Natural Law
Natural law thinkers argue that there is a human nature, which we should live in
accordance with. Aquinas wrote: ‘Now a certain order is to be found in those things
that are apprehended universally’
Using reason, certain laws are received, the first of which is ‘good is to be done and
pursued, and evil is to be avoided. All other precepts of the natural law are based
upon this’ – Summa Theologica
This view directly influenced the teachings of the Catholic Church
Hugo Grotius also developed a theory of natural law as rationally discernible
principles for all to follow
John Locke, Samuel Clarke, and William Paley all developed ideas from the natural
law tradition
Aristotle also wrote about natural law, saying that natural law is a ‘given’. He
thought that the purpose of human beings was to live a life of reason. ‘Reason is the
true self of every man, since it is the supreme and better part’
Cicero gives the classic form of natural law in his book ‘On the Republic’: ‘it is of
universal application, unchanging and everlasting’. These ideas of universal law, the
life of reason and the law discernible in human hearts come together in Aquinas’
theory of Natural Law
The Telos/Ultimate End:
Aquinas begins his own thinking with Aristotle. Aristotle argues that every agent acts
for an end. Human beings act to acquire happiness o eudaimonia – human
flourishing. For Aristotle, something is good if it fulfilled its end
For Aquinas, properly moral acts were free acts, which come from a freely acting,
rational person. We are only fully satisfied when we achieve the ultimate end, the
universal good
The ultimate end cannot be found in this world but only in the supreme and infinite
God. ‘Ultimate and perfect beatitude can consist only in the vision of the divine
essence’
Natural law thinkers argue that there is a human nature, which we should live in
accordance with. Aquinas wrote: ‘Now a certain order is to be found in those things
that are apprehended universally’
Using reason, certain laws are received, the first of which is ‘good is to be done and
pursued, and evil is to be avoided. All other precepts of the natural law are based
upon this’ – Summa Theologica
This view directly influenced the teachings of the Catholic Church
Hugo Grotius also developed a theory of natural law as rationally discernible
principles for all to follow
John Locke, Samuel Clarke, and William Paley all developed ideas from the natural
law tradition
Aristotle also wrote about natural law, saying that natural law is a ‘given’. He
thought that the purpose of human beings was to live a life of reason. ‘Reason is the
true self of every man, since it is the supreme and better part’
Cicero gives the classic form of natural law in his book ‘On the Republic’: ‘it is of
universal application, unchanging and everlasting’. These ideas of universal law, the
life of reason and the law discernible in human hearts come together in Aquinas’
theory of Natural Law
The Telos/Ultimate End:
Aquinas begins his own thinking with Aristotle. Aristotle argues that every agent acts
for an end. Human beings act to acquire happiness o eudaimonia – human
flourishing. For Aristotle, something is good if it fulfilled its end
For Aquinas, properly moral acts were free acts, which come from a freely acting,
rational person. We are only fully satisfied when we achieve the ultimate end, the
universal good
The ultimate end cannot be found in this world but only in the supreme and infinite
God. ‘Ultimate and perfect beatitude can consist only in the vision of the divine
essence’
