 “Natural Law is the rational

understanding and following of God’s

final purpose.”
(Mel Thompson – ‘Teach Yourself
Ethics)
 God created everything for a purpose.
 Humans were created with the ability to
reason and can therefore choose to
follow an intended purpose.
 Aristotle
Greek philosopher


Final Cause or purpose



Anything that
 prevents or

interferes with the

purpose for which
something is created
is wrong.
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

Aquinas was dubbed “the dumb ox”

by his fellow students, for being
large and quiet. He was
apparently quiet because he was
busy thinking; he became the
Catholic church’s top theologian,
a title he still holds today, without
dispute.
 He studied the
work of Aristotle.
Roman Catholic –


God created
everything with a
sense of purpose.
 A rational
basis for
Christian
 Efficient cause – the agent
that brings something about.
e.g. - being sexually attractive
 Final cause – the final aim or
purpose of something
e.g. – the procreation of children
 A bad action is one in which the
natural cause or purpose is not
achieved.
Aquinas’s major work, the Summa
Theologica, is divided into 4 parts.

 Prima Pars (1st Part) Existence and

Nature of God
 Prima Secundae (1st Part of the 2nd
Part) Happiness, Psychology,
Virtues, Law (Human, Natural,
Divine)
 Secunda Secundae (2nd Part of the
2nd Part) The virtues in detail
 Tertia Pars (3rd Part) Christian
Doctrine
Aquinas’s first principle of morality is:
 Good should be done, and evil avoided

We are by nature inclined toward the Good, according to

Aquinas, but we cannot pursue the good directly because it
is abstract—we must pursue concrete goods which we know
immediately, by inclination. Those goods are:
 Preservation of life
 Procreation
 Knowledge
 Society
 Reasonable Conduct
Human nature determines God’s commands determine
what is ‘natural’ in what is ‘lawful’ in
‘Natural Law’. ‘Natural Law’.

Viewed from the human Viewed from God’s

perspective, the perspective, humans
principles of natural participate in the
law are knowable by Eternal Law, which is
human nature and God’s eternal plan— “A
are structured to aid law is a rule of action
in furthering put in place by
individual and someone who has care
communal goods. of the community” –
Mark Murphy
 “Reason and the
regularities of the
natural world should
be your guide.”
(Peter Mullen)
The four cardinal


virtues: -
Prudence
Justice
Fortitude
Temperance
 Pride
 Avarice
 Lust
 Envy
 Gluttony
 Anger
 Sloth
 It is inflexible
It is based on a perceived sense of


purpose within nature

It is based on the assumption that we


are rational human beings

It is based on a belief in a creator God


It takes no account of individual



circumstances or situations
 God = Being = The Good
Angels
The Actuality
Great Humans
Chain Animals
of Plants
Being
Rocks
Potentiality
Mud
Nothingness
Aquinas gets the chain from Plotinus (his student, Porphyry),
Augustine, Boethius, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, and others,
and adds to it
 Analogy of the Sun The
Good

Mind

The Sun The Good

is… a visible object an intelligible object
that makes… objects visible objects intelligible
to the … eye soul
through the power of… sight understanding
by providing … light truth

The tree above is the visible object, the Forms (Universals) are the
intelligible objects that the Good shines on. Both the Sun and the
Good create their objects.

http://www.boisestate.edu/people/troark/didactics/ancient/materials/Line_Sun.pdf