Ethics Reviewer

ETHICS REVIEWER
Thomas Aquinas
 Hailed as a doctor of the Roman Catholic Church
 a Dominican friar who was the preeminent intellectual figure of the scholastic period of
the Middle Ages
 His Summa Theologiae, Aquinas’s magnum opus, is voluminous work that
comprehensively discusses many significant points in Christian theology. He was
canonized in 1323.
THE CONTEXT OF THE CHRISTIAN THEORY

The structure of his magnus opus Summa Theologiae follows the trajectory of this story.
 In the first part, Aquinas speaks of God, and although we acknowledge that our limited
human intellect cannot fully grasp Him, we nevertheless are able to say something
concerning His goodness, His might, and His creative power. Recognizing then that we
are created by God.
 We move on to the second part, which deals with man or the dynamic of human life
 The third part focuses on Jesus as our Savior
THE CONTEXT OF AQUINAS’S ETHICS

Aquinas also puts forward that there is within us a conscience that directs our moral thinking.
This does not refer to some simple intuition or gut feeling. For Aquinas, there is a sense of right
and wrong in us that we are obliged to obey. However, he also adds that this sense of right and
wrong must be informed, guided, and ultimately grounded in an objective basis for morality.
THE ESSENCE AND VARIETIES OF LAW
ESSENCE
 The essence of ethics is to do what is right, regardless of the consequences. This
means making choices based on values rather than personal gain. It also includes being
honest, fair, and respecting the rights of others. People who act ethically show concern
for the common good, rather than just their interests
 An order of practical reason.
 Directed toward the common good.
 Made by someone who cares for the community
 A law, therefore, is concerned with the common good. In a way, making of a law belongs
either to the whole people or to a public person who has care for the common good or is
tasked with the concern for the good of the community or of the whole people.
 It is also necessary for rules or laws to be communicated to the people involved in order
to enforce them and to better ensure compliance. This is referred to as promulgation.
VARIETIES
 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) 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. If something fulfils its purpose/plan then it is following the Eternal Law.
 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.
 Human law refers to all instances wherein human beings construct and enforce laws in
their communities.
 To direct us toward our supernatural end, we had been given further instructions in the
form of divine law - refers specifically to the instances where we have precepts or
instructions that come from divine revelation. For example, we have what is handed
down to us in the sacred Scriptures (e.g., the Ten Commandments in the book of Exodus
in the Old Testament or Jesus’s injunction to love one’s neighbor in the Gospels).
SUMMARY:
 Eternal Law (God’s plans/purpose for all things)

 Natural Laws (our partaking in the Eternal Law which leads to primary precepts)
 Human Laws (humans making specific laws to capture the truths of the Natural Laws
which lead to secondary precepts)
 DIVINE LAW (those rules given by God which we find in scripture)

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ETHICS REVIEWER

THE CONTEXT OF THE CHRISTIAN THEORY

THE CONTEXT OF AQUINAS’S ETHICS

THE ESSENCE AND VARIETIES OF LAW

 Eternal Law (God’s plans/purpose for all things)

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