Natural Law

• In philosophy, NATURAL LAW is a system

of right or justice held to be common to all
humans and derived from nature rather
than from rules of society.
• Natural Law holds that the law is based on
what is “correct.”

• Natural Law is discovered by humans

through the use of reason and choosing
between good and evil.
 THEREFORE
• Natural Law finds its power in discovering
certain universal standards in morality and
ethics.
 HISTORY OF NATURAL LAW
1. The Greeks

Socrates, Plato and Aristotle emphasized

the distinction between nature (physis)
and “law”, “custom” or “convention”
(nomos).
• Aristotle (Father of Natural Law)

In Rhetoric, he argues that aside from

“particular laws” that each people sets up
for itself, there is a “common law” or
“higher law” that is according to nature.
2. Stoics

- Believed in the existence of a rational and

purposeful order to the universe. THE
MEANS by which a rational being lived in
accordance with this cosmic order was
considered “Natural Law”.
3. The Christians

- St. Augustine equates natural law with

man’s Pre-Fall state. Life according to
nature is no longer possible and mankind
must instead seek salvation through the
divine law and Christ’s grace.
 St. Thomas Aquinas
(1225-1274)
• Italian Dominican friar
• Catholic priest
• Doctor of the Church
• Philospher, theologian, jurist
• Known as “Doctor Angelicus”
• Greatest work: Summa Theologica,
Summa Contra Gentiles
 St. Thomas Aquinas’ Natural
Law Theory
TWO MAIN FEATURES:

1. God is the giver of natural law, therefore,

natural law is just one aspect of divine
providence.
2. Man is the recipient of natural law, and
the latter constitutes the principles of
practical rationality – which becomes the
principles upon which human actions are
to judged as reasonable or unreasonable.
 1. Natural Law and Divine
Providence
• Aquinas’ affirms that the natural law is a
participation in the eternal law.

• The eternal law is that rational plan by

which all creation is ordered; the natural
law is the way that the human being
“participates” in the eternal law.
• Nonrational beings share in the eternal law
only by being determined by it – their
action nonfreely results from their
determinate natures, natures the existence
of which results from God’s will in
accordance with God’s eternal plan.
• Rational beings like man is able to grasp
its share in the eternal law and freely act
on it. It is this feature of natural law that
Aquinas called natural law as “law”.
• Aquinas defined “law” as a RULE OF
ACTION PUT INTO PLACE BY ONE
WHO HAS CARE OF THE COMMUNITY,
hence, God, who has care of the
community, chooses to bring into
existence beings who can freely act and in
accordance with principles of reason is
reason enough to say that those principles
of reason is law.
 Natural Law and Practical
Rationality
• Man is the recipient of natural law.

• Natural Law constitutes the basic

principles of practical rationality for human
beings, and has this status by nature.
• The notion that natural law constitutes the
basic principles of practical rationality
implies that both the precepts of the
natural law are universally binding by
nature and that the precepts of the natural
law are universally knowable by nature.
• Precepts of natural law are binding by
nature: NO BEINGS COULD SHARE OUR
HUMAN NATURE YET FAIL TO BE
BOUND BY THE PRECEPTS OF THE
NATURAL LAW.
• This is so because…
• … these precepts direct us toward the
good as such and various particular
goods.

• The good and goods provide reasons for

us rational beings to act, to pursue the
good and these particular goods.
• As good is what is perfective of us given
the natures that we have, the good and
these various goods have their status as
such naturally.
• It is sufficient for certain things to be good
that we have the natures that we have; it is
in virtue of our common human nature that
the good for us is what it is.
• Precepts of natural law are knowable by
nature.

• All humans possess a basic knowledge of

the principles of natural law. This is
exhibited in our intrinsic directedness
toward the various goods that the natural
law enjoins us to pursue, and we can
make this implicit awareness explicit and
propositional through reflection.
• Aquinas believes that there is a core of
practical knowledge that all humans have,
although the implications of that
knowledge can be hard to work out or the
efficacy of that knowledge can be thwarted
by strong emotion or evil dispositions.
 Substance of Natural Law
1. Fundamental principle of natural law is
that good is to be done and evil avoided.
The good for Aquinas man knows
immediately by INCLINATION – that view
that there are a variety of things that count
as good and thus to be pursued: life,
procreation, knowledge, society and
reasonable conduct.
2. For Aquinas, good is what is fundamental:
whether an action, or type of action, is
right is logically posterior to whether that
action brings about or realizes or is in
some GOOD.
The good is prior to the right.
3. Guidelines on how these goods are to be
pursued:
FIRST, there are certain ways of acting in
response to the basic human goods that
are intrinsically flawed;
SECOND, for an act to be right, or
reasonable, is for it to be an act that is in
no way intrinsically flawed.
4. The important task then is to identify ways
in which an act can be intrinsically flawed.
HOW?
Look at the features that individuate acts,
such as their:
OBJECTS, ENDS, CIRCUMSTANCES,
etc.
• Aquinas however do not believe that there
are principles of conduct that can
exhaustively determine right conduct – he
allows for the Aristotelian insight that the
particulars of the situation always outstrips
one’s rules, so that one will always need
the moral and intellectual virtues in order
to act well.
• HOWEVER, Aquinas denies that there are
no principles of right conduct that hold
everywhere and always, and even
sometimes absolutely, for him killing of
innocents is always WRONG, as is lying,
adultery, sodomy and blasphemy.
 Aquinas and Utilitarians
• Aquinas sides with utilitarians in that he
believes that principles of right are
grounded in principles of good.
 Aquinas and Kantians
• Aquinas denies that the principles of right
enjoin us to maximize the good – although
considerations of the greater good have a
role in practical reasoning, an action can
be irremediably bad through badness of
intention for example. And so flawed that
no good consequences flow from the
action that would justify it. In this he sides
with Kantians.
 Summary of Natural Law
Concepts
1. Natural law is given by God;

2. It is naturally authoritative over all human

beings; and

3. It is naturally knowable by all human

beings.
4. The good is prior to the right,

5. Right action is action that responds

nondefectively to the good, that

6. There are a variety of ways in which

action can be defective with respect to the
good and that
7. Some of these ways can be captured and
formulated as general rules.
QUIZ
 QUIZ
1. What is Natural Law? Explain. (10 points)
2. What are the two main features of natural
law? Explain. (10 points)
3. How is natural law known by man
according to St. Thomas? (10 points)
4. According to St. Thomas, is there a
principle that can determine absolutely
the goodness of actions? Explain. (10
points)