St. Thomas Aquinas

By: Angela MihajlovskaAnd Kristina Niceski

The Four Kinds of Law

• St. Thomas Aquinas developed four kinds of law, through adapting Aristotle's thoughts, in regards to Christian philosophy

They were• Eternal Law• Natural Law• Divine Positive Law• Human Positive Law

Eternal Law

• “Eternal law is the body of laws by which God created the universe and keeps things in operation.”

This law, will never change and it extends outside of time.

Aquinas claimed that humans would never be able to understand this law, because they could never understand the mind of God.

Natural Law

• This is the law to which humans are only capable of understanding

• We know these laws because of reason, and we abide by them because we see them being practiced in our environment.

E.g.• Parents should care for their children• People should do no harm to others.

Divine Positive Law

• This type of law has been taken from old scriptures

• Includes the :Ten Commandments (in the Christian Bible) and the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament

Human Positive Law

• This law consists of laws that have been made by humans who feel that these laws will govern people and thus have been made for the proper functioning of societies and states.

• E.g. People instinctively know that murder is wrong, and many will choose not to do it, but for the sake of societies, laws will be written and penalties will be set.

Aquinas's Beliefs

• He believed that people will not break a law, if they feel that this law is just. He claims that they are bound by conscience.

• If people feel that a law is unjust, then they will not feel bound to comply with it.

Aquinas's defined human law in saying“ Law is nothing else than ordinance of reason for the common good , promulgated by him who has the care of the community. “

What It Gave Us

• The definition that St. Thomas Aquinas gave of natural law, set some necessary guidelines for Canadian law

These were:• The law is a product of human reason • It is made for the common good.• It is made by the ruler, who must have the

care of the community at heart• It is promulgated, or published, so that

everyone knows it.

Additional Notes

• Aquinas believed that the first practical judgment of all people is that “good should be done and perused and evil should be avoided”

• He also believed that man can preserve what he has if he follows God and thus his law- external law.

• http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/

• http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/aqui.htm

• http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/aquinas.htm

Question 1:

• What are the four types of laws that St. Thomas Aquinas developed? Name all four.

Eternal LawNatural Law

Divine Positive lawHuman Positive law

Question 2:

• Which law is it that Aquinas claims that humans would never be able to understand because they will never understand the mind of god?

• Eternal law

• Natural law

• Divine positive law

• Human Positive law

Eternal Law

Question 3:

• Give two examples of Natural laws.

Parents should care for their children

People should do no harm to others

Question 4:

• Which law is it that Aquinas claims that humans would only be able to understand?

• Eternal law

• Natural law

• Divine Positive law

• Human Positive law

Natural law

Question 5:

• Define Divine Positive Law:

a law that is directly given by god

Question 6:

• Give two examples of Divine Positive laws that Aquinas used?

The Ten CommandmentsThe Sermon on the Mountain, the

New Testament

Question 7:

•Define Human positive law:

Laws that have been made by humans who feel that

theses laws would prevent crime and keep a

functioning society.

Question 8:

• Name one of Aquinas Beliefs:

people will not break a law if they feel that a law is just

Question 9:

• St. Thomas Aquinas set guidelines for Canadian law. What were they? Name at least two out of four.

Law is a product of the common good.

Law is made for the common good.Law is made by the ruler, who must have the care of the community at

heart.It is written so everyone knows

them.

Question 10:

•What did Aquinas say people should peruse and what they should avoid?

Persue goodAnd avoid bad!

The End!