NATURAL LAW

What is Natural Law?

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.”
Tommaso
d’Aquino
(1225 – 7 March 1274)

Summa
Theologiae
“natural law is something appointed
by reason” (ST, IaIIae, 94,1)
“It is therefore evident that natural
law is nothing else than the rational
creature's participation of the eternal
law.” (ST IaIIae, q91, a2)
“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."
 "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)
Natural Law
Hints:
1. appointed by reason
2. inclination towards the good, to do good
and avoid evil
3. participation of the eternal law
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)
Reason/Mind
Speculative reason Intellect
towards TRUTH
Practical reason Will
towards the GOOD
• “If then Nature never makes anything without a
purpose and never leaves out what is necessary, 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
Reason/Mind

Practical reason Will

towards the GOOD
“Practical wisdom 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)
Good is the purpose of a rational action

Why is practical wisdom towards

the good?
Why ?
Why is natural law appointed by reason?

Why is practical wisdom moving towards the

good?
 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?
“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)
Aristotle’s Four Causes

• Material
• Formal
• Efficient
• Final
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,
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/

The final cause: “the end, that for the
sake of which a thing is done”

PURPOSE
 How do we know the final cause
of things?
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)”
Function Argument
Form determines the function. . .
To follow function, i.e., the form, is
to do the good
What is the work of human being? /
What is the purpose of human being?

What is the good for the

human being?
Good is to follow the function or the form
“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
•“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)
What is the purpose of man?

Your final purpose?

TO BE HAPPY
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)
Aristotelian Context
1. The Human Being has, by virtue of his
soul, the rational principle.
2. The inclination of practical wisdom is
inclined towards the good.
Aristotelian Context
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.
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)
 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.
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.
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.
John Paul II, in Veritatis Splendor explains and quotes
from Thomas Aquinas

……. 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"
Natural Physical Law
and the
Natural Moral Law
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.
What ought I do?

General Moral Principle:

“Do Good, avoid evil.”
Follow reason in understanding the natural
inclination of things and actions. Avoid acting
against the natural inclination of things and
action.
Conclusion
Aristotle
Use of human reason to attain the good life
will allow to reach the highest form of good
the eternal reward from heaven (St. Thomas)
 Stoics
to follow reason is to follow the natural flow of things
St. Thomas
natural law
the use of reason under the intention and will of God
for his creation

all human beings possess reason and therefore

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 on the Divine Plan, the
Eternal Law.
This, for thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas
is the GOOD