CHAPTER 3 NATURAL LAW
MAGNUM OPUS THREE PARTS:
What is natural law?
NATURAL LAW
➢ Used to refer to some kind of intuition
that a person has, one which is so
apparently true to him that it is
unquestioned.
➢ Is used as an appeal to something
instinctual without it being directed
by reason.
➢ Refer to what seems common to
them given their particular environment.
NATURAL LAW
➢ Inherent; having a basis in Nature,
Reality and Truth; not made or caused
by humankind.
Who is Thomas Aquinas?
THOMAS AQUINAS
➢ Hailed as a Doctor of the Roman
Catholic Church
➢ Dominican Friar
➢ He is 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.
THOMAS AQUINAS
➢ 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 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.
SUMMA THEOLOGIAE, AQUINAS’S
FIRST PART
1. 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.
2. SECOND PART
➢ We are created by God
➢ 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
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
THIRD PART
➢ Focuses on Jesus as our Savior.
MAIN FOCUS
➢ MAIN FOCUS here is the SECOND
PART, it would seem clear that would
be of greatest interest to us is the
second part or the section of this story
that centers on human life and its
striving toward God.
AQUINAS’S ETHICS
➢ Pursuit of happiness
➢ Emotions “The Passions”
➢ Does it contribute properly to good
life?
➢ How do we developed Good or Bad
habits.
Christian life, therefore, is about For an action to be considered
developing the capacities given to us by moral, it must be done in accordance
God into a disposition of virtue inclined with conscience; it must be done in
toward the good. accordance with moral law.

AQUINAS’S ETHICS THREE DETERMINANTS OF MORAL

➢ Aquinas also puts forward that there ACTIONS:
is within us a CONSCIENCE that directs 1.Object of human acts
our moral thinking. This does not refer to 2. Circumstances
some simple intuition or gut feeling. 3. End
➢ For Aquinas, there is a sense of right
and wrong in us that we are obliged to THREE DETERMINANTS OF MORAL
obey. However, he also adds that this ACTIONS:
sense of right and wrong must be 1. Objects of human actions – that
informed, guided and ultimately which intends primarily and directly
grounded in an objective basis for 2. Circumstances – the conditions
morality. affecting the morality of an action
Classifications:
AQUINAS’S ETHICS a. Quality of a person (WHO)
b. Quality/Quantity of the moral object
➢ CONSCIENCE – serves as the guide
(WHAT)
in making moral decisions.
c. Circumstance of place (WHERE)
Q: How do we know that one’s action
d. Circumstance of means (BY WHAT
obeys conscience?
MEANS)
A: If it satisfies the natural inclination of
e. Circumstance of end (WHY)
human nature:
f. Manner in which the action is done
1. Self-preservation
(HOW)
2. Just dealing with others
g. Time element (WHEN)
3. Propagation of human species
3. End – the PURPOSE of the doer
4. Knowledge
Two Important Principles of Natural Law:
1. The Principles of Forfeitures and
1. SELF-PRESERVATION
2. The Principles of Double Effect
- natural inclination to take care of
one’s health or not to kill or put one’s
1. Principle of Forfeiture:
self in danger.
- If I threaten your life (i.e., violate the
2. JUST DEALING WITH OTHERS
principle concerning the protection
- Treat others with the same respect
of life)
that we accord ourselves.
- I forfeit my right to life. Thus killing in
3. PROPAGATION OF HUMAN
self-defense is morally permissible.
SPECIES
2. Principle of Double Effect:
- The reproductive organ is designed
- A wrong or evil result brought about as
to reproduce and propagate human
a consequence of some morally right
species.
action (undertake with intention to do
4. Knowledge
good) is not itself blameworthy
- Natural inclination to learn
- Sometimes it is permissible to perform
an action that has, besides its desired
(good) effects, a second effect that it
would be impermissible to brig about,
either as an end or as a means.
Secondary evil must be a consequence.
2. Principle of Double Effect:
- Is the act good/morally permissible?
- Is the bad effect unavoidable?
- Is bad effect means to achieve good
effect?
- Does good effect outweigh bad effect?
Metaphysical background
Plato
- The Republic (Book 6)
- the idea of good
Neoplatonic tradition
- eg. Plotinus, The Enneads
- The One, the Good, the Beautiful
Aristotle
- Being – Having a specific (essence)
- Becoming – actualizing certain
given potencies
Four Causes:
Any being, according to Aristotle,
can be said to have four causes.
1. Material Cause
2. Formal Cause
3. Efficient Cause
4. Final Cause
Essence of law
Thus, from the four preceding articles,
the definition of law may be gathered;
and it is nothing else than an ordinance
of reason for the common, made by him
who has care of the community, and
promulgated.
Common Good
– Since we belong to a community, we
have to consider what is good for the
community as well as our own good.
Promulgation
– It is also necessary for rules or laws to
be communicated to the people involved
in order to enforce them better ensure
compliance.
Different kinds of Law
- Eternal
- Natural
- Human
- Divine
Eternal Law
is the Divine Wisdom of God which
oversees the common good and
governs everything. Eternal law is
God’s plan to lead all creation towards
God’s eternal salvific plan to be
holy and blameless before Him through
Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:4–5). God, as
“Being-itself”, is able to promulgate such
a law as God the Creator’s reason is
also perfect wisdom. Everything in
nature reflects the Eternal Law in their
own natures (S.T. I-IIae, 91, 2). Things
act according to their nature, so they
derive their proper ends (final cause)
according to the law written into their
nature.
Divine Law
is the historical laws of Scripture given
to us through God’s self-revelation.
Divine law is divided into the Old Law
and the New Law, which correspond to
the Old and New Testaments of the
Bible (q91, a5). The Old Law, revealed
by God to Moses, “is the first stage of
revealed Law. Its moral prescriptions are
summed up in the Ten Commandments”
(CCC 1962). It has an extrinsic focus-
motivated by fear — and promises
earthly rewards (such as social peace).
It expresses immediate conclusions of
the natural moral law.
Natural Law
- It is “natural” as it consists of Reason
given to us by the “higher reason” of the
divine Lawgiver. They are natural as
they are objective principles which
originate in human nature (GS 16; DH
14). The natural law is universal
because it encompasses every person,
of every epoch (cf. CCC 1956): “it is
immutable and permanent throughout
history; the rules that express it remain
substantially valid” (CCC 1958).

Human Law
is the interpretation of natural law in
different contexts (ST II.I.95–97).
Natural law is a foundation for moral and
civil law. Government laws are dictates
of practical reason from the precepts of
Natural Law.

Law is not about individual morality.

Individual vices should be legislated
against when they threaten harm to
others. Rulers of the State should take
the general moral precepts of nature
and specify them into State laws, e.g.,
the repugnance of murder is legislated
into punishments.

Hierarchy of Law
For Aquinas, human laws are derived
from natural law which is a participation
in the eternal law.

Therefore, eternal law is at the top,

followed by natural law, and then human
law. Divine law is the revealed law of
God to man, while natural law is the
imprint of eternal law on the hearts of
men.