Natural Law Ethics

St. Thomas' Christian Ethics

• Aquinas follows Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics.
• Living a life of activity is expressing reason well.
• For Aristotle, functioning according to one's nature actualizes that nature.
• Man is created by God with intellect and will.
• Fullness of expression consists in the activity of knowing and loving God.
• Human flourishing or “the Good Life” is attained by inclining one’s will towards God.

The Human Person

• The human person is a teleological being created by God with a particular function and purpose.
• The purpose is achieving perfect happiness, i.e., union with God
• Aquinas' presupposition of God’s existence distinguishes him from Aristotle.

Hierarchy of Beings

• Hierarchy of Beings
  • God: Source of existence
  • Angels: Non-corporeal beings
  • Humans: Corporeal, rational beings
  • Animals: Corporeal, non-rational beings
  • Plants: Organic life

The Human Species as a Higher Being

• Humans are higher beings due to innate rational capacities.
• Capacities include thinking (intellect) and willing (judgment).
• Animals live through instinct, contrary to humans.

Natural Operations of the Intellect & Will

• Through intellect, we comprehend the truth about everything.
  • Speculative intellect/reasoning.
  • Practical reasoning.
• Through the will, we respond to judgments.
  • Disposes us to objects of desire.
  • Moves us to act.
• Both intellect and will assist in recognizing what to pursue and the actions needed.
• Human actions are results of a natural deliberate will.
• Through “deliberate will,” man is inclined to do good and bad.
  • Examples:
    • Drinking Alcohol (excessively)
    • Smoking
    • Eating too much

Conclusion

• Man is a moral agent with a natural tendency to do good.
• The will allows man to perform moral acts.

The Natural Law

• God’s imprint on nature and the principles of its proper action.
• Proven by the “natural inclination”.
• All creations manifest certain natural dispositions or tendencies.

Eternal Law

• Every creature of God is bounded by eternal law = natural inclination.
• Eternal law = God’s wisdom that directs actions of creatures toward their proper end. Example:
  • Animals and plants: reproduction and growth.
  • Humans: appropriate practice of freedom and understanding of God’s command, determined by the intellect and the will.

Fulfillment of the Natural Law for Humans

• Acting and functioning properly as rational & moral beings.
• Participating in God’s design and plan.
• To keep the Natural Law active, we must be constantly disposed to moral precepts = moral law.
• The moral law is the Divine/Eternal law expressed in human nature: "DO GOOD AND AVOID EVIL!".
• Synderesis = innate disposition of the human mind enabling us to grasp the first principle of the natural law without inquiry.
• Conscience = natural tendency to apply such principle to concrete life situations.
• If moral principles are violated, conscience will accuse, torment, and rebuke.

Dictates of Conscience

• Self-preservation: to cherish life (healthy living).
• Procreation: to propagate species (in the context of marriage).
• Just-dealings with others: to live in peace with others.
• Violating these natural inclinations/moral obligations is an immoral act because it disobeys God’s command.

Conditions for an Act to be Morally Good

• The action is good in itself (no ulterior motives).
• The action aims at the good end (consequence of the action).
• The action is done in an appropriate circumstance.
• If any of these three are violated, the act is considered immoral.

What is Good?

• Corollary questions:
  • Can we really know good?
  • What limits us from understanding the “good”?
• Sinfulness: we don’t listen to divine and natural law because of sinfulness.
• The solution: restore man’s rational imperfections and develop the habit of acting in accordance to his nature.

The Principle of Double Effect

• Actions can have good and bad effects.
• It is permissible to perform an act that could cause bad effects if the following conditions are met:
  1. The act in itself is good.
  2. The agent does not intend the bad effect.
  3. The bad effect is not the means to the good effect.
  4. The badness of the bad effect does not sufficiently outweigh the goodness of the good effect.
     Example: self-defense.

St. Thomas Aquinas

• His moral theory aims to give us a guide on how we can establish a 'habitual' moral act.
• By acting morally constantly, we become virtuous persons, which is crucial in attaining happiness.

Happiness as Man’s Ultimate End

• For Aquinas, every human action aims at an end, i.e., the good.
  • The good is the object of desire, motivating us to act, and brings us completeness.
  • The perfection of our rational capacities which leads to happiness.

Happiness

• This happiness is not exactly the emotional state itself, albeit it reflects the state and it could not be found in the physical world.
• Knowing and loving God, which he calls “BEATIFIC VISION” reveals as the only perfect good.
• Beatific vision shows God as the only perfect good, satisfying all desires.
• Beatific vision represents moral perfection.
• Happiness is the union of God and man.

Grace

• Even if we become moral persons, we cannot have beatific vision through our own efforts.
• Concept of grace: It is only through the grace of God that we attain happiness.
• God’s grace is necessary to perfect human nature by healing the wounds of sin.
• Grace enables us to follow the law’s ultimate direction and achieve virtue’s perfection (union with God).
• In Christian tradition, "grace" means the unearned favor of God.
• According to Ephesians 2:8-9, “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.”
• All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful (Flannery O'Connor).

Christian Ethics

• Happiness = having an intimate relationship with God through loving God.