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Feb 24, 2024 · St. Thomas Aquinas on the Natural Law. After his Five Ways of Proving the Existence of God ( ST Ia, 2, 3 ), St. Thomas Aquinas is probably most famous for articulating a concise but robust understanding of natural law. Just as he claims and demonstrates in his proofs for God’s existence that natural human reason can come to some understanding ...
Sep 23, 2002 · If any moral theory is a theory of natural law, it is Aquinas’s. (Every introductory ethics anthology that includes material on natural law theory includes material by or about Aquinas; every encyclopedia article on natural law thought refers to Aquinas.)
- Introduction to Aquinas. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) was an intellectual and religious revolutionary, living at a time of great philosophical, theological and scientific development.
- Motivating Natural Law Theory: The Euthyphro Dilemma and Divine Command Theory. The likely answer from a religious person as to why we should not steal, or commit adultery is: “because God forbids us”; or if we ask why we should love our neighbour or give money to charity then the answer is likely to be “because God commands it”.
- Natural Law Theory. Aquinas’s Natural Law Theory contains four different types of law: Eternal Law, Natural Law, Human Law and Divine Law. The way to understand these four laws and how they relate to one another is via the Eternal Law, so we’d better start there…
- Summary of Aquinas’s Natural Law Theory. For Aquinas everything has a function (a telos) and the good thing(s) to do are those acts that fulfil that function.
St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, identifies the rational nature of human beings as that which defines moral law: “the rule and measure of human acts is the reason, which is the first principle of human acts” (Aquinas, ST I-II, Q.90, A.I).
Mar 10, 2021 · For Aquinas everything has a function (a telos) and the good thing (s) to do are those acts that fulfil that function. Some things such as acorns, and eyes, just do that naturally. However, humans are free and hence need guidance to find the right path.
Mar 10, 2021 · For example, for Aquinas it is not as if we need to check whether we should pursue good and avoid evil, as it is just part of how we already think about things. Aquinas gives some more examples of primary precepts: Protect and preserve human life. Reproduce and educate one’s offspring. Know and worship God. Live in a society.
Feb 5, 2007 · A sample of such wider and more foundational theories is the entry Aquinas’ moral, political, and legal philosophy . In the present entry, “natural law theory” is to be taken as shorthand for natural law theories just insofar as they bear on law and are theories of or about it.
