5) Since the mistaken interpretation regards all specific precepts of natural law as conclusions drawn from the first principle, the significance of Aquinass actual viewthat there are many self-evident principles of natural lawmust be considered. Once we know that a certain kind of actionfor instance, stealingis bad, we have two premises, Avoid evil and Stealing is evil, from whose conjunction is deduced: Avoid stealing. All specific commandments of natural law are derived in this way.[1]. There are two ways of misunderstanding this principle that make nonsense of it. In some senses of the word good it need not. The principle in action is the rule of action; therefore, reason is the rule of action. In the first paragraph Aquinas restates the analogy between precepts of natural law and first principles of theoretical reason. The way to avoid these difficulties is to understand that practical reason really does not know in the same way that theoretical reason knows. 78, a. Good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided. John Locke argued that human beings in the state of nature are free and equal, yet insecure in their freedom. However, Aquinas explicitly distinguishes between an imperative and a precept expressed in gerundive form. 2, c. (Summa theologiae will hereafter be referred to as S.T.). Each of these three answers merely reiterates the response to the main question. These tendencies are not natural law; the tendencies indicate possible actions, and hence they provide reason with the point of departure it requires in order to propose ends. [69] Ibid. In the article next after the one commented upon above, Aquinas asks whether the acts of all the virtues are of the law of nature. But if these must be distinguished, the end is rather in what is attained than in its attainment. To know the first principle of practical reason is not to reflect upon the way in which goodness affects action, but to know a good in such a way that in virtue of that very knowledge the known good is ordained toward realization. He considers a whole range of nonpsychic realities to be human goods. From the outset, Aquinas speaks of precepts in the plural. The precept that good is to be sought is genuinely a principle of action, not merely a point of departure for speculation about human life. Desires are to be fulfilled, and pain is to be avoided. The intellect is not theoretical by nature and practical only by education. But the generalization is illicit, for acting with a purpose in view is only one way, the specifically human way, in which an active principle can have the orientation it needs in order to begin to act. 3, c. Quasi need not carry the connotation of fiction which it has in our usage; it is appropriate in the theory of natural law where a vocabulary primarily developed for the discussion of theoretical knowledge is being adapted to the knowledge of practical reason.) Only free acceptance makes the precept fully operative. The argument that there are many precepts of natural law Aquinas will not comment upon, since he takes this position himself. Precisely because the first principle does not specify the direction of human action, it is not a premise in practical reasoning; other principles are required to determine direction. Many other authors could be cited: e.g., Stevens, op. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. An object of consideration ordinarily belongs to the world of experience, and all the aspects of our knowledge of that object are grounded in that experience. But does not Aquinas imagine the subject as if it were a container full of units of meaning, each unit a predicate? c. Those who misunderstand Aquinass theory often seem to assume, as if it were obvious, that law is a transient action of an efficient cause physically moving passive objects; for Aquinas, law always belongs to reason, is never considered an efficient cause, and cannot possibly terminate in motion. The way to avoid these difficulties is to understand that practical reason really does not know in the same way that theoretical reason knows. Nevertheless, a theory of natural law, such as I sketched at the beginning of this paper, which omits even to mention final causality, sometimes has been attributed to Aquinas. The first principle of the natural law has often been translated from the original Latin as "Do good, avoid evil.". supra note 40, at ch. Applying his scientific method of observation and analysis of evidence, Aristotle studied the governments of 158 city-states in the Greek world. The first principle of practical reason thus gives us a way of interpreting experience; it provides an outlook in terms of which subsequent precepts will be formed, for it lays down the requirement that every precept must prescribe, just as the first principle of theoretical reason is an awareness that every assent posits. He thinks that this is the guiding principle for all our decision making. On the other hand, the intelligibility does not include all that belongs to things denoted by the word, since it belongs to one bit of rust to be on my cars left rear fender, but this is not included in the intelligibility of rust. This is why I insisted so strongly that the first practical principle is not a theoretical truth. Id. 2, a. Utilitarianism is an inadequate ethical theory partly because it overly restricts natural inclination, for it assumes that mans sole determinate inclination is in regard to pleasure and pain. Just as the principle of contradiction expresses the definiteness which is the first condition of the objectivity of things and the consistency which is the first condition of theoretical reasons conformity to reality, so the first principle of practical reason expresses the imposition of tendency, which is the first condition of reasons objectification of itself, and directedness or intentionality, which is the first condition for conformity to mind on the part of works and ends. Only truths of reason are supposed to be necessary, but their necessity is attributed to meaning which is thought of as a quality inherent in ideas in the mind. But his alternative is not the deontologism that assigns to moral value and the perfection of intention the status of absolutes. Aquinas knew this, and his theory of natural law takes it for granted. On the analogy he is developing, he clearly means that nothing can be understood by practical reason without the intelligibility of good being included in it. at II.5.12. The first kind of pleasure is a "moving . To the second argument, that mans lower nature must be represented if the precepts of the law of nature are diversified by the parts of human nature, Aquinas unhesitatingly answers that all parts of human nature are represented in natural law, for the inclination of each part of man belongs to natural law insofar as it falls under a precept of reason; in this respect all the inclinations also fall under the one first principle. at II.7.2. Good is to be Pursued and Evil Avoided: How a Natural Law Approach to Christian Bioethics can Miss Both Corinna Delkeskamp-Hayes Christian bioethics: Non-Ecumenical Studies in Medical Morality, Volume 22, Issue 2, 1 August 2016, Pages 186-212, https://doi.org/10.1093/cb/cbw004 Published: 02 June 2016 PDF Split View Cite Permissions Share S.T. Obviously no one could ask it who did not hold that natural law consists of precepts, and even those who took this position would not ask about the unity or multiplicity of precepts unless they saw some significance in responding one way or the other. 3, c. Quasi need not carry the connotation of, which it has in our usage; it is appropriate in the theory of natural law where a vocabulary primarily developed for the discussion of theoretical knowledge is being adapted to the knowledge of practical reason.) The insane sometimes commit violations of both principles within otherwise rational contexts, but erroneous judgment and wrong decision need not always conflict with first principles. Man and the State (Chicago, 1951), 8494, is the most complete expression in English of Maritains recent view. An object of consideration ordinarily belongs to the world of experience, and all the aspects of our knowledge of that object are grounded in that experience. The First Principle of Practical Reason: A Commentary on the Summa Theologiae, 1-2, Question 94, Article 2, [Grisez, Germain. For Aquinas, there is no nonconceptual intellectual knowledge: How misleading Maritains account of the knowledge of natural law is, so far as Aquinass position is concerned, can be seen by examining some studies based on Maritain: Kai Nielsen, , An Examination of the Thomistic Theory of Natural Moral Law,. Many other authors could be cited: e.g., Stevens. We may imagine an intelligibility as an intellect-sized bite of reality, a bite not necessarily completely digested by the mind. 2, d. 39, q. They ignore the peculiar character of practical truth and they employ an inadequate notion of self-evidence. Instead of undertaking a general review of Aquinass entire natural law theory, I shall focus on the first principle of practical reason, which also is the first precept of natural law. supra note 40, at 147155. But in that case the principle that will govern the consideration will be that agents necessarily act for ends, not that good is to be done and pursued. Mark Boyle argues that a primitive life away from the modern world is healthier, but the evidence strongly suggests that this is a privileged fantasy. Thus the intelligibility includes the meaning with which a word is used, but it also includes whatever increment of meaning the same word would have in the same use if what is denoted by the word were more perfectly known. However, a full and accessible presentation along these general lines may be found in Thomas J. Higgins, S.J., Man as Man: the Science and Art of Ethics (rev. Nonprescriptive statements believed to express the divine will also gain added meaning for the believer but do not thereby become practical. Who believed that the following statement is built into every human being: "Good is to be done and pursued, and evil avoided." Aristotle Whose idea was the "golden mean"? as Aquinas states it, is: Good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided. Epicureanism is _____. The basic principle is not related to the others as a premise, an efficient cause, but as a form which differentiates itself in its application to the different matters directed by practical reason. Thinking that the practical principle must be equivalent to a theoretical truth, he suggests that the opposite relationship obtains. In other words, the reason for the truth of the self-evident principle is what is directly signified by it, not any extrinsic cause. c. the philosophy of Epictetus. Yet the first principle of practical reason does provide a basic requirement for action merely by prescribing that it be intentional, and it is in the light of this requirement that the objects of all the inclinations are understood as human goods and established as objectives for rational pursuit. If every active principle acts on account of an end, then at a certain time in spring from the weather and our knowledge of nature we can conclude that the roses ought to be blooming soon. Question 94 is divided into six articles, each of which presents a position on a single issue concerning the law of nature. As I explained above, the primary principle is imposed by reason simply because as an active principle reason must direct according to the essential condition for any active principleit must direct toward an end. [12] That Aquinas did not have this in mind appears at the beginning of the third paragraph, where he begins to determine the priorities among those things which fall within the grasp of everyone. No doubt there are some precepts not everyone knows although they are objectively self-evidentfor instance, precepts concerning the relation of man to God: God should be loved above all, and: God should be obeyed before all. The mistaken interpretation of Aquinass theory of natural law considers the first principle to be a major premise from which all the particular precepts of practical reason are deduced. This participation is necessary precisely insofar as man shares the grand office of providence in directing his own life and that of his fellows. Of course, so far as grammar alone is concerned, the gerundive form can be employed to express an imperative. The Literary Theory Handbook introduces students to the history and scope of literary theory, showing them how to perform literary analysis, and providing a greater understanding of the historical contexts for different theories.. A new edition of this highly successful text, which includes updated and refined chapters, and new sections on contemporary theories He does make a distinction: all virtuous acts as such belong to the law of nature, but particular virtuous acts may not, for they may depend upon human inquiry.[43]. Instead of undertaking a general review of Aquinass entire natural law theory, I shall focus on the first principle of practical reason, which also is the first precept of natural law. To such criticism it is no answer to argue that empiricism makes an unnatural cleavage between facts and values. [60] A law is an expression of reason just as truly as a statement is, but a statement is an expression of reason asserting, whereas a law is an expression of reason prescribing. However, the direction of action by reason, which this principle enjoins, is not the sole human good. It is necessary for the active principle to be oriented toward that something or other, whatever it is, if it is going to be brought about. 11; 1-2, q. All of them tended to show that natural law has but one precept. 57, aa. His position has undergone some development in its various presentations. Third, there is in man an inclination to the good based on the rational aspect of his nature, which is peculiar to himself. 1, aa. Within experience we have tendencies which make themselves felt; they point their way toward appropriate objects. But binding is characteristic of law; therefore, law pertains to reason. b. the view advanced by the Stoics. Obligation is a strictly derivative concept, with its origin in ends and the requirements set by ends. Purpose in view, then, is a real aspect of the dynamic reality of practical reason, and a necessary condition of reasons being practical. [8], Aquinass solution to the question is that there are many precepts of the natural law, but that this multitude is not a disorganized aggregation but an orderly whole. 2). To the first argument, based on the premises that law itself is a precept and that natural law is one, Aquinas answers that the many precepts of the natural law are unified in relation to the primary principle. Prudence is concerned with moral actions which are in fact means to ends, and prudence directs the work of all the moral virtues. 5, c.; In libros Ethicorum Aristotelis, lib. If the mind is to work toward unity with what it knows by conforming the known to itself rather than by conforming itself to the known, then the mind must think the known under the intelligibility of the good, for it is only as an object of tendency and as a possible object of action that what is to be through practical reason has any reality at all. One of the original works of virtue ethics, this book on living a good life by Aristotle has some great advice on being a good, thriving person, through moderating your excesses and deficiencies and striving to improve yourself. The mistaken interpretation of Aquinass theory of natural law considers natural law precepts to be a set of imperatives. good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided { 1 } - moral theology Aquinass statement of the first principle of practical reason occurs in Summa theologiae, 1-2, question 94, article 2. Some interpreters mistakenly ask whether the word good in the first principle has a transcendental or an ethical sense. Even excellent recent interpreters of Aquinas tend to compensate for the speculative character they attribute to the first principle of practical reason by introducing an act of our will as a factor in our assent to it. Posthumous Character: He died 14 years before the Fall of Jurassic World. The important point to grasp from all this is that when Aquinas speaks of self-evident principles of natural law, he does not mean tautologies derived by mere conceptual analysisfor example: In the third paragraph Aquinas begins to apply the analogy between the precepts of the natural law and the first principles of demonstrations. note 8, at 199. 20. A threat can be effective by circumventing choice and moving to nonrational impulse. The second issue raised in question 94 logically follows. At first it appears, he says, simply as a truth, a translation into moral language of the principle of identity. In the second paragraph of the response Aquinas clarifies the meaning of self-evident. His purpose is not to postulate a peculiar meaning for self-evident in terms of which the basic precepts of natural law might be self-evident although no one in fact knew them. Natural law does not direct man to his supernatural end; in fact, it is precisely because it is inadequate to do so that divine law is needed as a supplement. Like most later interpreters, Suarez thinks that what is morally good or bad depends simply upon the agreement or disagreement of action with nature, and he holds that the obligation to do the one and to avoid the other arises from an imposition of the will of God. The Same Subject Continued: Concerning the General Power of Taxation. Third, there is in man an inclination to the good based on the rational aspect of his nature, which is peculiar to himself. In the fifth paragraph Aquinas enunciates the first principle of practical reason and indicates the way in which other evident precepts of the law of nature are founded on it. Thus it is clear that Aquinas emphasizes end as a principle of natural law. Using the primary principle, reason reflects on experience in which the natural inclinations are found pointing to goods appropriate to themselves. C. Pera, P. Mure, P. Garamello (Turin, 1961), 3: ch. There is a constant tendency to reduce practical truth to the more familiar theoretical truth and to think of underivability as if it were simply a matter of conceptual identity. 11, ad 2: Objectum intellectus practici est bonum ordinabile ad opus, sub ratione veri.. A clearer understanding of the scope of natural law will further unfold the implications of the point treated in the last section; at the same time, it will be a basis for the fourth section. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. His theory of causality does not preclude an intrinsic relationship between acts and ends. 1, q. He manages to treat the issue of the unity or multiplicity of precepts without actually stating the primary precept. Please try again. The prescription expressed in gerundive form, on the contrary, merely offers rational direction without promoting the execution of the work to which reason directs. Thus Lottin makes the precept appear as much as possible like a theoretical statement expressing a peculiar aspect of the goodnamely, that it is the sort of thing that demands doing. Why are the principles of practical reason called natural law? To such criticism it is no answer to argue that empiricism makes an unnatural cleavage between facts and values. Here he says that in a self-evident principle the predicate belongs to the intelligibility of the subject; later he says that good belongs to the intelligibility of end and that end belongs to the intelligibility of good. 4, esp. [83] That the basic precepts of practical reason lead to the natural acts of the will is clear: Super Libros Sententiarum Petri Lombardi, bk. However, Aquinas explicitly distinguishes between an imperative and a precept expressed in gerundive form. [3] Paul-M. van Overbeke, O.P., La loi naturelle et le droit naturel selon S. Thomas, Revue Thomiste 65 (1957): 7375 puts q. Previously, however, he had given the principle in the formulation: Good is to be done and evil avoided., But there and in a later passage, where he actually mentions, he seems to be repeating received formulae. We at least can indicate a few significant passages. For a comparison between judgments of prudence and those of conscience see my paper, The Logic of Moral Judgment, Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 26 (1962): 6776, esp. Man and the State, 91. It is true that if natural law refers to all the general practical judgments reason can form, much of natural law can be derived by reasoning. But does not Aquinas imagine the subject as if it were a container full of units of meaning, each unit a predicate? Therefore this is the primary precept of law: Good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided. In other words, in Suarezs mind Aquinas only meant to say of the inclinations that they are subject to natural law. His response is that since precepts oblige, they are concerned with duties, and duties derive from the requirements of an end. The gap between the first principle of practical reason and the other basic principles, indicated by the fact that they too are self-evident, also has significant consequences for the acts of the will which follow the basic principles of practical reason. Hence he denies that it is a habit, although he grants that it can be possessed habitually, for one has these principles even when he is not thinking of them. Only truths of reason are supposed to be necessary, but their necessity is attributed to meaning which is thought of as a quality inherent in ideas in the mind. Humans are teleologically inclined to do what is good for us by our nature. 4, a. Not merely morally good acts, but such substantive goods as self-preservation, the life and education of children, and knowledge. ODonoghue wishes to distinguish this from the first precept of natural law. The first paragraph implies that only self-evident principles of practical reason belong to natural law; Aquinas is using natural law here in its least extensive sense. A virtue is an element in a person's . (Ibid. In this class are propositions whose terms everyone understandsfor example: Every whole is greater than its parts, and: Two things equal to a third are equal to one another. The prescription Happiness should be pursued is presupposed by the acceptance of the antecedent If you wish to be happy, when this motive is proposed as a rational ground of moral action. [49] It follows that practical judgments made in evil action nevertheless fall under the scope of the first principle of the natural law, and the word good in this principle must refer somehow to deceptive and inadequate human goods as well as to adequate and genuine ones. Now we must examine this response more carefully. a. identical with gluttony. On the other hand, a principle is not useful as a starting point of inquiry and as a limit of proof unless its underivability is known. The principle of contradiction does not exclude from our thoughts interesting and otherwise intelligible things; it grounds the possibility of thinking in reference to anything at all. Many useful points have been derived from each of these sources for the interpretation developed below. The will necessarily tends to a single ultimate end, but it does not necessarily tend to any definite good as an ultimate end. Naturalism frequently has explained away evildoing, just as some psychological and sociological theories based on determinism now do. [82] The principle of contradiction expresses the definiteness of things, but to be definite is not to be anything. One is to suppose that it means anthropomorphism, a view at home both in the primitive mind and in idealistic metaphysics. In accordance with this inclination, those things by which human life is preserved and by which threats to life are met fall under natural law. Th., I-II, q. The principle is formed because the intellect, assuming the office of active principle, accepts the requirements of that role, and demands of itself that in directing action it must really direct. Even retrospective moral thinkingas when one examines one's conscienceis concerned with what was to have been done or avoided. But these references should not be given too much weight, since they refer to the article previously cited in which the distinction is made explicitly. DO GOOD AND AVOID EVIL 1. Like most later interpreters, Suarez thinks that what is morally good or bad depends simply upon the agreement or disagreement of action with nature, and he holds that the obligation to do the one and to avoid the other arises from an imposition of the will of God. Aquinas recognizes a variety of natural inclinations, including one to act in a rational way. [37] Or, to put the same thing in another way, not everything contained in the Law and the Gospel pertains to natural law, because many of these points concern matters supernatural. On the other hand, the operation of our own will is not a condition for the prescription of practical reason; the opposite rather is the case. My main purpose is not to contribute to the history of natural law, but to clarify Aquinass idea of it for current thinking. To recognize this distinction is not to deny that law can be expressed in imperative form. But why does reason take these goods as its own? It is important, however, to see the precise manner in which the principle. Rather, Aquinas proceeds on the supposition that meanings derive from things known and that experienced things themselves contain a certain degree of intelligible necessity.[14]. The first principle of the natural law is "good is to be done and pursued, and evil avoided" (q94, a2, p. 47; CCC 1954). Moreover, it is no solution to argue that one can derive the ought of moral judgment from the is of ethical evaluation: This act is virtuous; therefore, it ought to be done. Not even Hume could object to such a deduction. "Good is to be done and pursued and evil avoided." -St. Thomas Aquinas Every man acts for an end insofar as his intellect understands it to be good. They are not derived from prior principles. 17, a. Even in theoretical knowledge, actual understanding and truth are not discovered in experience and extracted from it by a simple process of separation. Practical reason is mind directed to direct and it directs as it can. Law makes human life possible. In issuing this basic prescription, reason assumes its practical function; and by this assumption reason gains a point of view for dealing with experience, a point of view that leads all its further acts in the same line to be preceptive rather than merely speculative. But must every end involve good? Thus we see that final causality underlies Aquinass conception of what law is. The mistaken interpretation of Aquinass theory of natural law considers natural law precepts to be a set of imperatives. The formula. Before intelligence enters, man acts by sense spontaneity and learns by sense experience. In its role as active principle the mind must think in terms of what can be an object of tendency. [40] Although too long a task to be undertaken here, a full comparison of Aquinass position to that of Suarez would help to clarify the present point. In fact, it refers primarily to the end which is not limited to moral value. The two fullest commentaries on this article that I have found are J. 79, a. In fact, several authors to whom Lottin refers seem to think of natural law as a principle of choice; and if the good and evil referred to in their definitions are properly objects of choice, then it is clear that their understanding of natural law is limited to its bearing upon moral good and evilthe value immanent in actionand that they simply have no idea of the relevance of good as enda principle of action that transcends action. T. 1-2, q. An act which falls in neither of these categories is simply of no interest to a legalistic moralist who does not see that moral value and obligation have their source in the end. (Op. For Aquinas, there is no nonconceptual intellectual knowledge: De veritate, q. This view implies that human action ultimately is irrational, and it is at odds with the distinction between theoretical and practical reason. 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