Explain, with examples, Aquinas theory of Natural Law.

Authors Avatar by tommo1st (student)

Thomas Hurley

Ethics Homework

Questions

Explain, with examples, Aquinas’ theory of Natural Law.

Natural Moral Law is an absolutist and deontological ethical theory. This basically means the theory is set to one set of rules and is concerned with the actions themselves rather than the consequences. Humans have within them a divine spark which helps them to discover how to live according to nature. We all have options, we have choices whether to obey the laws that govern the world but they need to use reason to understand and decide whether to obey these cosmic laws. Aquinas linked this idea of a cosmic natural law with Aristotle’s view that people, like everything else have a specific nature, purpose and function.

Aquinas used the ideas of Aristotle as a basis for Natural Law. Natural Moral Law would be seen as the highest in the hierarchy followed by the law that governs the country and us, the society who follows these laws. According to Aquinas, we all have an essential rational nature given by god in order for us to live and reach our true potential. Even without knowledge of god our reasoning will become known in order for us to reach our full potential. The natural laws apply to everybody as they are universal and unchangeable and should be used to create particular laws of societies. Aquinas believed that everybody aims for a goal or a purpose; we are all made in the image of god and so the supreme good must be the development of this image which is human perfection.

Join now!

However Aquinas did not believe that human perfection or perfect happiness was possible in this life, he saw happiness as beginning in this world and continuing to the next life. The purpose of morality is to enable us to arrive at the fulfilment of our natures and the completion of all our desires. Aquinas used the following laws to try and discover what perfection actually is by using Natural Moral Law as a basis. External law is the principles by which only god made and controls the universe and which only god knows completely. We only know these as ...

This is a preview of the whole essay