Natural Law

ST THOMAS AQUINAS & NATURAL LAW - DEONTOLOGICAL, ABSOLUTE, OBJECTIVE. 

St Thomas Aquinas believed everything has a natural purpose (telos). 

He believed a humans' natural purpose was to be rational. The SYNDERISIS RULE - TO DO GOOD AND AVOID EVIL is NATURAL to us.

Aquinas was very fond of aristotles EFFICIENT AND FINAL CAUSE. He believed our EFFICIENT CAUSE was that we were made by GOD and our final cause is to BE AT UNION WITH GOD. Natural Law is the way in which we can fufil our ultimate purpose - to be at union with god.

THE FIVE PRIMARY PRECEPTS make up NATURAL LAW. WE MUST FOLLOW THE PRIMARY PRECEPTS TO BE AT UNION WITH GOD, THEY ARE THE FOLLOWING:

• Preservation of life
• Order in society
• Worship God
• Education
• Reproduction

We remember the anagram POWER. 

However, there are also SECONDARY PRECEPTS which are attached to the PRIMARY PRECEPTS.

• Preservation of life…