UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY
Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City
TOPIC OR LESSON: The Natural Law, St. Thomas Aquinas
SUB-TOPIC/S: a. Etsi Deus Non Daretur
b. Conscience and Natural law
c. Three Contemporary Questions
d. The Relational and Perfection of Love in Aquinas
AN OVERVIEW: THE NATURAL LAW
The natural law is a part of Divine Law understood by men through reason. God
created the world according to Natural Laws – predictable, God-driven systems
whereby life is sustained and everything functions smoothly, the reason why Aquinas
recognized basic goods such as life, reproduction, educating one’s offspring, seek God,
live in society, avoid offense and shun ignorance.
For Aquinas, we don’t need the bible or religion class, or church in order to
understand the natural law. Instead, our instinct shows us the basic good, and reason
allows us to drive the natural law from them.
There is a connection between law and morals and that law must be just and fair,
therefore, man-made law must conform to higher principles of right conduct
discoverable through reason.
Terminology to Consider:
● Natural law - is a theory in ethics and philosophy that says that human beings
possess intrinsic values that govern our reasoning and behavior
● Conscience - the sense or consciousness of the moral goodness or
blameworthiness of one's own conduct, intentions, or character together with a
feeling of obligation to do right or be good.
● Etsi Deus Non Daretur - translated means 'as though God did not exist.
Etsi Deus Non Daretur
Thomas Aquinas begins from the standpoint of faith. His perspective
presupposes the existence of a God who is the author (source) and the goal (end) of all
reality. This Creator for Thomas, however, relates in freedom to recognize through
reason, the very principle of foundations of all things.
The human being then is said to be gifted with “the ability to know the highest
good” that engages him/her in freedom in “choosing to act on the good that he/she
ought to do.” Freedom here is knowing the best goal and being able to reach for it
through decisive action. This is expressed interiorly, that is in the very heart, of every
human person as the dictate of “doing good and avoiding evil.”
Human freedom for St. Thomas, therefore is an imprint of the divine will in the
very being of the human person. The Divine Will can be understood as governing all
that is; man’s task is to act in such a way that his/her participation in the full unfolding of
nature directs it to fulfillment.
The rational human person’s participation, ability to discern what is good from what
is not, is the very presence of the dictates of the law within him/her, and is also the
imprint on him/her of the Creator (Divine Will).
Etsi Deus non daretur is an expression that highlights the validity of this ethical
system with or without faith in the Creator God. Literally, Etsi Deus non daretur means
“even if there is no God.” This implies that the wisdom of the ethical system that is
natural
law is valid and binding for the human person even if we bracket belief in God.
However, it has to be noted that Etsi Deus non daretur does not advocate atheism or
protest against the faith.
Conscience and Natural Law
The ability of man to know is important in his/her acting ethically.
“It is the proper functioning of reason in moving the human person towards an
end goal that is fitting of his/her dignity.”
One cannot do the right if one does not know what it is. The famous dictate then
to follow the conscience absolutely is tied up to an obligation to educate it. However, not
knowing is not an excuse. Even if one does not know, he/she is obliged to know. If one
acts badly out of ignorance and does not act to rectify the situation by bothering to
learn, that person is accountable.
On the other hand, there are different kinds of conscience that may lead us to
wrongdoing: callous, perplexed, scrupulous, and ignorant/uninformed.
The ignorant/uninformed conscience simply lacks education
The perplexed conscience needs guidance in sorting out one’s confusion.
The calloused conscience results in the long-time persistence in doing evil
that the self is no longer concerned whether he/she does good or bad.
The scrupulous conscience fails to trust one’s ability to do good and hence,
overly concerns itself with avoiding what is bad to the point of seeing wrong
where there really is none.
The NATURAL LAW
There are four characteristics of natural law:
1. universal, it is the human nature which is shared by all men, though realized
differently according to their respective culture;
2. obligatory, because the tendencies of our human nature are the laws of our
desires and actuations, which we cannot ignore without dire consequences;
3. recognizable, because man, being self-reflexive, is aware of his nature of what
he is and what he is capable of and what is expected of him by his own kind; and
4. immutable and unchangeable, although change is a rule of life, human nature
in its essentiality and substantiality remains permanent and unchangeable.
Three Contemporary Questions
Who am I? This refers to the identity of the human person.
Who do I want to be? The human person’s self-knowledge is dynamic, that is, it
is always open to the direction set by what one wants to make himself/herself.
How can I get there? This fully utilizes the sound judgment of human reason
and evaluates the best route to get to the goal decided upon.
The human person does not only access reason to assess his/her personal
identity and personal goal; he/she is also gifted with the will to command the self to go
through the steps and, hence, be able to do the transition from knowledge to a fully
determined self.
The Relational and Perfection of Love in Aquinas
Thomistic natural law is not Christian simply because it is an ethics reconcilable
or compatible with faith. It is a disciplined system that finds ultimate foundation and
perfection in the reality of God. While through Etsi Deus non daretur we are afforded the
autonomy of a reasonable ethics independent from faith, ultimately this ethics is given
full meaning and perfection in a relationship with God.
The highest perfection of man for St. Thomas is in his/her wanting to be with
God. In other words that are used by believers,
“The ethical man is not the perfect man but one who wants to be saved by
cooperating in freedom with what is attainable for him/her.”
