Thomas of Aquino is not only the greatest representative of scholastic philosophy and the most constructive and representative thinker of the middle ages, he is also first and foremost the typical exponent of what a recent historian has called the catholic mind (A.P.D Entreves).
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-74), son of Landolf, count of Aquino, born in the province of Naples in the north of Italy, belonged to a highly noble political family. He received his early education at the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino and higher education at the University of Naples. In a very short time of his educational career, he earned such a high reputation of his scholarship that he was frequently a guest at the table of the saintly king of France Louis IX. His famous book is “Summa Theological”. Here is a concept name law.
Concept of Law
St. Thomas Aquinas identifies four types of law in his Summa Theologica – eternal law, natural law, human law and divine law. We will explain the meaning of these four types of law and clarify how they are related and distinguished from one another.
The distinctive contribution of St. Thomas made to the development of the medieval political thought is found in his comprehensive analysis of law. His main effort “was directed towards the development of a theory of law, and it is for this work, that he is best known politically.” Commenting on the significance of this aspect of his political philosophy, Hacker points out: “His abiding claim to the attention of the students of political theory lies in his role as a legal theorist. Government, he says, must at all times operate under the rule of law. Law, for St. Thomas, is a far broader conception than used by legislators, lawyers or judges. His intention is to create a legal framework which will encompass the governance of all aspects of the universe. The system of law, then, does not specify behavior for all circumstances, nor is it a catalogue of procedural rules. Rather, it is an over-arching scheme with several interrelated parts, each of which has a particular purpose.”
It follows that St. Thomas takes a very comprehensive view of law. It represents an intricate fusion of concepts derived from classical philosophy, Christian theology and Roman law. We find that the teleological ethics and metaphysics of Plato and Aristotle centered on the case of a city state and translated by the Stoics like Cicero and Marcus Aurelius to suit the purpose of universal laws of an empire “became the world vessels into which the Church Fathers were able to pour the first conception of the Christian natural law.” It is due to this dominant reason that the conception of St. Thomas in regard to his master pattern of the classification of law embodies the blending of the classical notion of the Greeks with that of the Stoics as presented him by the Christian Fathers in the form of religious truths. As a result, his conception of the universe as an orderly and integrated hierarchy “called in turn for a system of law that would govern and bind together each level of the grand structure”.
The meaning of law, as conceived by St. Thomas, is contained in his fourfold classification of law-Eternal, Natural, Divine and Human. He regards law as ‘the dictate of reason emanating from the ruler who governs a perfect community. Thus, eternal law is the divine reason that governs and orders the whole of creation. In other words, it is the eternal plan of God’s wisdom and, for this reason, it is beyond human comprehension. It is the ‘plan of government in the Chief Governor’ from which all the plans of government in the inferior governors must be derived. In simple words, it is the reason existing in the mind of God by which the whole universe is governed. It regulates both earthly and heavenly spheres and animate and inanimate kingdoms. As he says: “The very idea of the government of things of God, the ruler of the Universe, has the nature of a law. And since the divine reason’s conception of things is not subject to time but is eternal, therefore, it is that kind of law that must be eternal”. The eternal law is, therefore, operative at the cosmic level according to which God crates and sustains this universe. As the plans of the lesser governors are all other laws that are in addition to the eternal law, so far as they partake of the right reason are derived from the eternal law is called eternal, since the divine reasons conception of things is not subject to time. Natural law is a reflection of the reason in human beings. It is written in the heart of man and through his reason it enables him to recognize, understand and obey eternal law.
As reason helps man to evolve certain general principles of conduct through his innate knowledge of what is good and bad and as these principles form a body of natural law, this law enjoins upon all to do that is implied to give human inclinations their widest scope. In its fullness it remain in the mind of man, it is not fully comprehensible to him. In other words, it is the reflection of the eternal law in this universe or divine light by which a man is enabled to take part in the fulfillment of the divine. It is also something that a man may discover with the help of this divinely implanted faculty to discriminate between right and wrong and, for this reason, it may be said that the principle of natural law constitute more a system of norms to lay down the ultimate also of human life than a set of specific rules. “All things to which man has a natural inclination are naturally apprehended by reason as being good, and consequently as objects of pursuit and their contraries as evil, and object of avoidance.”
Since human reason is limited and imperfect and, owing to this, it is unable to understand all principles of natural law, divine law comes to meet the deficiency. It consists of direct revelation of the divine purpose to the saints authors of the scriptures. The ten commandments are a clear example of this kind of law. “In order, therefore, that a man may know without any doubt what he ought to do and what he ought to avoid, it was necessary for man to be directed in his proper acts by a law given by God, for it is certain that such a law cannot err.” The divine law is a gift of grace rather than a discover of natural reason. As grace of God perfects the human nature, so does the divine law perfect the natural law; it illuminates the path that man must tread in order to achieve his temporal and spiritual attainments. In this way, divine law supplements natural law and corrects its human interpretations.
Last, there is human law. It is derived for natural law and is valid only to the extent it does not clash with the latter to whom it is subservient. It recognizes, in concrete terms, natural law as implanted in human hearts by the finger of God. It tells what is bad and sanctions penalties to prevent its recurrence. It lays down a set of specific rules conveniently applicable to concrete situations and circumstances. It is, in other words, positive law of the state. However, it is justified only insofar as its provisions do not conflict with the general precepts of the natural law. “Every human law has just so much of the nature of law as it is derived from the law of nature. But at any point it departs from the law of nature, it is no longer a law but a perversion of law.”
Of particular interest to the students of political theory is the conception of St. Thomas in regard to the relationship between natural law and human law. There is very little that the man can do with regard to eternal law as well as divine law except to obey each in the manner indicated by the theologians who alone are capable of understanding it. Insofar as the good secular life is concerned, both human law and natural law are of prime importance as embedded in the latter are those governing principles according to which secular conduct must be regulated if the aim of good life is to be achieved. These principles “are discoverable through the use of human reason and when they are applied institutionally or by the laws or custom, they constitute the human law. In order to be just, human law must accord with and never contravene the natural law. It is the function of the ruler always to govern in accordance with this principle.”
If human law may be interpreted as positive law, it is hardly anything else than the promulgation or codification of custom. A law which is made in the sense that it embodies the arbitrary will of the governors and disregards the established customs and traditions of the people, is unreasonable and, hence, void. As such, custom should not be abrogated by the earthly rules except in an extreme case where the practice is clearly unjust or its observance is extremely harmful to the common good, or where some very great benefit is possible by the conferment of new enactment. The primary takes of the ruler is to clarify and promulgate the custom of the people. “Accordingly custom has the force of law, abolishes, and is the interpreter of law”.
Once again, Aristoteliansim finds itself accommodated in a baptized form. Aristotle’s conception of natural (or moral) law is given a Biblical complexion and becomes the central theme of the political philosophy of St. Thomas. As D’Etreves says: “The doctrine of natural law is the pivot of St. Thomas’ treatment of politics. It is not from the individual that we are asked to make our start, but from the cosmos, from the notion of a world well-ordered and graded of which law is like a bridge, thrown as it were across the gulf which divides man for his divine creator. It expresses the dignity and power of man, who alone of created beings, is called upon to participate intellectually and actively in the rational order of the universe……Natural law is the pattern of all positive legislation, what is stressed is the duty of the state rather than the right of the individual. Natural law is the basis of political allegiance, the ground upon which social and political relations can be secured and comprehended.”
“Thus was Aristotelian conception received and embedded within the framework of the scholastic conception of the law of nature….. Instead of considering the state as an institution which may well be necessary and divinely appointed, but only in view of the actual conditions of corrupted mankind, Thomas Aquinas followed Aristotle in deriving the idea of natural law, and the conception of harmonious correspondence between the natural and divine order, which is expressed, provided a solid ground for further developments. For the Aristotelian conception, with its insistence on the natural character of the state and the exaltation of the state itself the fulfillment and end of human nature, contained at bottom a challenge to the Christian idea of the existence of higher and ultimate values, and of the inadequacy of merely human means for their attainment. The natural order, which comprises and sufficiently justifies political experience, is for St. Thomas only a condition and the means for the recognition of a higher order as natural law is but a part of the eternal law, must be considered in the general law of God… The action of the state, as a part of the natural law, must be considered in the general frame of the divine direction of the world, and is entirely subservient to that direction. This clear cut delimitation made it possible for St. Thomas to attempt the reconciliation of the classical and the Christian idea of the state. Within these well-drawn limits, and subject to these cautions, the influence of Aristotelian ideas caused a deep and thorough going reconstruction of medieval political thought.”
The fourfold classification of law, as given by St. Thomas, in this way, links up the case of political obedience with the moral obligation of human beings. Dunning well sums up the meaning of St. Thomas in these words: “The lex aeterna (External Law) is the controlling plan of this universe existing in the mind of God; lex Naturalis (Natural Law) is that participation of man, as a rational creature, in the eternal law (or the divine reason), through which he distinguishes between good and evil and seeks his true end. Human law is the application by human reason of the divine precepts of natural law to particularly earthly conditions. The divine law in the special sense is that through which the limitation and imperfections of human reason are supplemented and man is infallibly directed to his super-mundane end-eternal blessedness; it is the law of Revelation.”
Criticism
1. Primarily he is a rank theologian and not a political scientist.
1. Primarily he is a rank theologian and not a political scientist.