The Natural Law WPS Office

The Natural Law:
St.Thomas Aquinas
BY : GROUP 2
St.
Thomas
Aquinas
• St. Thomas Aquinas

was an Italian
Dominican friar and
priest, an influential
philosopher and
theologian, and a jurist
in the tradition of
scholasticism from the
county of Aquino in
the Kingdom of Sicily,
Italy
St.
Thomas
Aquinas
• He is known within the

tradition as the Doctor
Angelicus, the Doctor
Communis, and the
Doctor Universalis. In
1999, John Paul II
added a new title to
these traditional ones:
Doctor Humanitatis.
Natural and Human
Law
Natural and Human Law
• Thomas Aquinas, much like Aristotle, wrote that

nature is organized for good purposes. Unlike
Aristotle, however, Aquinas went on to say that
God created nature and rules the world by "divine
reason."
• Aquinas described four kinds of law:

• Eternal law was God’s perfect plan, not fully
knowable to humans. It determined the way things
such as animals and planets behaved and how
people should behave.
• Divine law, primarily from the Bible, guided

individuals beyond the world to "eternal happiness"
in what St. Augustine had called the "City of God."
• Aquinas wrote most extensively about Natural law.

He stated, "the light of reason is placed by nature
[and thus by God] in every man to guide him in his
acts." Therefore, human beings, alone among God’s
creatures, use reason to lead their lives. This is
natural law.
• The master principle of natural law, wrote Aquinas,

was that "good is to be done and pursued and evil
avoided." Aquinas stated that reason reveals
particular natural laws that are good for humans
such as self-preservation, marriage and family, and
the desire to know God. Reason, he taught, also
enables humans to understand things that are evil
such as adultery, suicide, and lying.
• While natural law applied to all humans and was

unchanging, Human law could vary with time,
place, and circumstance. Aquinas defined this last
type of law as "an ordinance of reason for the
common good" made and enforced by a ruler or
government. He warned, however, that people
were not bound to obey laws made by humans that
conflicted with natural law.
Happiness as
Constitutive of
Moral and Cardinal
Virtues
Happiness as Constitutive
of Moral and Cardinal
Virtues
• In man's pursuit of happiness, he sometimes fails to
choose the correct actions that must be done.
Human as we are, we are sometimes driven by our
inclination to choose what is evil. We are, as if,
naturally magnetized to perform forbidden acts.
Virtues
• To guide us in our action, there are four candinal
virtues that we must possess and develop such as
prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice.
These are the same with Aristotle's moral virtues
which emphasize their nature as golden mean.
• In Aquinas morality, these are called cardinal
virtues which must be practiced as the bases for
moral living. If all the virtues are imbued in one's
life, the happiness, as human end, will become
attainable.
Virtues
• Prudence is understood as one's ability to discern
what is good, right and proper in a particular moral
situation After a careful evaluation of the situation,
he will choose what is good and he will avoid what
is evil.
• Being prudent is easily displayed when the choices
are between good and evil, but it becomes
complicated when the choices are between two
evils.
Virtues
• Temperance is understood as one's ability to
practice moderation at all times. Moderation is the
golden mean, like in Aristotle's idea, between both
extremes of excess and defect. Both Aristotle and
Aquinas believed that happiness is found in the
"middle", that is, between extremes.
• Life becomes easier if we live in moderation.
Virtues
• Fortitude is understood as one's ability to overcome fear and
danger. As stated above, this virtue is also considered as the
golden mean between being coward and being foolish. To
avoid danger for a greater cause is definitely better that
facing it, and it is not cowardice.
• Our spiritual life likewise teaches us that it is important to
"retreat", that is, to pause for a while, to deviate from our
usual daily routine, and to focus on something like closer
communication with God.
• This act is not a sign of spiritual weakness, but of strength,
acknowledging that it is through this act that we will become
stronger and more prepared to face life's challenges.
Virtues
• Justice is understood as one's ability to give
another person what is due to him. It is likewise
synonymously used as fairness. Giving what is due
requires reason and Impartiality. A Latin dictum
says, "Nemo dut quod non habet"(Nobody gives
what he does not have).
• Justice is given only when one understands what
another person deserves and what he himself
deserves as well.
That Is All
Thank You!
Members:
Kenji Ellamil
Jerome Degasa
Jeules Augustine Gagatam
Seoj Clyde Galila
VemberlyJoi Esmama

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The Natural Law:

• St. Thomas Aquinas

• He is known within the

• Thomas Aquinas, much like Aristotle, wrote that

• Aquinas described four kinds of law:

• Divine law, primarily from the Bible, guided

• Aquinas wrote most extensively about Natural law.

• The master principle of natural law, wrote Aquinas,

• While natural law applied to all humans and was

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