Chapter II

NATURAL LAW
is the law that says: "Do good
and avoid evil."
NATURAL LAW
it is hard-wired into the hearts
and minds of all human beings
by God.
NATURAL LAW
Reason helps us discover
God's truth.
▪ was a medieval philosopher and
theologian.
▪ Roman Catholic - God created
everything with a sense of
purpose.
▪ A rational basis for Christian
morality.
(even if there is no God)
His perspective presupposes the existence of a
God who is the author and the goal of all
reality.
God reveals his goodwill as the Eternal Law
reflected in the order of reality.
 The reality of the human person who is able,
through his/her intellect, to decide in freedom
and, through his/her will, to move
himself/herself voluntarily in accordance with
the good that he/she can know follows the very
will of God who has “created man in his own
image” (Genesis 1, 27).
Human freedom, is an imprint of the divine will
in the very being of the human person.
“since the creation of the world God’s invisible
will --his power and nature-- has been visible
so that people are without excuse”
(Romans 1, 20).
Etsi Deus non daretur is an expression that
highlights the validity of this ethical system
with or without faith in the Creator God.
 “for when non-believers who do not have the
law by nature observe the prescriptions of the
law, they are a law for themselves even though
they do not have the law. They show that
demands of the law are written in their hearts”
(Romans 2, 14-15).
For St. Aquinas, conscience is the
act of applying our general
knowledge of good and evil to
what we do (or might do).
“The ability of man to know is
important in his/her acting
ethically.”
 can be mistaken

does not exempt the human person from

culpability
 Perplexity
perplexed one needs
guidance in sorting out one’s
confusion.
 Ignorance
- destitute of knowledge or
education
 Ignorance
“If one acts badly out of
ignorance and does not act to
rectify the situation by
bothering to learn, that person
is to be held accountable.”
-St. Thomas Aquinas
 Callousness
- long-time persistence in
doing evil
-too lax
 Scrupulousness
-fails to trust one’s ability to do
good
-too strict
“absolutely not.”
-St. Thomas Aquinas
“Education is crucial for
moral living.”
-Lawrence Kohlberg
 Natural Law is man’s participation in the
execution of the good and avoidance of evil
through the use of his/her reasons and will.
Who am I?

Who do I
How can I get
want to be? there?
Who am I?
• Interrogates the identity of the human person
• “all human acts are moral acts” -- Aquinas

Who do I want to be?

• Human person’s self-knowledge is dynamic
• Self-knowledge here is malleable towards self-
determination

How can I get there?

• Breaks down the tasks to be done
• Self-knowledge and self-determination are here bridge by
self-governance
 Goal: Finishing a degree

Building self
Starts with the
towards a particular
reality of the self
goal

Steps or route you

take and reasons in
achieving your goal
Love is directed
towards God
THOMISTIC ETHICS
 A disciplined system
that finds ultimate
foundation and
perfection in the reality
of God.
THOMISTIC NATURAL LAW
Through Etsi Deus non daretur we are afforded
the autonomy of a reasonable ethics
independent from faith.
 The autonomy of ethics from faith
afforded a level of disciplined reflection.
The independence that is given in the
ethical allows the human person to be
himself/herself.
 GOAL
DECISIONS
SETTING
PERSONAL PRAXIS
REFLECTION (PRACTICE)

FULL REALIZATION OF WHO HE/SHE IS

The Divine Will and also the entirely of all
creation cannot be limited by the scope of
satisfaction that is exclusively chosen by
man.
 The human being remains to be one
particular being among multiplicity of
being.
One cannot, given one’s limit, be the
fulfillment of everything.
“Is not his/her goal setting inclusive of
‘the desire to be everything’”?
 This potential, derives from what is
actual in the reality of being; wanting
to be all in all is not the same as truly
being all in all.
Human beings are limited
 The human person is not only to
bound to find maximum capacity of
one’s being in a search for self-
actualization.
Relates with other human person and
all of creation.
Open to be in all and to exist for all.
“be open and available for everything
else”
“be open for the love or fullness that
is beyond him/her”
Human beings are limited
True destiny of a man lies in a
gratuitous perfection
FREEDOM FULLNESS OF LOVE
 SPIRITUAL
THIS RELATIONSHIP
AND LOVING
INVITATION
EXCEEDS THE BAETIFIC
POSIBILITIES OF
ACHIEVEMENT
AND REALIZATIONS
HEAVENLY
His/her wanting to be
with God
 “The ethical man is not
the perfect man but one
who wants to be saved
by cooperating in
freedom with what is
attainable for him/her”.