·
Aquinas came around the time when the power of
the church was declining and concept of secular state was gaining momentum.
·
Aquinas intended to counter this secularism wave
through a rational argument.
·
He argued that political state is based on the
natural needs of man.
·
The order, as God is responsible for both needs
and their satisfaction. state is part of a divine
·
The controlling principles of the universe
supplied the ultimate criteria by which human laws must be judged.
·
Aquinas then divided law into further four
categories:-
o
Eternal
o
Natural
o
Divine
o
Human
Eternal law
·
Aquinas believed that universe is the creation
of God.
·
He argued that since God is rational by nature,
the universe cannot be random.
·
Eternal law is divided into two more categories:-
o
Laws that are subject of physical, biological
and social sciences and according to which universe functions
o
laws of behaviour that distinguishes right and
wrong conduct
·
Eternal law is not knowable as to know eternal
law is to know God’s mind and that is not humanly possible.
·
Aquinas illustrated this using example of sun by
arguing that we do not know what sun is like but merely an idea from its
effects on earth.
·
Since every person is subject to eternal law why
there exist wrongdoers. Aquinas gives two reasons:-
o
human beings have imperfect knowledge of the
eternal law and therefore are prone to error
o
the eternal law rewards good people with
happiness and punishes the bad ones
Natural Law
·
Laws forming part of the eternal law that are
followed despite not knowing them.
·
Human beings follow laws of nature such as eat,
drink and sleep despite not knowing about the biological functions of human
body,
·
Natural law is that part of the moral eternal
law that rational human beings understand by their God given reason, which is
denied to physical objects and other animals.
Divine
law
·
It consists of the Ten Commandments and other
authoritative Scriptures.
·
It is important because:-
o
Natural law only helps in survival to aspire to
a higher supernatural end directions are needed which are given in divine laws.
o
Human understanding to interpret natural rule is
flawed and may lead to wrong interpretation. Hence, cardinal moral rules need
to be prescribed.
o
Human made laws cannot govern direct interior
acts.
o
Human laws cannot punish evil all evil without
hurting common good. Eg – Cannot ban virtues like lust, selfishness, impatience
etc.
Human law
·
It consists of law established by custom or by
the legislative acts of the state.
·
Aquinas held that the moral authority for human
law making is found in that part of the eternal law which reason reveals to man
in the form of natural law.
·
There are two ways in which human law is derived
from the natural law:-
o
By deriving logical consequences from the
self-evident premises of natural law
o
By determining the way natural law applies to
particular types of cases
·
There exists three pre-conditions for the
recognition of an enactment as a law at all:-
o
Law is made for the common good
o
Law is made by the whole people or by God’s vice
regent for the whole people, who is the monarch ruling by divine right
o
Law is promulgated
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