3. Several variations of natural
law:
• This may generally refer to theories in ethics, law,
philosophy, science, and politics that locates its
central thesis back to “Nature.” And thus, certain
ambiguities may arise.
5. “natural law is something appointed by reason”
(ST, IaIIae, 94,1)
6. “It is therefore evident that the natural law is nothing else
than the rational creature's participation of the eternal law.”
(ST IaIIae, q91, a2)
7. “the first principle of practical reason is one founded on the
notion of good, viz. that "good is that which all things seek
after." Hence this is the first precept of law, that "good is to be
done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided." All other
precepts of the natural law are based upon this: so that
whatever the practical reason naturally apprehends as man's
good (or evil) belongs to the precepts of the natural law as
something to be done or avoided […] good has the nature of
an end, and evil, the nature of a contrary, hence it is that all
those things to which man has a natural inclination, are
naturally apprehended by reason as being good, and
consequently as objects of pursuit, and their contraries as evil,
and objects of avoidance.”
(ST, IaIIae, 94,2)
8. Natural Law
Hints:
1. appointed by reason
2. inclination towards the good, to do good and
avoid evil
3. participation of the eternal law
9. Natural Law as appointed
by reason
Aristotle (384 - 322 BCE)
“[…]we state the function of man to be a certain kind of life,
and this to be an activity or actions of the soul implying a
rational principle[…]” (NE 1098a3–4)
11. “If then Nature never makes anything without a purpose and never
leaves out what is necessary (except in the case of mutilated or
imperfect growths; and that here we have neither mutilation nor
imperfection may be argued from the facts that such animals (a) can
reproduce their species and (b) rise to completeness of nature and
decay to an end), it follows that, had they been capable of originating
forward movement, they would have possessed the organs necessary
for that purpose. Further, neither can the calculative faculty or what is
called 'mind' be the cause of such movement; for mind as speculative
never thinks what is practicable[…]”
DeAnima Bk.X
12. “That which moves therefore is a single faculty and the faculty of appetite; for if there had
been two sources of movement-mind and appetite-they would have produced movement in
virtue of some common character. As it is, mind is never found producing movement without
appetite (for wish is a form of appetite; and when movement is produced according to
calculation it is also according to wish), but appetite can originate movement contrary to
calculation, for desire is a form of appetite. Now mind is always right, but appetite and
imagination may be either right or wrong. That is why, though in any case it is the object of
appetite which originates movement, this object may be either the real or the apparent good.
To produce movement the object must be more than this: it must be good that can be
brought into being by action; and only what can be otherwise than as it is can thus be
brought into being. That then such a power in the soul as has been described, i.e. that called
appetite, originates movement is clear. Those who distinguish parts in the soul, if they
distinguish and divide in accordance with differences of power, find themselves with a very
large number of parts, a nutritive, a sensitive, an intellective, a deliberative, and now an
appetitive part; for these are more different from one another than the faculties of desire and
passion.”
DeAnima Bk.X
13. Reason/Mind
Practical Wisdom/Reason= Will = towards the Good
“Practical wisdom on the other hand is concerned
with things human and things about which it is
possible to deliberate; for we say this is above all the
work of the man of practical wisdom, to deliberate
well, but no one deliberates about things invariable,
nor about things which have not an end, and that a
good that can be brought about by action.”
(Nichomachean Ethics BkVI)
15. • Why is natural law appointed by reason?
• Why is practical wisdom moving towards the
good?
16. To question investigate and inquire in to things is to
ask the question, “why?”
But notice that “why?” implies an inquiry of the cause
or causes?
17. “Listen then, and I will tell you. When I was young,
Cebes, I was tremendously eager for the kind of
wisdom which they call investigation of nature. I
thought it was a glorious thing to know the causes of
everything, why each thing comes into being and
why it perishes and why it exists […]” (Phaedo 96a)
19. • The material cause: “that out of which”, e.g., the bronze of
a statue.
• The formal cause: “the form”, “the account of what-it-is-to-
be”, e.g., the shape of a statue.
• The efficient cause: “the primary source of the change or
rest”, e.g., the artisan, the art of bronze-casting the statue,
the man who gives advice, the father of the child.
• The final cause: “the end, that for the sake of which a thing
is done”, e.g., health is the end of walking, losing weight,
purging, drugs, and surgical tools.
Physics II 3, Metaphysics, V2 in https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-causality/
20. The final cause: “the end, that for the sake of which
a thing is done”
PURPOSE
22. Function Argument
“Nature is of two sorts, nature as matter
and nature as form, and the form is the
end, and since everything else is for the
end, the form must be what things are
for. (Physics 199a30)”
24. What is the work of human being? /
What is the purpose of human being?
What is the good for the
human being?
25. “we state the function of man to be a certain kind of
life, and this to be an activity or actions of the soul
implying a rational principle, and the function of a
good man to be the good and noble performance of
these, and if any action is well performed when it is
performed in accordance with the appropriate
excellence: if this is the case, human good turns out
to be activity of soul in accordance with virtue, and if
there are more than one virtue, in accordance with
the best and most complete.”
• DeAnima Bk.I Ch7
Good is to follow the
function or the form
27. “Since there are evidently more than one end, and we choose
some of these (e.g. wealth, flutes, and in general instruments)
for the sake of something else, clearly not all ends are final
ends; but the chief good is evidently something final.
Therefore, if there is only one final end, this will be what we are
seeking, and if there are more than one, the most final of these
will be what we are seeking. Now we call that which is in itself
worthy of pursuit more final than that which is worthy of pursuit
for the sake of something else, and that which is never
desirable for the sake of something else more final than the
things that are desirable both in themselves and for the sake of
that other thing, and therefore we call final without
qualification that which is always desirable in itself and
never for the sake of something else.” (DeAnima Bk.I Ch7)
28. Happiness or Human
Flourishing
“Happiness, on the other hand, no one chooses for the
sake of these, nor, in general, for anything other than
itself.”
(DeAnima Bk.I Ch7)
29. 1. The Human Being has, by virtue of his soul, the
rational principle.
2. The inclination of practical wisdom is inclined
towards the good.
3. The human being possessing practical wisdom is
inclined, for his/her purpose, towards the good.
4. This final end of the human being is happiness.
5. To do good is to be happy.
30. Thomas Aquinas recognizes
this end of the human being:
“man's last end is happiness; which all men desire,
as Augustine says (De Trin. xiii, 3,4). But
"happiness is not possible for animals bereft of
reason," as Augustine says (Questions. 83, qu. 5).
Therefore other things do not concur in man's last
end.”
(ST IaIIae 1,8)
32. If we concede that rationality allows us human
beings to understand the principle of causality
[the purpose of things and their functions] that
governs our reason and the world…
Then, we [must] also realize that this
principle implies an order to existence.
33. In the hands of the Stoics (3rd century BCE to 3rd century ACE),
this order is the Universal Reason of the universe
they call as “Fate” and follows the generative
principle of what they call as Seminal Reason
(logos spermatikos)
34. Thomas Aquinas, after its admixtures as it pass
through history, takes this idea of universal reason
that provides the order and purpose to all things as
the Divine Providence, or the Eternal Law.
35. Eternal Law
“Just as in every artificer there pre-exists a type of the things that are made by
his art, so too in every governor there must pre-exist the type of the order of
those things that are to be done by those who are subject to his government.
And just as the type of the things yet to be made by an art is called the art or
exemplar of the products of that art, so too the type in him who governs the
acts of his subjects, bears the character of a law, provided the other
conditions be present which we have mentioned above (Question [90]). Now
God, by His wisdom, is the Creator of all things in relation to which He stands
as the artificer to the products of his art, as stated in the FP, Question [14],
Article [8]. Moreover He governs all the acts and movements that are to be
found in each single creature, as was also stated in the FP, Question [103],
Article [5]. Wherefore as the type of the Divine Wisdom, inasmuch as by It all
things are created, has the character of art, exemplar or idea; so the type of
Divine Wisdom, as moving all things to their due end, bears the character of
law. Accordingly the eternal law is nothing else than the type of Divine
Wisdom, as directing all actions and movements.” (ST IaIIae 93,1)
36. Because human beings are rational, then we are
able to apprehend this universal reason that
governs all things.
This apprehension is the rational being’s
participation of the Eternal Law.
This rational participation is of the Eternal law is
called as the Natural Law.
37. • All things are governed by the Eternal law.
• Our knowledge of this Eternal law, which is our
rational participation to it, is called as the Natural
Law.
38. John Paul II, in Veritatis Splendor explains and quotes
from Thomas Aquinas,
“The moral law has its origin in God and always finds its
source in him: at the same time, by virtue of natural
reason, which derives from divine wisdom, it is a
properly human law. Indeed, as we have seen, the
natural law "is nothing other than the light of
understanding infused in us by God, whereby we
understand what must be done and what must be
avoided. God gave this light and this law to man at
creation"
39. “Natural law theory is the view that there exists an eternal moral law
that can be discovered through reason by looking at the nature of
humanity and society. The idea of natural law first appears among the
Stoics (first century BCE), who believed that human beings have
within them a divine spark (from the Greek logos spermatikos,
meaning “the rational seed or sperm”) that enables them to dis- cover
the essential eternal laws necessary for individual happiness and
social har- mony. The whole universe is governed by laws that
exhibit rationality. Nature in general and animals in particular obey
these laws by necessity, but humans have a choice. Humans obey
these laws because they can perceive the laws’ inner reasonableness.”
(L.Pojman, Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong, p.32)
41. Natural Physical Law or Laws of Nature
is a participation of the universal reason in a
deterministic way. This governs all non-rational
beings in the world. [e.g., the scientific laws]
Natural Moral Law
is a participation of the universal reason that is not
deterministic but free. This governs all rational
beings in the world.
44. Follow reason in understanding the natural
inclination of things and actions. Avoid acting
against the natural inclination of things and action.
General Moral Principle:
“Do Good, avoid evil.”
45. Conclusion
Coming from Aristotle, he tells us that the use of human reason to
attain the good life will also allow us to reach the highest form of good
which is, unlike Aristotle, not present in this world. This highest form of
good is the eternal reward of heaven, the beatific vision of God. St.
Thomas further explains to us that following this reason, in similar vein
as the early Stoics, is to follow the natural flow of things. This natural
flow of things, what St. Thomas calls as Natural Law, is actually the use
of reason in understanding the intention and will of God for his
creation. This is natural because all human beings possess reason, and
therefore is capable of knowing God’s will for all of us. Thus, if we
follow properly this reason common to all human beings, then we are
following the will of God for us. We are participating in the Divine plan,
the Eternal Law. This, for thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas, is the good.
