NATURAL

LAW
Presentation by Group 4
Introduction to Natural Law

 THOMAS AQUINAS
 ROMAN CATHOLIC
 ABSOLUTE MORALITY
 What is meant by Natural Law?

 “Natural Law is the rational understanding and following of

God’s final purpose.”
(Mel Thompson – Teach yourself Ethics)
 God created everything for a purpose.
 Humans were created with the ability to reason and can
therefore choose to follow an intended purpose.
THE ORIGINS OF NATURAL LAW

Aristotle
 Greek philosopher
 Anything that prevents or interferes with
the purpose for which something is created
is wrong.
 THE ORIGINS OF NATURAL LAW

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

 He studied the work of Aristotle
 Roman Catholic – God created everything
with a sense of purpose.
 A rational basis for Christian morality.
 THOMAS AQUINAS
 Aquinas believed natural law was the moral code which human
beings were naturally inclined towards.
 Aquinas said that ‘the moral life is the life which is lived
according to reason’
 Based on Aristotle's idea of the ‘good’ being that which fulfils the
purpose for which it was created, Aquinas believed it was
necessary to establish the purpose for which humans were created
by God.
 THOMAS AQUINAS
 Aquinas believed there were 4 ends (purpose) for which human
beings have been created.
1. To live harmoniously in society
2. To reproduce
3. To learn
4. To worship God
 ABSOLUTE MORALITY

 Natural Law must be followed without question whatever the

circumstances or the situation.
 There is no flexibility
 A good action is one which was achieved by fulfilling the
purpose for which it was designed.
 HOW TO APPLY NATURAL LAW?

 “Reason and the regularities of the natural world should be

your guide.”
 The four cardinal virtues:

- Prudence
- Justice
- Fortitude
- Temperance
The opposite of the four cardinal virtues and the seven
deadly sins
 Pride
 Avarice
 Lust
 Envy
 Gluttony
 Anger
 Sloth
 PRIMARY PRECEPTS

 These are general such as to worship God and to love one’s

neighbor.
 These are inflexible

 “The first principles of Natural Law are altogether unalterable.”

 PRIMARY PRECEPTS

 Preserve Life
 Procreate
 Educate
 Life peacefully in society
 Worship God
 SECONDARY PRECEPTS

 These are more specific such as to only have one husband or

wife
 They have to be interpreted in the context of the situation

 There is some flexibility

What are the seven
deadly sins?
 Pride

 Avarice

 Lust

 Envy

 Gluttony

 Anger

 Sloth
 WHAT ARE THE STRENGTHS?
 Based on reason
 Good guidance is given on how to behave
 It is an example of absolute morality
 It is a clear cut theory
 It is straight forward
 There is no need to look at each individual situation to work out if
an action is right or wrong
 WHAT ARE THE WEAKNESSES OF
NATURAL LAW?
 It is inflexible
 It is based on a perceived sense of purpose within nature
 It is based on the assumption that we are rational human beings
 It is based on a belief in a creator God
 It takes no account of individual circumstances or situations
THE GREEK
HERITAGE
 NEOPLATONIC GOOD
 The central belief of the Christian Faith- God Creates

- He cares for and thus governs the activity of the universe

and of every creature.
 Plato’s most compelling and enduring idea: the nation of a
supreme and absolutely transcendent good
 NEOPLATONIC GOOD
 It provides an objective basis and standard for the striving to be
moral.
“why should I bother trying to be good?”
“why cannot good be whatever I say it is?”
 Plato’s answer is placed on the mouth of the main character of
the The Republic
“the good is real and not something that one can pretend to make
up or ignore”- Socrates
 THE IDEA OF THE GOOD
 The enigmatic passage of the idea of the good which is prior to
all being and is even the cause of all beings becomes the source
of fascination and inspiration of later thinkers – neoplatonists
 Neoplatonists caused Idea of the Good to become The One and
The Beautiful
 The platonic idea of the good continued into the era of
Christian Middle Ages, thought a new in a more personal way
as a creative and loving God.
 ARISTOTELIAN BEING AND BECOMING

THE FOUR CAUSES

Any being can be said to have four causes:
1. Material Cause embraces the concept that any being is
corporeal, composed of certain materiality or physical stuff,
individuated, unique individual as is made up of particular stuff.
2. Formal cause - The shape that makes a being a particular kind
is called it’s form.
 ARISTOTELIAN BEING AND BECOMING
3. Efficiency cause - it is thought that there is always something that brings about
the present of another being.

4. Final cause – A being has an apparent end goal.

• Cause is that out of which a thing comes to be ad which persists.

• Cause is the form or archetype, the statement of the essence and it’s genre

• Cause is the primary source of the change or coming to the rest and what makes
of what is made and what causes change of what is changed.
 ARISTOTELIAN BEING AND BECOMING
EXAMPLE
 ARISTOTELIAN BEING AND BECOMING
• Cause is the sense of the end or that for the sake of which a thing is
done.

• The four causes differ from one another in that some are activities,
others instruments.

• Aristotle explained the process of becoming or the possibility of change

that takes place in a being.

• The principle of Potency and Act is that a being carry within itself
certain potentials, but these required being actualized
 ARISTOTELIAN BEING AND BECOMING

THE SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION OF

ARISTOTLE
• The process of becoming or change is the
understanding of beings, how they are and
how they become or what they could be.
 ARISTOTELIAN BEING AND BECOMING

SYNTHESIS
• The ideas of transcendent good prior to all being in the form of the
good and loving God, Himself the fullness of being and of goodness

• God is that which essentially is and is essentially good.

• All beings are only possible as participating in the first being, which is
God Himself and His act , like an emanation of light is the creation of
beings.
 ARISTOTELIAN BEING AND BECOMING

SYNTHESIS
• God is the First Efficient Cause in that from which all being come.

• It is God’s will and love that are the cause of all things in every
existing thing.

• Creation therefore is the activity of the outpouring or overflowing of

God’s goodness and this makes each being in some sense good.
 ARISTOTELIAN BEING AND BECOMING

SYNTHESIS
• The goodness possessed by being remains imperfect for only God in the
fullness of His being and goodness is perfect.

• God did not create beings to remain imperfect and to stay that way. God, in His
infinite wisdom directs how we are to arrive at our perfection.

• Divine providence is a notion how beings are properly ordered and even guided
toward their proper end which is to reach the highest good, is to return to the
divine goodness itself.
 ARISTOTELIAN BEING AND BECOMING

SYNTHESIS
• Divine goodness is the end of all actions. All things come from God
and are created in order to return to Him.

• The presence of capacity for reason is the prime characteristic of the

kind of beings we are, how this is very tool which God had placed in
our human nature as the way to our perfection and return to Him
 GAME
GUESS THE
TOURIST SPOT
TOURIST SPOT
DELICACY
DELICACY
ACTOR
ACTOR
MOVIE
MOVIE
HERITAGE
HERITAGE
ACTIVITY
The Essence and
Varieties of Law
 ESSENCE
These Words are link together to define the essence
of law.

 Reason - it has a power to move the will.

 Action - our actions are directed toward attaining

ends or goods that we desire.

 Common Good - consider what is good for the

community as well as our own good. we act in
pursuit of our own end with regard for other
people’s end or good.

 Law - is an ordinance of reason for the common good

 VARIETIES
Aquinas’s Natural Law Theory contains four different
kinds of law:
 Eternal Law
- Is the highest kind of law
- God wills for creation
 VARIETIES
 Natural Law
- it is the rational creature’s participation
in eternal law
- According to Aquinas wherefore it has a
share of eternal reason whereby it has a natural
inclination to its proper acts and end.
 VARIETIES
 Human Law
- it refers to all instances wherein human being
construct and enforce law in their communities.
- This law is more specific and the actual
operation of human act.
 VARIETIES
 Divine Law
- The Norms contained in the word of holy
scriptures (Bible)
- 10 commandments
 VARIETIES
Other Examples:
 GAME
BATAS KABA?!
Instructions:
When the game master shouts the (Batas kaba?!)
 The players /students must comment or chat in the
chat/comment box of Gmeet
 They must comment any Law that they know.
 But after we decide who’s the winners the game
master have a little question about the LAW. they
answer.
 All students must be a player, and if not, they will
face a consequence called (SECRET)

Price:
The 1st can have a reward of 25 pesos load
2nd 15 pesos load
3rd 10 pesos load
 References:
https://www.slideshare.net/DonGabrielGalleposo1/natural-law-133148175?fbclid=IwAR3_a8NZxABnTcskHw2YhcGT
iCQwIGEgHR1wsLjF2d7eXQ030UxiR5vzeYY
https://iep.utm.edu/natlaw/?fbclid=IwAR1RtRDBROijx3HhD20aJHiJVFnCA1jcAsFEs1nAuI5kcfmPK6vf6vLiwdU#:~
:text=Aquinas%20distinguishes%20four%20kinds%20of,and%20(4)%20divine%20law
https://www.scribd.com/presentation/493430701/Essence-Variety-of-Laws?fbclid=IwAR0WtvuBhZKgJV7sO82IMcO4
xka5jtXYKtlkHpqhsP5djg9z0lXoW-kcGjE
https://www.coursehero.com/file/76749377/Module-33-The-Essence-and-Varieties-of-Lawpdf/?fbclid=IwAR1URaVTy
UU9_7yPVm6sPVJF6Bcli65fEUke43PJt7B3g83tNfl2BTXeqPI
https://academic.oup.com/ajj/article-abstract/30/1/79/189038?redirectedFrom=PDF
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/natural-law.asp#:~:text=Investopedia%20%2F%20Jessica%20Olah-,What%20Is
%20Natural%20Law%3F,by%20society%20or%20court%20judges.
GROUP MEMBERS:

• MAQUILAN, MICHELLE
• MENDEVIL, CRISTY MARIE V.
• SOBRECAREY, KYRIE JACKY
• TOROTORO, HANNAH JANE
• MOMBILLE, JANZEL B.
• SILVERON, JHISPEAR M.
• GARCIANO, CHRISTIAN J.