The Natural Law Theory of ST

• Insists that the natural law expresses
moral requirements (rules,

commands, action-guiding )
• It implies that we adhere to the will
and plan of God who shares his love
and goodness to us, His creatures.
• grounded on the belief that God exists
• God is known as the highest good and being
who establishes eternal law where his divine
plan for his creatures has been inscribed.
• is comprised of those precepts of the
eternal law that govern behavior of beings
possessing reason and freewill
• the first precept is the somewhat vacuous
imperative to do good and avoid evil
Natural Law
Good is to be done
and pursued and
evil avoided
2Groups of Adherents of God’s creatures to
natural law
• Rational creatures – refer to us, human beings,
who are gifted with rationality and freedom.
• Irrational creatures – refers to animals, plants
and other nonliving creatures without
rationality and freedom.
The Natural Law and its Tenets
• Distinction of natural law in broad sense and
in the narrow sense for rational and irrational
creatures:
– In the narrow sense: (rational creatures) it is
already given above that natural law is already
present in us. All we have to do is to recognize
that we are his creatures and that we are called to
participate in the divine life of the highest being in
order to have a fullness of being
– (irrational creatures) the way they exist
and the way their actions tend toward
something that seems to be good are
all guided by this natural law
– In the broad sense: the natural law
guides both the rational and irrational
creatures in their respective
tendencies towards the realization of
their beings.
The theory of Natural Law
3 main parts
– it rests upon a certain view of what the
world is like – everything in nature has a
purpose (Aristotle)
– Specify how things ought to be as well (duty
of beneficence)
– Addresses the question of moral knowledge
“how are we to go about determining what is
right and what is wrong” (Thomas Aquinas)
Can we say that natural moral law is different
from the eternal law?
• It is not exactly.
The natural moral law is an expression of

participation in the eternal law.
The four cardinal virtues:
- prudence (exercise of understanding to
help us know the best means in solving moral
problems we encounter)
- justice (exercise of the will to give or
render the things to anyone who owns it)
- fortitude (exercise of courage; to face any
dangers one encounters without fear)
- temperance(exercise of control in the
midst of strong attraction to pleasures)
How happiness becomes constitutive of
moral and cardinal virtues?
• Telos or end (Aristotle) – happiness which
means success or human flourishing
• Aquinas – it entails the wholeness of human

being that involves body and soul to be united
with the highest good or summum Bonum
(God himself in heaven)
• Aquinas argued that GOD created
the world according to NATURAL
LAW – predictable, goal- driven
systems whereby LIFE IS SUSTAINED,
and EVERYTHING FUNCTIONS
SMOOTHLY
The Basic Goods
• 1. LIFE
• 2. REPRODUCTION
• 3. EDUCATE ONE’S OFFSPRING
• SEEK GOD
• LIVE IN SOCIETY
• AVOID OFFENSE
• SHUN IGNORANCE
WE DON’T NEED THE BIBLE, OR
RELIGION CLASS, OR CHURCH
IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND
THE NATURAL LAW.
Instead, our INSTINCT shows
us the BASIC GOODS, AND
REASON ALLOWS US TO
DERIVE THE NATURAL LAW
FROM THEM.
IF GOD CREATED US TO SEEK THE
GOOD AND IF WE ARE BUILT
WITH THE ABILITY TO
RECOGNIZE AND SEEK IT, THEN
WHY DO PEOPLE VIOLATE THE
NATURAL LAW ALL THE TIME?!
SOMETIMES WE SEEK
WHAT WE THINK IS
GOOD BUT WE ARE
WRONG, BECAUSE
WE’RE IGNORANT.
NO MATTER HOW
AWESOME GOD MADE
YOU, OR YOUR DESIRES,
YOU HAVE TO HAVE SOME
UNDERSTANDING OF HOW
TO BE AWESOME.
WE SEE WHAT WE
SHOULD DO, BUT
EMOTION OVERPOWERS
OUR REASON, AND WE
FAIL TO DO THE THINGS
WE KNOW WE SHOULD.
IT TELLS US THAT
MORALITY IS
GROUNDED IN GOD,
THAT HE CREATED THE
MORAL.
IT ALSO GIVES US A
REASON TO BE MORAL –
FOLLOWING THE
NATURAL LAW MAKES
OUR LIVES WORK
BETTER.

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• Insists that the natural law expresses

moral requirements (rules,

The natural moral law is an expression of

• Aquinas – it entails the wholeness of human

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