• It specifies the human act and is the purpose that

WEEK 8: NATURAL LAW the act accomplishes as a means to the ultimate

goal of life.
St. Thomas Aquinas • Although the moral object or finis operis is the
Module, PPT & Synchronous lecture by Prof. fundamental element of the morality of the human
Oliveros
act, that is also the circumstance.
→ Human act; labeled as good or evil

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS CIRCUMSTANCE

• Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that argues for the • is the part of the human act that must be considered
goodness of pleasure and the determination of right in order to evaluate the total moral act. Can be
behavior based on the usefulness of the actions considered in various moral questions, thus, be
consequences. This means that pleasure is good and might ask, ‘who’, ‘when’, ‘how much’ or ‘in what
that the goodness of action is determined by its manner’
usefulness. → Things that you’re considering
• Also known as Doctor Angelicus and Doctor INTENTION / MOTIVE
Communis
• Born in 1225 Aquino, Italy • The ultimate reason that determines the moral act
• Died in 1274 in Italy • Is a means towards attainment of true happiness
• Referred to as Thomas because his last name both of a agent and the common good
Aquinas refers to where he was born. PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE-EFFECT
• Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, Catholic priest,
and Doctor of the Church Theologian, and jurist in Thomas Aquinas
the tradition of scholasticism
• Designed by Aquinas
• Begins his natural law theory by differentiating
• Used in order to judge the moral acceptability of the
human acts from acts of man.
human act that has two effect:
NATURAL LAW ▪ Good
▪ Evil
• Natural law is a system in which actions are seen as
morally and ethically correct if t accords with the Traditional Moral Theology, presents four conditions
end purpose of human nature and human goals. for the Double-effect Principle to be applied:
• Follows the fundamental maxim, ‘do good and
→ To be applied to how acceptable our action is
avoid evil’.
1. The action is good itself or at least in different.
HUMAN ACTS → When performing an action – do what’s good
→ A good person always chooses what’s good
• Human acts as Aquinas expressed proceeds from 2. The Good effect must come first before the evil
the will. effect or a least simultaneously
ACTS OF MAN → Pinautang ng pera – naibsan ang financial burden
→ Di pwedeng pinahiram yung pera tapos
• Is an action that does not proceeds from the will nasagasaan
→ No moral value 3. The Good effect must be intended
MORAL OBJECT → Dapat hindi out of luck
→ Intention to do good dapat
• The intention inherent in the action that one is 4. There must be a proportionately grave reason for
actually performing. the evil effect to happen
→ Pag nag act possible: Good or evil
→ Kung mag act maliit ang possibility ng evil
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 MEDIEVAL THINKER THOMAS AQUINAS
• AQUINAS reminds us that we cannot simply act in
• This natural law of theory is part of a larger project,
pursuit of our own ends or good without any regard
which is Aquinas’ vision of the Christian faith
for other people's end or good. We are not isolated
THE CONTEXT OF AQUINAS’ ETHICS beings, but beings who belong to a community.
• Since we belong to a community, we have to
• How in our pursuit of happiness we direct our consider what is good for the community as well as
actions toward specific ends. our own good. This can be called COMMON GOOD.
• How our actions are related to certain dispositions • We should recognize the proper measure or the
in a dynamic way since our actions arise from our limits in our acts in a way that we can pursue ends,
habits and at the same time reinforce a good about our own and that of others, together. The
disposition leading us toward making moral choices. determination of the proper measure of our acts
• The Christian Life is about developing the capacities can be referred to as LAW.
given us by God into a disposition of virtue inclined → Not referring sa batas na ginawa ng hari/reyna
toward the good but when doing an act must use his reason and his
• Aquinas also puts forward that there is within us a action are participative sa common good sa loob
conscience that directs our moral thinking ng lipunan
• We are called to heed the voice of conscience and → A good eagle is based on his nature
enjoined to develop and maintain a life of virtue. • A LAW, therefore, is concerned with the COMMON
→ Sometimes unreliable ang conscience GOOD.
• However, we need a basis for our conscience to be • It is also necessary for rules or laws to be
properly informed, and we need a clearer guidepost communicated to the people involved in order to
on whether certain decisions we make lead us enforce them and to better ensure compliance. This
toward virtue or vice. is referred to as PROMULGATION.
• Being told that one should heed one’s conscience or • "The definition of law may be gathered; and it is
that one should try to be virtuous, does very little to nothing else than an ordinance or reason for the
guide people as to what specifically should be done common good, made by him who has care of the
in a given situation. community and promulgated" — Aquinas
• There is a need or a clearer basis of ethics, a ground
the will more concretely direct our sense of what is VARIETIES OF LAW
wrong and right
• We do not only recognize God as the source of these
• For Aquinas, there should be Natural Law beings, but also acknowledge the way they have
THE ESSENCE AND VARIETIES OF LAW been created and the way they could return to Him,
which is the work of His divide reason itself.
ESSENCE OF LAW → If God provides you with reason why there are
• As a rational being, we have free will. Through our people commits irrational act like criminal
capacity for reason, we are able to judge between activity…
possibilities and to choose to direct our actions in → You're thinking that this is the right thing but
one way or the other you're wrong (ignorance)
→ Hindi puppet master ang God → When doing it out emotions
→ From the concept of John Stuart Mill, binigyan • "He governs all the acts and movements that are to
tayo ng reason… be found in each single creature, so the type of
• ACTIONS are directed toward attaining ends or Divine Wisdom, as moving all things to their due
goods that we desire end, bears the character of law."
• There are many possible desirable ends or goods, ETERNAL LAW
and we act in such ways to pursue them.
• ACTS are rightly toward their ends by reason • What God wills for creation

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 • How each participant in it is intended to return to one’s offspring. As the matter of fact, animals
Him periodically engage in sexual intercourse at a
• We must recognize that we are part of the eternal specific time of “heat”, and this could result an
law and we participate in it in a special way. offspring. In human too, that natural inclination to
→ As a rational being naiintindihan natin ang engage in the sexual act and to reproduce exists.
existence and will of god Thomas writes certain special sins are said to be
• Irrational creatures are participating in the eternal against nature, thus contrary to sexual intercourse,
law, although we could hardly say that they are in which is natural to all animals, is unisexual lust,
any way "conscious" of this law. which has received the special name of the
• Aquinas notes that "we cannot speak of them by unnatural crime
obeying the law, except by the way of similitude” UNIQUELY HUMAN
• "Wherefore it has a share of the External Reason,
whereby it has a natural inclination to it's proper act • We have an inclination to good according to the
and end" nature of our reasons.
• This participation of the external law in the natural • With this, we have a natural inclination to know the
creature is called NATURAL LAW truth about God and to live in Society
→ Pag pinabayaan mo ang animals to do their • It is of interest that this is followed by matters of
proper act and end - nag paparticipate na sila sa both an epistemic and a social concern.
external law and that's natural reason. → Natural ability/drivve to know the truth about god
• General guideposts:
HUMAN LAW
▪ Epistemic Concern – which is that we know
• refers to all instances wherein human being we pursue the truth
construct and enforce laws in their community. ▪ Social Concern – which is that we know we
live in relation to others
ETERNAL LAW • Thomas tells us that there is a priority among the
• refers specifically to the instances where we have powers of our soul, with the intellectual directing
what is handed down to us in sacred scripture and commanding our sensitive and nutritive
• "So then no one can know the eternal law, as it is in capacities.
itself, except the blessed who see God in His • Recognizing how being rational is what is proper to
Essence." man, the apparent vagueness of the third
inclination that Aquinas mentions is counter-
NATURAL LAW balanced by the recognition that he is not
In common in other beings interested in providing precepts that one would
simply, unthinkingly follow
• We have considered how we, human beings, are • In making human laws, additions that are not at all
both unique and at the same time participating in problematic for the natural law are possible. o As
the community of the rest of creation. Our presence Aquinas puts it, nothing hinders a change in the
in the rest of creation does not only mean that we natural law by way of addition, since our reason has
interact with creatures that are not human, but that found and can fine many things that benefit
there is also in our nature something that shares in individual and communal human life.
the nature of other beings
→ Unnatural things – that causes evil INPUT: NATURAL LAW (module)
→ It’s not the same with the oughtness
THE THEORY OF NATURAL LAW
In common with other animals
• In the history of Christian thought, the dominant
• Aquinas then goes on to say that there is our human theory of ethics is not the Divine Command Theory.
nature, common with other animals, a desire that That honor goes to the Theory of Natural Law. This
has to do with sexual intercourse and the care of theory has three main parts.
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 1. The Theory of Natural Law rests upon a certain • [W]e must believe, first that plants exist for the sake
view of what the world is like. On this view, the of animals, second that all other animals exist for
world is a rational order with values and purposes the sake of man, tame animals for the use he can
built into its very nature. This conception derives make of them as well as for the food they provide;
from the Greeks, whose way of understanding the and as for wild animals, most though not all of these
world dominated Western thinking for over 1,700 can be used for food or are useful in other ways;
years. A central feature of this conception was the clothing and instruments can be made out of them.
idea that everything in nature has a purpose. If then we are right in believing that nature makes
nothing without some end in view, nothing to no
• Aristotle incorporated this idea into his system of purpose, it must be that nature has made all things
thought around 350 B.C. when he said that, in order specifically for the sake of man.
to understand anything, four questions must be • This seems stunningly anthropocentric. Aristotle
asked: What is it? What is it made of? How did it may be forgiven, however, when we consider that
come to exist? And what is it for? (The answers virtually every important thinker in out history has
might be: This is a knife, it is made of metal, it was entertained some such thought. Humans are a
made by a craftsman, and it is used for cutting.) remarkably vain species.
Aristotle assumed that the last question - what is it • The Christian thinkers who came later found this
for? - could sensibly be asked of anything whatever. view of the world to be perfectly congenial. Only
Nature, he said, belongs to the class of causes which one thing was missing: God was needed to make the
act for the sake of something. picture complete. (Aristotle has denied that God
• It seems obvious that artifacts such as knives have was a necessary part of the picture. For him, the
purposes, because craftsmen have a purpose in worldview we have outlined was not religious; it
mind when they make them. But what about was simply a description of how things are.) Thus
natural objects that we do not make? Aristotle the Christian thinkers said that the rain falls to help
believed that they have purposes too. One of his the plants because that is what the Creator
examples was that we have teeth so that we can intended, and the animals are for human use
chew. Such biological examples are quite because that is what God made them for. Values
persuasive; each part of our bodies does seem, and purposes were, therefore, conceived to be a
intuitively, to have a special purpose - eyes are for fundamental part of the nature of things, because
seeing, the heart is for pumping blood, and so on. the world was believed to have been created
But Aristotle’s claim was not limited to organic according to a divine plan.
beings. According to him, everything has a purpose.
He thought, to take a different sort of example, that 2. A corollary of this way of thinking is that the laws
rain falls so that plants can grow. As odd as it may of nature not only describe how things are, they
seem to a modern reader, Aristotle was perfectly specify how things ought to be as well. Things are
serious about this. He considered other as they ought to be when they are serving their
alternatives, such as that the rain falls of necessity natural purposes. When they do not, or cannot,
and that this helps the plants only by coincidence, serve those purposes, things have gone wrong.
and rejected them. Eyes that cannot see are defective, and drought is
• The world, therefore, is an orderly, rational system, a natural evil; the badness of both is explained by
with each thing having its own proper place and reference to natural law. But there are also
serving its own special purpose. There is a neat implications for human conduct. Moral rules are
hierarchy: The rain exists for the sake of the plants, not viewed as deriving from the laws of nature.
the plants exist for the sake of the animals, and the Some ways of behaving are said to be natural,
animals exist - of course - for the sake of people, while other are unnatural; and unnatural acts are
whose well- being is the point of the whole said to be morally wrong.
arrangement.

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 • Consider, for example, the duty of beneficence. We for that purpose. Facts are one thing; values are
are morally required to be concerned for our another. The Theory of Natural Law seems to
neighbor’s welfare as we are for our own. Why? conflate them.
According to the Theory of Natural Law, • Second, the Theory of Natural Law has gone out of
beneficence is natural for us, considering the kind of fashion (although that does not, of course, prove it
creatures we are. We are by our nature social is false) because the view of the world on which it
creatures who want and need the company of other rests is out of keeping with modern science. The
people. It is also part of our natural makeup that we world as described by Galileo, Newton, and Darwin
care about others. Someone who does not care at has no place for facts about right and wrong. Their
all for others - who really does not care, through and explanations of natural phenomena make no
through - is seen as deranged, in the terms of reference to values or purposes. What happens just
modern psychology, a sociopath. A malicious happens, fortuitously, in the consequence of the
personality is defective, just as eyes are defective if laws of cause and effect. If the rain benefits the
they cannot see. And, it may be added, this is true plants, it is only because the plants have evolved by
because we were created by God, with a specific the laws of natural selection in a rainy climate.
human nature, as part of his overall plan for the • Thus modern science gives us a picture of the world
world. as a realm of facts, where the only natural laws are
• The endorsement of beneficence is relatively the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology, working
uncontroversial. Natural law theory has also been blindly and without purpose. Whatever values may
used, however, to support moral views that are be, they are not part of the natural order. As for the
more contentious. Religious thinkers have idea that nature has made all things specifically for
traditionally condemned deviant sexual practices, the sake of man, that is only human vanity. To the
and the theoretical justification of their opposition extent that one accepts the worldview of modern
has come more often than not from theory of science, then, one will be skeptical of the Theory of
natural law. If everything has a purpose, what is the Natural Law. It is no accident that the theory was a
purpose of sex? The obvious answer is procreation. product, not of modern thought, but of the Middle
Sexual activity that is not connected with making Ages.
babies can therefore be viewed as unnatural, and so
such practices as masturbation and oral sex - not to 3. The third part of the theory addresses the question
mention gay sex - can be condemned for this of moral knowledge. How are we to go about
reason. This way of thinking about sex dates back to determining what is right and what is wrong? The
at least to St. Augustine in the fourth century, and it Divine Command Theory says that we must consult
is explicit in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. The God’s commandments. The Theory of Natural Law
moral theology of the Catholic Church is based on gives a different answer. The natural laws that
natural law theory. This line of thought lies behind specify what we should do are laws of reason,
its whole sexual ethic. which we are able to grasp because God, the
• Outside the Catholic Church, the Theory of Natural author of the natural order, has made us rational
Law has few advocates today. It is generally rejected beings with the power to understand that order.
for two reasons. First, it seems to involve a Therefore, the Theory of Natural Law endorses the
confusion of is and ought. In the 18th century David familiar idea that the right thing to do is whatever
Hume pointed out that what is the case and what course of conduct has the best reasons on its side.
ought to be the case are logically different notions, To use the traditional terminology, moral
and no conclusion about one follows from the judgments are dictates of reason. St. Thomas
other. We can say that people are naturally Aquinas, the greatest of the natural-law theorists,
disposed to be beneficent, but it does not follow wrote in his masterpiece the Summa Theologica
that they should be beneficent. Similarly, it may be that To disparage the dictate of reason is
that sex does produce babies, but it does not follow equivalent to condemning the command of God.
that sex ought or ought not to be engaged in only

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 • This means that the religious believer has no special determined as moral or immoral because its origin
access to moral truth. The believer and the is the exercise of the will. The morality of the human
nonbeliever are in the same position. God has given act depends primarily on the ‘object’ rationally
both the same powers of reasoning; and so believer chosen by the deliberate will (John Paul II
and nonbeliever alike may listen to reason and in Veritatis Splendor, 1993).
follow its directives. They function as moral agents • The moral object can be described as the intention
in the same way, even though the nonbelievers lack inherent in the action that one is actually
of faith prevents them from realizing that God is the performing, the moral object specifies the human
author of the rational order in which they act and is the purpose that the act accomplishes as
participate and which their moral judgments a means to the ultimate goal of life. For example, ‘If
express. I gave money to the poor, I am performing an act of
• In an important sense, this leaves morality charity, a human act judged by its moral object or
independent of religion. Religious belief does not the intention inherent in the act. Although the
affect the calculation of what is best, and the results moral object or finis operis is the fundamental
of moral inquiry are religiously neutral. In this way, element of the morality of the human act, there is
even though they may disagree about religion, also the circumstance. Circumstance is a part of the
believers and nonbelievers inhabit the same moral human act that must be considered in order to
universe. evaluate the total moral act (Summa Theologica,
1947, I-II, q. 18, a. 3).
NATURAL LAW
• Circumstance can be considered in various moral
• What is natural law? ‘Natural’ because the goals and questions, thus, we might ask, ‘who’, ‘when’, ‘how
the major values human beings seek are innate, that much’ or ‘in what manner’. Example, a physician
is, they are from the nature and are not selected who injects a debilitated patient with a fate dose
freely by individual persons or communities. Since drugs to end his suffering. The moral object of the
human nature does not change, the basic goals are act (what actually the physician intends to do) is to
constant and basic morality does not change. It is kill the patient and it is this intention that makes the
considered ‘law’ because by reasoning about the physical act of the injection a moral evil. The
innate goals and values we can determine actions, circumstance of the physician’s act, e.g., time,
which is oftentimes expressed in norms or laws that place, and condition of the patient cannot make this
enables the person to achieve their goals. act good.
• Natural Law is a system in which actions are seen as • Finally, the ultimate reason that determines the
morally or ethically correct if it accords with the end moral act is the intention. Intention/motive is a
purpose of human nature and human means towards the attainment of true happiness
goals. Natural Law follows the fundamental maxim, both of the agent and the common good. Thus, in
‘do good and avoid evil’. A follower of natural law the example, killing an innocent person to help
contends that God is the creator. They believed that relieve pain cannot be justified. That is why as
God’s law is reflected in nature and in His creation. Ashley and O’Rouke said, ‘we may not do evil for
So by following man’s heart therefore they can good to come out of it’ (Originally is taken from
recognized the law of God. Rom. 3:8, Ashley, OP and O’Rouke OP, 2001).
• The natural law method of seeking moral norms and • The presentation at hand speaks about the norms
evaluating human acts has a long history in the of moral act, however, if given a situation or
catholic community. On the other hand, it is closely alternative wherein there is the conflicting issues as
associated to St. Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas begins to what course of action will prevail, Aquinas
his natural law theory by differentiating human designed a method known as ‘Principle of Double-
acts from acts of man. Human acts as Aquinas Effect’. This principle is used in order to judge the
expressed proceeds from the will and the act of moral acceptability of the human act that has two
man is an action that does not proceeds from the effects, one is good and the other is evil. Traditional
will. It is only the human act that is being
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 Moral theology, presents four conditions for the sometimes referred to as “positive laws” in the
double effect principle to be applied: framework of natural law theory, to make a clear
1. The action is good in itself or at least indifferent. distinction between natural and social laws. This
2. The good effect must come first before the evil theory has heavily influenced the laws and
effect or a least simultaneously. governments of many nations, including England
3. The good effect must be intended. and the United States, and it is also reflected in
4. There must be a proportionately grave reason for publications like the Universal Declaration of
the evil effect to happen. Human Rights
• The application of the principle of double effect • The origins of natural law theory lie in Ancient
emphasized that the good effect is really and Greece. Many Greek philosophers discussed and
honestly the one that is intended, instead of the evil codified the concept of natural law, and it played an
one. For example, a nurse is treating pneumonia to important role in Greek government. Later
a patient with terminal cancer. In prescribing philosophers such as St. Thomas Aquinas, Thomas
medication, one may possibly claim that his/her Hobbes, and John Locke built on the work of the
intention is to treat the pneumonia but it is possible Greeks in natural law theory treatises of their own.
as well that in one’s mind it would also be good so Many of these philosophers used natural law as a
that death could be hastened and the patient would framework for criticizing and reforming positive
not be in pain and prolonged suffering for a longer laws, arguing that positive laws which are unjust
period of time. In this example, it is required that under the principles of natural law are legally
the purity of ones internal action of consent or wanting.
intention must be intended.
• Situations by which the principle of double-effect
can be seen and applied and is not limited to
it: pain, restlessness, delirious, uncontrolled seizures
and depression caused by illness. Some of the
treatment may have an adverse and untoward
effect that it is not intended. Example, the use of
marijuana to control a certain pain and wasting; the
euphoric effects are the primary intention even if
the undesired effects are permitted. Another one is
applying sedition to a very restless and delirious
patient (as in rabies) it may require dangerous drugs
or even anesthesia even if these will shorten the life
of the patient. It is to be remembered here, that the
primary purpose of the health care provider is to
provide comfort and ease suffering. Indeed, good
intention demands impartiality and absence of
conflict of interest. Though, this is not always
possible, still, decision-making at the end must
recognize the individual conscience that requires
prudence of action. Prudence, as Aquinas said, ‘is
right reason in action’.

NATURAL LAW – OVERVIEW

• Natural law theory is a philosophical and legal belief

that all humans are governed by basic innate laws,
or laws of nature, which are separate and distinct
from laws which are legislated. Legislated laws are

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