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Natural Law Ethics (St. Thomas Aquinas’ Christian Ethics)
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This lecture notes discusses the meaning and key concepts of St. Thomas Aquinas' Natural Law Ethics (also known as Christian Ethics).
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Natural Law Ethics (St. Thomas Aquinas’ Christian Ethics)Natural law ethics is a popular name attributed to the model of ethics developed by St.
Thomas Aquinas during the Medieval period. Because it was developed by St. Thomas
Aquinas, natural law ethics is also called Thomistic ethics.
The basic idea in natural law ethics is that “Reason” is the source of the moral law and
that it directs us towards the “Good”. According to Aquinas, the “Good” is the ultimate
goal of the person’s actions. And for Aquinas, the “Good” is discoverable within the
person’s nature. This explains why the basic goal of natural law ethics is “to do good and
avoid evil”.
Now, how do we know that a person is acting rightly or wrongly?
According to Aquinas, an act is morally right if it is done in accordance with the moral
law. But what is the moral law?
As already mentioned, "reason" is the source of moral law; hence, the moral law is the
dictate of reason. But for Aquinas, the moral law comes from God’s Eternal Law. Indeed,
for Aquinas, the moral law is the Divine Law expressed in human nature, which reads:
“Do good and avoid evil.”
If the moral law is “doing good and avoiding evil,” how do we know that one is acting in
accordance with the good?
According to Aquinas, the “good” is that which is suitable to human nature or that which
is proper to human nature. And for Aquinas, we know that an action is good, that is,
suitable to human nature, if it is done in accordance with conscience.
Aquinas understands conscience as the inner voice of the intellect or reason which calls
the human person to follow the moral law, that is, to do good and avoid evil. As we can
see, in natural law ethics, conscience serves as the guide in making moral decisions.
But how do we know that one’s action obeys conscience?
According to Aquinas, an action obeys conscience if it satisfies the three-fold natural
inclination of the human person, namely:
1) self-preservation, 2) just dealing with others, and 3) propagation of human species.
, Self-preservation, for Aquinas, is a natural inclination that urges the human person to
take care of her health or not to kill or put herself in danger. This explains why for
Aquinas suicide is absolutely wrong.
Just dealing with others urges us to treat others with the same respect that we accord
ourselves. Thus, for Aquinas, all forms of inhumanities, such as exploitation, seduction,
deception, manipulation, cheating, kidnapping, murder, and intimidation, are absolutely
wrong too.
In terms of the propagation of human species, Aquinas believes that the reproductive
organ is by nature designed to reproduce and propagate human species. Any act of
intervention, therefore, that frustrates the very purpose of the reproductive organ is
unnatural, hence immoral. This explains why even masturbation is immoral in natural
law ethics.
It must be noted that for Aquinas if at least one of these three natural inclinations of the
human person is violated, then an act does not obey conscience; it is therefore immoral.
Needless to say, for an action to be considered moral in natural law ethics, it must be
done in accordance with conscience. Again, it must be done in accordance with the
moral law, that is, “doing good and avoiding evil”.
Three Determinants of Moral Actions
In addition to the three-fold natural inclinations of the human person, Aquinas
introduced three things that determine the morality of a human act, namely:
1) object of the human act,
2) its circumstance, and
3) its end.
The object of the act refers to that which the will intends primarily and directly. It may
either be a thing or an action. Take, for example, the physician’s act of removing a
tumor. As we can see, the direct object of the act is “to remove a tumor”. Please note
that the circumstance and the end are also intended here, but not directly.
The circumstance refers to the condition which affects the morality of an action. It is
important to note that the circumstance may aggravate or mitigate the morality of the
human act.
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