good is to be done and pursued, and evil avoided

When they enter society they surrender only such rights as are necessary for their security and for the common good. In practical knowledge, on the other hand, the knower arrives at the destination first; and what is known will be altered as a result of having been thought about, since the known must conform to the mind of the knower. 4, d. 33, q. Now since any object of practical reason first must be understood as an object of tendency, practical reasons first step in effecting conformity with itself is to direct the doing of works in pursuit of an end. 179 likes. This desire leads them to forget that they are dealing with a precept, and so they try to treat the first principle of practical reason as if it were theoretical. We can be taught the joys of geometry, but that would be impossible if we did riot have natural curiosity that makes us appreciate the point of asking a question and getting an answer. This is exactly the mistake Suarez makes when he explains natural law as the natural goodness or badness of actions plus preceptive divine law.[70]. 4)But just as being is the first thing to fall within the unrestricted grasp of the mind, so good is the first thing to fall within the grasp of practical reasonthat is, reason directed to a workfor every active principle acts on account of an end, and end includes the intelligibility of good. In an interesting passage in an article attacking what he mistakenly considered to be Aquinass theory of natural law, Kai Nielsen discussed this point at some length. Good in the first principle, since it refers primarily to the end, includes within its scope not only what is absolutely necessary but also what is helpful, and the opposed evil includes more than the perfect contrary of the good. 12. Most people were silent. No less subversive of human responsibility, which is based on purposiveand, therefore, rationalagency, is the existentialist notion that morally good and morally bad action are equally reasonable, and that a choice of one or the other is equally a matter of arational arbitrariness. But the first principle all the while exercises its unobtrusive control, for it drives the mind on toward judgment, never permitting it to settle into inconsistent muddle. points out that Aquinas will add to the expression law of nature a further worde.g., preceptto express strict obligation. No, practical knowledge refers to a quite different dimension of reality, one which is indeed a possibility through the given, but a possibility which must be realized, if it is to be actual at all, through the minds own direction. [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. Third, there is in man an inclination to the good based on the rational aspect of his nature, which is peculiar to himself. This principle provides us with an instrument for making another kind of sense of our experience. The first principle of the natural law is "good is to be done and pursued, and evil avoided" (q94, a2, p. 47). (Op. It is important, however, to see the precise manner in which the principle, Good is to be done and pursued, still rules practical reason when it goes astray. 13, a. 100, a. Suitability of action is not to a static nature, but to the ends toward which nature inclines. Indeed, if evildoers lacked practical judgment they could not engage in human action at all. The first primary precept is that good is to be pursued and done and evil avoided. Any proposition may be called objectively self-evident if its predicate belongs to the intelligibility of its subject. However, Aquinas actually says: Et ideo primum principium in ratione practica est quod fundatur supra rationem boni, quae est, c. Fr. Some interpreters mistakenly ask whether the word good in the first principle has a transcendental or an ethical sense. Aquinas on Content of Natural Law ST I-II, Q.94, A.2 But to grant this point is not at all to identify the good in question with moral value, for this particular category of value by no means exhausts human goods. I think it would be a mistake, however, to suppose that the first principle is formal in a way that would separate it from and contrast it with the content of knowledge. Since the ultimate end is a common good, law must be ordained to the common good. c. the philosophy of Epictetus. 57, aa. 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. The good which is the subject matter of practical reason is an objective possibility, and it could be contemplated. Law makes human life possible. Mans grandeur is shown by the transcendence of this same principle; it evokes mans possibilities without restricting them, thus permitting man to determine by his own choice whether he shall live for the good itself or for some particular good. One reason is our tendency to reject pleasure as a moral good. 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. So far as I have been able to discover, Aquinas was the first to formulate the primary precept of natural law as he did. . supra note 8, at 5455. What is at a single moment, the rationalist thinks, is stopped in its flight, so he tries to treat every relationship of existing beings to their futures as comparisons of one state of affairs to another. [58] Practical reason is related to the movement of action as a principle, not as a consequence.[59]. [14] A useful guide to Aquinass theory of principles is Peter Hoenen, S.J., Reality and Judgment according to St. Thomas (Chicago, 1952). The mistaken interpretation offers as a principle: Do good. [30] William of Auxerres position is particularly interesting. 2, d. 40, q. 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 it is central throughout the whole treatise. The prescription expressed in gerundive form, on the contrary, merely offers rational direction without promoting the execution of the work to which reason directs.[62]. Sertillanges also tries to understand the principle as if it were a theoretical truth equivalent to an identity statement. 2 .Aquinas wrote that "good is to be done and pursued and evil avoided." Aquinas stated that reason reveals particular natural laws that are good for humans such as self-preservation, marriage and family, and the desire to know God. The basic precepts of natural law are no less part of the minds original equipment than are the evident principles of theoretical knowledge. [71] He begins by arguing that normative statements cannot be derived from statements of fact, not even from a set of factual statements which comprise a true metaphysical theory of reality. 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. 94, a. Good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided. Podcast Episode Click here to listen to a podcast based on these book notes Made You Think 44: Virtue is a Habit. 57, aa. 3, ad 2; q. But to get moral principles from metaphysics, it is not from the is of nature to the ought of nature that one must go. 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. It is nonsense to claim that the solubility of the sugar merely means that it will dissolve. Here too Suarez suggests that this principle is just one among many first principles; he juxtaposes it with, As to the end, Suarez completely separates the notion of it from the notion of law. [25] If natural law imposes obligations that good acts are to be done, it is only because it primarily imposes with rational necessity that an end must be pursued. [84] G. P. Klubertanz, S.J., The Root of Freedom in St. Thomass Later Works, Gregorianum 42 (1961): 709716, examines how Aquinas relates reason and freedom. First principles do not sanction error, but of themselves they set only limited requirements. It is the mind charting what is to be, not merely recording what already is. good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided - moral theology - the first precept of natural law - divine laws - good - natural laws <= back | menu | forward => Directions: Click on a number from 1 to 5. [57] In libros ethicorum ad Nichomachum, lib. This would the case for all humans. [18] S.T. 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. 3, a, 1, ad 1. is the most complete expression in English of Maritains recent view. [76] Lottins way of stating the matter is attractive, and he has been followed by others. One whose practical premise is, Pleasure is to be pursued, might reach the conclusion, Adultery ought to be avoided, without this prohibition becoming a principle of his action. Obligation is a strictly derivative concept, with its origin in ends and the requirements set by ends. The theory of law is permanently in danger of falling into the illusion that practical knowledge is merely theoretical knowledge plus force of will. 1, ad 9. [7] In other religions of the world there are also directives to ensure the poor and other vulnerable members of society are taken care of. Only by virtue of this transcendence is it possible that the end proposed by Christian faith, heavenly beatitude, which is supernatural to man, should become an objective of genuine human actionthat is, of action under the guidance of practical reason. This transcendence of the goodness of the end over the goodness of moral action has its ultimate metaphysical foundation in this, that the end of each creatures action can be an end for it only by being a participation in divine goodness. An active principle is going to bring about something or other, or else it would not be an active principle at all. I do not deny that the naked threat might become effective on behavior without reference to any practical principle. This is, one might say, a principle of intelligibility of action (cf. at bk. [82] The principle of contradiction expresses the definiteness of things, but to be definite is not to be anything. He manages to treat the issue of the unity or multiplicity of precepts without actually stating the primary precept. Aquinass response to the question is as follows: 1)As I said previously, the precepts of natural law are related to practical reason in the same way the basic principles of demonstrations are related to theoretical reason, since both are sets of self-evident principles. S.T. In defining law, Aquinas first asks whether law is something belonging to reason. Although Bourke is right in noticing that Nielsens difficulties partly arise from his positivism, I think Bourke is mistaken in supposing that a more adequate metaphysics could bridge the gap between theory and practice. The first principle may not be known with genetic priority, as a premise, but it is still first known. seems to fall into this mistaken interpretation. Thus we see that final causality underlies Aquinass conception of what law is. Aquinas is suggesting that we all have the innate instinct to do good and avoid . Second, there is in man an inclination to certain more restricted goods based on the aspect of his nature which he has in common with other animals. 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. 1-2, q. The principle in action is the rule of action; therefore, reason is the rule of action. The principle of contradiction could serve as a common premise of theoretical knowledge only if being were the basic essential characteristic of beings, if being were. Of course, good in the primary precept is not a transcendental expression denoting all things. Being is the basic intelligibility; it represents our first discovery about anything we are to knowthat it is, To say that all other principles are based on this principle does not mean that all other principles are derived from it by deduction. Good in the first principle refers with priority to these underived ends, yet by itself the first principle cannot exclude ends presented in other practical judgments even if their derivation is unsound. Thus it is clear that Aquinas emphasizes end as a principle of natural law. S.T. Ibid. Three arguments are set out for the position that natural law contains only one precept, and a single opposing argument is given to show that it contains many precepts. The objective aspect of self-evidence, underivability, depends upon the lack of a middle term which might connect the subject and predicate of the principle and supply the cause of its truth. Avoid it, do not pass by it; Turn away from it and pass on. This principle is based on the intelligibility of being (and nonbeing), and all other principles are based on this one, as Aristotle says in the Metaphysics.[7]. In fact, Aquinas does not mention inclinations in connection with the derived precepts, which are the ones Maritain wants to explain. 1-2, q. [79] S.T. The latter ability is evidenced in the first principle of practical reason, and it is the same ability which grounds the ability to choose. Usually we do not need to think principles by themselves; we call them to mind only to put them to work. To be definite is a condition of being anything, and this condition is fulfilled by whatever a thing happens to be. 1-2, q. [79] Only one among the natural inclinations of man is that based on his rational nature to act according to rational direction. What the intellect perceives to be good is what the will decides to do. E-Book Overview. 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. A careful reading of this paragraph also excludes another interpretation of Aquinass theory of natural lawthat proposed by Jacques Maritain. [These pertain uniquely to the rational faculty.] But in reason itself there is a basic principle, and the first principle of practical reason is the ultimate end. However, Aquinas does not present natural law as if it were an object known or to be known; rather, he considers the precepts of practical reason themselves to be natural law. See also Van Overbeke, loc. These same difficulties underlie Maritains effort to treat the primary precept as a truth necessary by virtue of the predicates inclusion of the intelligibility of the subject rather than the reverse. Precisely the point at issue is this, that from the agreement of actions with human nature or with a decree of the divine will, one cannot derive the prescriptive sentence: They ought to be done.. 100, a. Good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided. Nevertheless, the first principle of practical reason hardly can be understood in the first instance as an imperative. 2, a. cit. Rather, he means the principles of practical inquiry which also are the limits of practical argumenta set of underivable principles for practical reason. No, Aquinas considers practical reason to be the mind playing a certain role, or functioning in a certain capacity, the capacity in which it is directed to a work. Direction to work is intrinsic to the mind in this capacity; direction qualifies the very functioning of the mind. 3) Since the mistaken interpretation tends to oppose the commandments of natural law to positive action, it will help to notice the broad scope Aquinas attributes to the first principle, for he considers it to be a source, rather than a limit, of action. Man and the State (Chicago, 1951), 8494, is the most complete expression in English of Maritains recent view. Thus good does not signify an essence, much less does nonbeing, but both express intelligibilities.[15]. Why are the principles of practical reason called natural law? We tend to substitute the more familiar application for the less familiar principle in itself. The first practical principle is like a basic tool which is inseparable from the job in which the tool is used; it is the implement for making all the other tools to be used on the job, but none of them is equivalent to it, and so the basic tool permeates all the work done in that job. They surrender only such rights as are necessary for their security and for the less familiar principle itself. Of law is permanently in danger of falling into the illusion that practical knowledge is theoretical! Sanction error, but it is nonsense to claim that the naked threat might become effective on without! All have the innate instinct to do may be called objectively self-evident if its belongs! Moral good sugar merely means that it will dissolve suggesting that we all have the instinct. Practical knowledge is merely theoretical knowledge plus force of will an instrument making! This paragraph also excludes another interpretation of Aquinass theory of law is permanently in danger of into! 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