NATURAL LAW

Miss Cherry Mae N. Nable

AB Religious Education and Pastoral Communication
University of San Carlos
Senior High School- South
 VOCABULARY
• Positive Law is a man-made law
formulated and implemented by valid
authorities.
• Natural Law are inherent rights,
conferred not by acts of legislation but
by nature.
 NATURAL LAW

THOMAS
ARISTOTLE AQUINAS
 NATURAL LAW
• Telos- (purpose/end)
- there is an unchanging order
(principle) to the changing
physical world and by
understanding this we can
learn what is normal or
natural for someone or
something to do, or be, or
become.
ARISTOTLE
 NATURAL LAW
The inner principle of the
human person is REASON
According to Aristotle’s
philosophy something was ´good´
if it fulfilled its ´telos´ (purpose)
for which it was created for
example....

ARISTOTLE
 NATURAL LAW
Thomistic Ethics
“Reason” is the source of the
moral law and that, it directs us
towards the “good”.
The “good” is the ultimate goal of
the person’s action. This “good”
is discoverable within the
person’s nature.

Basic goal of Natural Ethics “do

THOMAS
AQUINAS
good and avoid evil”.
BASIC GOODS
 LIFE
REPRODUCTION
EDUCATE ONES OFFSPRING
SEEK GOD
LIVE IN SOCIETY
AVOID OFFENSE
SHUN IGNORANCE
 NATURAL LAW
Three-fold Natural Inclinations
of the Human Person:

1. SELF-PRESERVATION

2. JUST DEALING WITH

OTHERS

3. PROPAGATION OF
HUMAN SPECIES
THOMAS
AQUINAS
 NATURAL LAW
Three-fold Natural Inclinations
of the Human Person:

1. SELF-PRESERVATION is a
natural inclination that urges
the human person to take
care of her health or not to kill
or put herself in danger. This
is why SUICIDE is absolutely
wrong.
THOMAS
AQUINAS
 NATURAL LAW
Three-fold Natural Inclinations
of the Human Person:

2. JUST DEALING WITH

OTHERS urges us to treat
others with the same respect
that we accord ourselves.
Thus all forms of inhumanities
(exploitation, murder,
cheating) are absolutely
THOMAS
AQUINAS wrong.
 NATURAL LAW
Three-fold Natural Inclinations
of the Human Person:

3. PROPAGATION OF HUMAN
SPECIES Aquinas believes
that the reproductive organ is
by nature designed to
reproduce and propagate
human species.
THOMAS
AQUINAS
 NATURAL LAW
Three-fold Natural Inclinations
of the Human Person:

If at least one of these three is

violated, then an act does not
obey conscience; it is therefore
immoral

THOMAS
AQUINAS
 NATURAL LAW
FOUR PRINCIPLES OF
DOUBLE EFFECT:

1. The action intended must be

good in itself, or at least,
morally indifferent.; otherwise,
the act is evil at the very outset.

THOMAS
AQUINAS
 NATURAL LAW
FOUR PRINCIPLES OF
DOUBLE EFFECT:

2. The good effect must follow

the action or at least as
immediately as the evil effect,
or the good and evil effect must
occur simultaneously.

THOMAS
AQUINAS
 NATURAL LAW
FOUR PRINCIPLES OF
DOUBLE EFFECT:

3. The foreseen evil effect

should not be intended or
approved, but merely
permitted to occur.

THOMAS
AQUINAS
 NATURAL LAW
FOUR PRINCIPLES OF
DOUBLE EFFECT:

4. There must be a
proportionate and sufficient
reason for allowing the evil
effect to occur while
performing the action.

THOMAS
AQUINAS
Additional Discussion
CATEGORICAL
EMPERATIVES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=8bIys6JoEDw&t=1s

IMMANUEL
KHANT