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THOMISTIC ETHICS.pptx
- 2. SLIDESMANIA.COM Hello! I’m... Anna Marie G. Tambal 2019-00242-PQ-0 | BSIT 3-2 Reporting: Thomistic Ethics GEED 10093 - Ethics Polytechnic University of the Philippines - Parañaque Campus
- 3. SLIDESMANIA.COM SLIDESMANIA.COM Table of Contents.- 01 - St. Thomas Aquinas 02 - Philosophy 04 - Eternal Law 05 - Natural Law 03 - Law/Kinds of Law 06 - Human Law 07 - Divine Law 08 - Concepts of What is Good 09 - Thomistic Ethics
- 5. SLIDESMANIA.COM SLIDESMANIA.COM ST. THOMAS AQUINAS In Ethics, Aquinas depends so heavily on Aristotle. Like the Greek philosopher, Aquinas believes that all actions are directed towards ends and that happiness is the final end. Aquinas thinks that happiness consists in activities in accordance with virtue. But like Augustine,Aquinas declares that ultimate happiness is not attainable in this life, for happiness in the present life remains imperfect. True happiness,then, is to be found only in the souls of the blessed in heaven or in beatitude with God. Also called the Angelic Doctor and Prince of Scholastics, Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) is an Italian philosopher and theologian who ranks among the most important thinkers of the medieval time period.
- 7. SLIDESMANIA.COM "Every agent acts for an end. Every agent acts for a good. All things are directed to one end, which is God. Man's happiness does not consist in wealth, worldly power, and goods of the body. Human happiness is not seated in the senses. Man's ultimate happiness is not in this life." Thomas Aquinas believed: "Every agent acts for an end. Every agent acts for a good. All things are directed to one end, which is God. Man's happiness does not consist in wealth, worldly power, and goods of the body. Human happiness is not seated in the senses. Man's ultimate happiness is not in this life."
- 8. SLIDESMANIA.COM Father Planner Son of Executor Holy Spirit Enabler God’s Essence Co- Eternal God exist How God exist; How God operates Act of Creation and Consideration creatures.
- 9. SLIDESMANIA.COM "Nature and supernature constitute the whole." ● Man must be open to nature as well as to the supernature, the invisible. ● Man must move on to return to God through his life of moral and religious choice, and culminate in the way or means to that end: Christ and His Church. Exitus - redditus An exit from and return to God, who is both an Alpha and Omega.
- 10. SLIDESMANIA.COM SLIDESMANIA.COM "If the existence of a thing differs from its essence, this existence must be caused by some exterior agent or by its essential principles. That thing, whose existence differs from its essence, must have its existence caused by another." ● Essence - "manner" (mode,way) of existence. Essence is relative to existence. ● Existence "esse" - ultimate actuality and is also the nature "essence" of God. - makes every form or nature actual Existence is that which makes every form or nature actual. In God, there is no potentiality. That, which has existence but is not existence, is a being by participation. There can be no accident in God. A subject is compared to its accidents as potentiality to actuality; for subject is in some sense made actual by its accidents. But there can be no potentiality in God. Essence is a qua form in relation to matter, but it is potential in relation to existence. The form determines the matter in the order of formal causality.
- 11. SLIDESMANIA.COM SLIDESMANIA.COM “Every being is not God, is God creature.” Philosophy as Thomas understands depends on this: (a) that there is a natural world; that its substantial components regularly exercise their own causal powers; that there are intelligent beings capable of understanding the natural world by their own mental powers; and (b) that the world of creatures is totally based - for its existence, endurance and operation - upon God, who freely creates, conserves and cooperates with what He has created. ❖ All governed by LAW "Combines the theological principles of FAITH with the philosophical principles of REASON" For Thomas philosophy is ancilla theologiae (handmaiden of theology). He held that; (1) philosophy can prove by means of reason unaided by revelation of some truths proposed by Christian faith; (2) it can clarify truths which cannot be proved; and, (3) it can defend the principles of Christian faith against their detractors.
- 13. SLIDESMANIA.COM SLIDESMANIA.COM Law "Law is a certain rule and measure of acts whereby man is induced to act or is restrained from acting." Because the rule and measure of human actions is reason, law has an essential relation to reason; in the first place to divine reason and in the second place to human reason, when it acts correctly (in accordance with the purpose or final cause implanted in it by God.) Promulgation the application of the law to those to whom it is applied and the communication of this law to them -is essential to the nature of the law. The natural law is promulgated by God: "God has instilled it into human minds so as to be known by them naturally."
- 14. SLIDESMANIA.COM SLIDESMANIA.COM Four Main Kinds of Law The Eternal The Natural The Human The Divine 01 02 03 04 The last three all depend on the first, but in different ways. Were we to arrange them in a hierarchy, eternal would be at the top, then natural, then human. Divine law is not in conflict with natural law, but it reaches human beings by a different route, revelation.
- 16. SLIDESMANIA.COM SLIDESMANIA.COM THE ETERNAL LAW Eternal law is identical to the mind of God as seen by God himself. It can be called law because God stands to the universe which he creates as a ruler does to a community which he rules. When God's reason is considered as it is understood by God Himself (ex. in its unchanging, eternal nature, it is eternal law). Refers to the rational plan of God by which all creation is ordered. As God is the supreme ruler of everything, the rational pattern or form of universe that exists in His mind is the law that directs everything in the universe to its appointed end. To this eternal law, everything in the universe is subject.
- 18. SLIDESMANIA.COM SLIDESMANIA.COM THE NATURAL LAW Natural law is a special kind of knowledge about human beings and human nature. Specific norms of natural Law: 1) The first inclination to the good is common to all created reality. - Preserve and protect life 2) The second inclination to the good is generic to animals. - procreation and education of offspring 3) The third inclination to the good is specific to humans. - Reason Is that aspect of the eternal law which is accessible to human reason. Because mankind is part of the eternal order, there is a portion of the eternal law that relates specifically to human conduct. This is the moral law, the law or order to which people are subject by their nature ordering them to do good and avoid evil.
- 20. SLIDESMANIA.COM SLIDESMANIA.COM THE HUMAN LAW Refers to the positive laws. For natural law to be adhered to, more exact and forceful provisions of human law are helpful. Because the natural law is too broad to provide particular guidance, the human law's precise rules of behavior are supposed to spell out what the natural law prescribes. Moral virtues are also reinforced by and cultivated through these human laws. This human law includes the civil and criminal laws, though only those formulated in the light of practical reason and moral laws. Human laws that are against natural law are not real laws, and people are not obliged to obey those unjust laws. Human laws are enacted and put in force in our human communities. This fits just those so-called positive laws which are what written and enacted laws should be. So-called laws which fall short of what they should be are not true laws at all, according to Thomas.
- 22. SLIDESMANIA.COM SLIDESMANIA.COM THE DIVINE LAW Divine law is derived from eternal law as it appears historically to humans, especially through revelation when it appears to human beings as divine commands. 1) The Old Law (Old Testament)- Ten Commandments 2) The New Law (New Testament) - the teachings of Jesus Old Law - commands conduct externally reaches humans through their capacity for fear - Law promised earthly rewards (social peace and its benefits) New Law - commands internal conduct - reaches humans by the example of divine love - promises heavenly reward Serves to complement the other types of law. It is a law of revelation, disclosed through sacred text or Scriptures which is also directed toward man's eternal end. Though concerned also with external aspects of conduct , the divine law is more focused on how man can be inwardly holy and eventually attain salvation.
- 24. SLIDESMANIA.COM SLIDESMANIA.COM CONCEPTS OF WHAT IS GOOD a. Instrumental Good/Value - refers to the function of usefulness. It can be used to attain something else of value (ex. Pencil, money, forests, etc.) b. Intrinsic Good/Value - when it is valued for itself not only for its uses (Ex. Family, friendship, national parks, etc.) c. Inherent Worth - an object has inherent worth if it is good in itself, independent of any human valuing (ex. Human dignity, respect, religious traditions, humans).
- 26. SLIDESMANIA.COM Aquinas ethical theory states that for an action to be moral, the kind it belongs to must not be bad, the circumstances must be appropriate, and the intention must be virtuous. HAPPINESS, MORAL VIRTUES AND THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES Aquinas believes that all actions are directed towards ends and that happiness is the final end. He also thinks that happiness is not equated with pleasure, material possessions, honor, or any sensual good, but consists in activities in accordance with virtue. A person needs a moral character cultivated through the habits of choice to realize real happiness.
- 27. SLIDESMANIA.COM AN ANALYSIS OF THOMISTIC ETHICS One of Aquinas' accomplishments in Ethics is being able to mention, as much as possible, all of the things that matter in ethical evaluation of actions. He holds that the goodness or badness of an action lies in the interior act of will, in the external bodily act, in the very nature of the act, and even in its consequences. Moreover, he avers that what matters in morality is not only what one actually does but also his intention in doing the act. Aquinas like Aristotle, is a virtue ethicist. But while Aquinas is in many ways Aristotelian, he rejects the belief normally ascribed to Aristotle that there are no universally true general principle of morality. Aquinas' doctrine of natural law categorically discards wholesale particularism.
- 28. SLIDESMANIA.COM AN ANALYSIS OF THOMISTIC ETHICS Thomistic ethics is comparatively applicable. His specific prescriptions to do good, avoid evil, pursue knowledge, and live at peace with our neighbors suggest, for instance, that governments should uphold scientific and technological endeavors that intend to produce advantageous outcomes. On the other hand, the theory recommends that no institutions should advocate the production of weapons of mass destruction or the abuse of human beings by others.
- 29. SLIDESMANIA.COM SLIDESMANIA.COM True philosophy cannot conflict with Christian faith but it can fall short of it - e.g., the existence of God as efficient cause of the universe can be established by reason alone, the full meaning of "God" can only come from faith. ― St. Thomas Aquinas
- 30. SLIDESMANIA.COM SLIDESMANIA.COM Thank you for watching & listening! Anna Marie G. Tambal 2019-00242-PQ-0 | BSIT 3-2 Reporting: Thomistic Ethics