paying taxes.
• However, if it has been decided that these
contribute to the common good, then they
could, in fact, be proper extensions of the
natural law. As Aquinas puts it, nothing
hinders a change in the natural law by way
of addition, since our reason has found and UNIQUELY HUMAN
can find many things that benefits individual
and communal human life.
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