St. Peter’s College of Toril, Inc. Ethics 101: Mrs.

Eva
Toril, Davao City
College Department
A.Y 2021-2022

Course Activity Worksheet

Course Code ETHICS 101
Course Title Ethics
Time Frame Week 3
Topic Natural Law
Intended At the end of the lesson, the students must have:
Learning 1. recognized how Thomas Aquinas define natural law;
Outcome 2. identified the difference between commonality with beings and with animals;
(ILO) 3. determined some practices related to moral law.
Teaching and Independent reading
Learning Self-Testing
Activities (TLAs)
Assessment Activity worksheet completion
Tasks Writing Activity
Assessment Rubrics for other related tasks:
Rubrics 5-Clear expression of ideas, smooth organization and consistency and correct grammar.
Effectively gives example.
4-Clear expression of ideas, good organization and consistency. Few grammatical errors .
Gives example or situation to explain one’s thought.
3-Good expression of ideas, occasional lack of organization and some inconsistency.
2-Roughly stated ideas, poor organization and some inconsistency with incorrect grammar.
1-Ideas are not clear, cluttered organization, consistency is lacking throughout
Values Core Value: Compassion
Integration Understanding, humility, generosity

Prepared by: Marichu D. Eva, MA

Introduction

This course activity worksheet will provide the students a better understanding about natural law. This is
another way where the students are given enough background to understand the different kinds of laws. According to
Thomas Aquinas that ‘good has the nature of an end, and evil, the nature of a contrary hence it is that all those things to
which has a natural inclination are naturally apprehended by reason as being good and consequently as objects of
pursuit, and their contraries as evil, and objects of avoidance’. The students will be guided well in order to respect the
laws in order to follow and do what is good and what is expected from us. The students will study more to become
aware do what is good for them. The students will learn how the natural law theory is instrumental to an ethics that is
rooted in the Christian faith.

Learning Content

What is natural law? Law of nature is relating to natural phenomena. Philosophically, it means an ethical theory
that posits the existence of a law whose content is set by nature and that therefore has validity everywhere. According
to legal basis, it is a generally accepted concept of the philosophical system of legal and moral principles purportedly
deriving from of a natural or divine justice and nor from a position of [positive law but od ideas of right and wrong.
Wherefore according to the order of natural inclinations, is the order of the precepts of the natural law. Man has the
inclination to good in accordance with the nature which he has in common with all substances in as much as every
substance seeks the preservation of its own being, according to its nature and by reason of this inclination, whatever is a
means of preserving human life and off its obstacles, belongs to the natural law.

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) hailed as a doctor of the Roman Catholic Church, he was a Dominican friar who
was the preeminent intellectual figure of the scholastic period of the Middle Ages, contributing to the doctrine of the
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faith more than any other figure of his time. His Summa Theologian, Aquinas’s magnum opus, is a voluminous work that
comprehensively discusses many significant points in Christian theology. He was canonized in 1323. The Context of the
Christian History --The fundamental truth maintained and elaborated by Aquinas in all his works is the promise right at
the center of the Christian faith; that we are created by God I order to ultimately return to Him. The structure of his
magnum opus Summa Theologian follows the trajectory of this story. There three parts of his voluminous work.

One is –Aquinas who speaks of God and although we acknowledge that our limited human intellect cannot fully grasp
Him, we nevertheless are able to say something concerning His goodness, His might and His creative power. Next is-
dealing with man or the dynamic of human life. This is characterized by our pursuit of happiness, which we should
realize rests ultimately not on any particular good thing that is created by God, but in the highest which is God Himself.

The Context of Aquinas’s Ethics

A full consideration of Aquinas ethics would require us to explore the discussion of how in our pursuit of
happiness, we direct our actions toward specific ends. We might explore how emotions –the passions- are involved in
the process and therefore require a proper order if they are to properly contribute to a good life. We might explore how
our actions are related to certain dispositions referred to as habits- in a dynamic way since our actions both arise from
our habits and at the same time reinforce them. Aquinas also puts forward that there is within us a conscience that
directs our moral thinking. This does not refer to some simple intuition or gut feeling. For Aquinas, there is a sense of
right and wrong in us that we are obliged to obey.

The Greek Heritage –Neoplatonic Good

God creates. This does not mean that He brings about beings, but it is also means that He cares for, and thus
governs the activity of the universe and of every creature. This central belief of the Christian faith while inspired by
divine revelation has been shaped and defined by an idea stated in the work of ancient Greek philosopher Plato, which
has been put forward a thousand years before Aquinas. He credited for giving a subsequent history of philosophy in one
of its most compelling and enduring ideas: the notion of a supreme and absolutely transcendent good. In his work , The
Republic, is often that Plato is trying to envision the ideal society.

The Idea of the Good –from the book The Republic –by Plato: Now that which imparts truth to the known and
the power of knowing to the knower is what I would have you term the idea of good, and this you will deem to be the
cause of science, and the truth in so far as the latter becomes the subject of knowledge ; beautiful too, as are both truth
and knowledge, you will be right in esteeming this other nature as more beautiful than either… Readers of this book
have long been baffled by this enigmatic passage and are still trying to figure out how exactly to interpret it. This idea of
the good- a good which is prior to all being and is even the cause of all being – will become a source of fascination and
inspiration of later thinkers even to this day.

Aristotlelian Being and Becoming

In Aristotle’s exploration of how to discuss being, he proposes the four concepts which provide a way of
understanding any particular being under consideration. First- we recognize that any being we can see around is
corporal, possessed of a certain materiality of physical stuff. We refer this as the material cause. Second - Formal cause
– the shape that makes a being a particular kind can be called its form. Third- efficient cause – means a chair is built as a
product of a carpenter, thus there is something which brings about the presence of another being. Fourth – final cause
means since a being has an apparent end or goal, a chair to be sat on, a pen for writing, a seed to become tree, or a child
to become adult. The four causes are – material, formal, efficient and final.

Synthesis – the idea of a transcendent good prior to all being surfaces in Aquinas in the form of the good and
loving God, who is Himself the fullness of being and of goodness; as Aquinas puts it, God is that, which essentially is and
is essentially good. So we recognize that all beings are only possible as participating in the first being, which is God
Himself, God’s act like an emanation is the creation of beings. Essence- as rational beings we have free will. Through our
capacity for reason we are able to judge between possibilities and to choose to direct our actions. Our actions are
directed toward attaining ends or goods that we desire.

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 Varieties – Aquinas writes.. ’He governs all the acts and movements that are to be found in each single creature,
so the type of Divine Wisdom, as moving all things to their due end, bears the character law. This involves the assertion
that the divine wisdom that directs each being toward its proper end can be called the eternal law. Natural law – an
ethical theory that posits the existence of a law whose content is set by nature and that therefore has validity
everywhere. It is a law relating to natural phenomena.

A– Aquinas then goes on to say that there is in our human nature common with other animals, like a desire that has to
do with sexual act and the care of one’s offspring. As we know , animals are periodically engage with sexual acts at a
specific time of ‘heat’ and this could result in offspring. Humans too have natural inclination to engage in sexual act and
to reproduce. In Common with other Beings- Aquinas has to consider human beings are both unique and at the same
time participating in the community in the rest of the creation. Our presence with one another means that we interact
with creatures that are not human but there is also in our nature something that shares in the nature of other beings.

Uniquely Human-after the two inclinations of Aquinas he presented the third reason which states that we have
an inclination to good according to the nature of our reason. We have natural inclination to know the truth about God
and to live in society.

References:
Bulaong, Oscar g. Jr. et al 2018. Ethics Foundation of Moral Values. Rex Book Store, CM Recto, Manila Philippines
Frankfurt, Harry. 1988. Freedom of the Will and Concept of a Person. Cambridge University Press
Nagel, Thomas. 1979. The Fragmentation of Value. Cambridge University Press

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Name: Course/Year:
Instructor: Mrs. Marichu D. Eva Subject: Ethics 101 Week 3

Learning Activity

Answer the following questions.

1. Who is Thomas Aquinas?

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) hailed as a doctor of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a Dominican friar who was the
preeminent intellectual figure of the scholastic period of the middle Ages, contributing to the doctrine of the faith more
than any other figure of his time.  His Summa Theologian, Aquinas’s magnum opus, is a voluminous work that
comprehensively discusses many significant points in Christian theology.  He was canonized in 1323. 

2. How did Thomas Aquinas define natural law?

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
3. Discuss the context of Thomas Aquinas’s ethics.
A full consideration of Aquinas's ethics would require us to explore the discussion of how, in our pursuit of
happiness, we direct our actions toward specific ends. We might explore how emotions—the passions—are involved in
the process and therefore require a proper order if they are to properly contribute to a good life. We might explore how
our actions are related to certain dispositions referred to as habits in a dynamic way since our actions both arise from
our habits and at the same time reinforce them. Aquinas also puts forward that there is within us a conscience that
directs our moral thinking. This does not refer to some simple intuition or gut feeling. For Aquinas, there is a sense of
right and wrong in us that we are obliged to obey.

4. Discuss the Neoplatonic good.

____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

Activity 2

Answer the following questions.

1. Explain the ‘The Idea of the Good’ by Plato. Write your opinion about this.

2. Why do we say ‘ human is unique?’

Humans are unique and are different from others. We are the ones who are capable of thinking morally. Onlu
umans have the ability to understand moral values, rules, and principles. We have the mental capaciity to know
the truth and reason it out, and we know what is right and wrong.

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3. Summarize the topic ’The Idea of the Good ’ by Plato.

What is the essence of this lesson?

4. What are some of practices related to moral law?

5. What is the idea of Aristotle about ‘being’ and ‘becoming’?

Activity 3

Answer the following questions.

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1. Write down your short idea about synthesis, essence and varieties.

Synthesis Essence Varieties

3. Discuss the things common with other beings, and common with other animals.

Common with other beings Common with other animals Uniquely human

Activity 4

Assessment # 1

1. How did Thomas Aquinas define moral law?

Assessment # 2

1. What is the difference between commonality with beings and with animals?

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Assessment # 3
1. What are some practices related to moral law?

Assignment:

1. What is the difference between Human law and natural law?