Concept Of Natural Law By Thomas Aquinas

Natural Law was created by Thomas Aquinas, who was greatly inspired by Aristotle, who believed that the telos (reason) of an item or being was the essence of goodness, and that this ability to reason is what distinguishes humans from non-humans. Aquinas incorporated this idea and arrived at the conclusion that since God created the universe out of nothing, we could use human reason to discover God’s natural law within the universe. Aquinas wrote Natural Law in his ‘Summa Theologica’ because he believed that everyone has a sense of natural law within them, which inclines them towards perfection, seeking union with God. The precepts that he created are the natural precepts that we should follow anyway. Natural Law consists of the primary precepts

Natural Law, as a deontological, absolute ethic, teaches us to perform duty for duties sake, so does not take the situation into account whatsoever. It is also a Roman Catholic ethic, so when applied to the issue of sex, Natural Law would teach that sex should not be had until after marriage, and should only be had for the purpose of the primary precept of reproduction. Therefore, this also means that Natural Law would completely rule out contraception. In our modern society, it could be argued that Natural Law is too absolute for our changing world, making its teachings unreliable. With our modern society encouraging sex in TV programs and movies, and easy access to contraception from a young age, the strict rules of natural are bound to be broken in instances of lust, for example. Therefore, perhaps a more relative ethic such as Situation Ethics would be more reliable when making judgements about sex and relationships. Fletcher believed that all decisions should be made out of love, or ‘agape’, because he said “I simply do not know and cannot know what God is doing”, and believed

Sex and relationships can be complicated and the circumstances can vary in different relationships, therefore every single relationship cannot be approached with the same rule. Natural law is too strict and fixed to judge sex and relationships. Perhaps a more relative ethic, such as Situation Ethics would be a better fit, as it encourages that we act out of love, which seems extremely appropriate when tackling sex and