Natural Law

Aquinas’s Natural Law Theory
Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) was an intellectual and religious revolutionary,

living at a time of great philosophical, theological and scientific development. He was a
member of the Dominican Friars, which at that time was considered to be a cult, and
was taught by one of the greatest intellects of the age, Albert the Great (1208–1280). In
a nutshell Aquinas wanted to move away from Plato’s thinking, which was hugely
influential at the time, and instead introduce Aristotelian ideas to science, nature and
theology.
Aquinas wrote an incredible amount — in fact one of the miracles accredited to
him was the amount he wrote! His most famous work is Summa Theologica and this
runs to some three and half thousand pages and contains many fascinating and
profound insights, such as proofs for God’s existence. The book remained a
fundamental basis for Catholic thinking right up to the 1960s! But do not worry we will
only be focusing on a few key ideas! Specifically books I–II, questions 93–95.
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”. Drawing this link between what is right and wrong and what God
commands and forbids is what is called the Divine Command Theory (DCT).
There is a powerful and influential challenge to such an account called
the Euthyphro dilemma after the challenge was first raised in Plato’s Euthyphro. The
dilemma runs as follows: Either God commands something is right because it is, or it is
right because God commands it. If God commands something because it is right, then
God’s commands do not make it right, His commands only tell us what is right. This
means God simply drops out of the picture in terms of explaining why something is right.
If on the other hand something is right because God commands it
then anything at all could be right; killing children or setting fire to churches could be
morally acceptable. But if a moral theory says this then that looks as if the theory is
wrong.
Most theists reject the first option and opt for this second option — that God’s
commands make something right. But they then have to face the problem that it make
morality haphazard. This “arbitrariness problem” as it is sometimes called, is the reason
that many, including Aquinas, give up on the Divine Command Theory.
So for Aquinas what role, if any at all, does God have when it comes to morality?
For him, God’s commands are there to help us to come to see what, as a matter of fact,
is right and wrong rather than determine what is right and wrong. That is, Aquinas opts
for the first option in the Euthyphro dilemma as stated above. But then this raises the
obvious question: if it is not God’s commands that make something right and wrong,
then what does? Does not God just fall out of the picture? This is where his Natural Law
Theory comes in.
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…
By “Eternal Law’” Aquinas means God’s rational purpose and plan for all things.
And because the Eternal Law is part of God’s mind then it has always, and will always,
exist. The Eternal Law is not simply something that God decided at some point to write.
Aquinas thinks that everything has a purpose and follows a plan. He, like
Aristotle, is a teleologist (the Greek term “telos” refers to what we might call a purpose,
goal, end/or the true final function of an object) (see Chapter 3; not to be confused with
a telelogical ethical theory such as Utilitarianism) and believes that every object has
a telos; the acorn has the telos of growing into an oak; the eye a telos of seeing; a rat of
eating and reproducing etc. (notice this links to his view on sex, see Chapter 10). If
something fulfils its purpose/plan then it is following the Eternal Law.
Aquinas thinks that something is good in as far as it fulfils its purpose/plan. This
fits with common sense. A “good” eye is one which sees well, an acorn is a good if it
grows into a strong oak tree.
But what about humans? Just as a good eye is to see, and a good acorn is to
grow then a good human is to…? Is to what? How are we going to finish this sentence?
What do you think?
Aquinas thinks that the answer is reason and that it is this that makes us distinct
from rats and rocks. What is right for me and you as humans is to act according to
reason. If we act according to reason then we are partaking in the Natural Law.
If we all act according to reason, then we will all agree to some overarching
general rules (what Aquinas calls primary precepts). These are absolute and binding on
all rational agents and because of this Aquinas rejects relativism.
The first primary precept is that good is to be pursued and done and evil
avoided. He thinks that this is the guiding principle for all our decision making.
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.
These precepts are primary because they are true for all people in all
instances and are consistent with Natural Law.
Example, we recognize that we find it hard to forgive our friends and nearly
always impossible to forgive our enemies. We tell ourselves we have the right to be
angry, to bear grudges, etc. Isn’t this just human? However, these human reasons
are distortions of the Eternal Law. We need some guidance when it comes to
forgiveness and it is where the Divine Law which tells us that we should forgive others
— including our enemies. Following the Human Laws and the Divine Laws will help us
to fulfil our purposes and plans and be truly happy.
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. Some things such as acorns, and eyes, just do that
naturally. However, humans are free and hence need guidance to find the right path.
That right path is found through reasoning and generates the “internal” Natural Law. By
following the Natural Law we participate in God’s purpose for us in the Eternal Law.
However, the primary precepts that derive from the Natural Law are quite
general, such as, pursue good and shun evil. So we need to create secondary precepts
which can actually guide our day-to-day behaviour. But we are fallible so sometimes we
get these secondary precepts wrong, sometimes we get them right. When they are
wrong they only reflect our apparent goods. When they are right they reflect our real
goods.
Finally, however good we are because we are finite and sinful, we can only get
so far with rational reflection. We need some revealed guidance and this comes in the
form of Divine Law. So to return to the Euthyphro dilemma. God’s commands through
the Divine Law are ways of illuminating what is in fact morally acceptable and not what
determines what is morally acceptable. Aquinas rejects the Divine Command Theory.

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Aquinas’s Natural Law Theory

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) was an intellectual and religious revolutionary,

Summary of Aquinas’s Natural Law Theory

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