Thomas Aquinas

- 1200s (crusades; reintegration of Greek philosophy)

- Heavily exposed to St. Augustine
- Synthesis of Christian philosophy and Aristotelian philosophy
o He drew from Christian theology and works of Aristotle
- Wrote on a wide range of topics (theology, politics, morality, etc – compiled in the summa
theological *idk spelling)

Theory of Man

- Aristotle’s theory of man – rational animal and political being

o Humans exercise their rationality through deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning*
(procedural knowledge)
o *Practical wisdom that is exercised within a community >thus political
- Augustus’ concept of man – man is composed of a body and a soul
o The body and soul were aligned till the fall of man

- Man is a social animal

o In contrast to Aristotle’s view that man is a political animal.

- There is a part of a state that is separate from all else

o A Church (not necessarily the catholic church)
o Man searches for a religion.
- Two swords doctrine (not by Aquinas)
o Worldly authority comes in two forms (political and religious)
o Are they separate? Is one subservient to the other? Can an institution wield both?
 In present times, many variations are evident in the world.
 In Aquinas’ time, monarchs are crowned by some religious authority (political
authority is subservient to the church(

- Thomas says that we can learn more about the reasoning of God (will of God) through the
material realm. Creation compliments the divine will.
o Unlike Augustine’s views that the material realm leads us astray

Laws

- Ordinances, Legislation
- Physical laws (laws in nature)
- Commandments (religious)
 - Aquinas proposed a hierarchy of laws
o Eternal Law
 Will of God or reasoning of God. It is not something that man knows but exists.
o Natural Law
 Participation of creation in the will of God
 Creation came from God and must be aligned to Him
 Also includes laws of morality (not written down but are held to be true)
 This is why people inherently dislike killing each other.
o Human Law
 Made by man and comes from man
 Stated explicitly and made known to everyone.
o *Divine Law
 Occupies a special place in the hierarchy (below the eternal law)
 Comes from God Himself
 The commandments and the like.
o Basically, all laws come from the Eternal Law. Nature in its pure form is not supposed to
be in contradictory to the will of God, therefore we would be able to know more about
His will through nature

- Definition of (human) law by Aquinas

o Ordinance of reason
 Human law is supposed to stem from the eternal law
o For the common good
o Promulgated
 Unlike natural law, it must be made known and announced.
o By he who has authority over the community

Sept 14

Theory of Man
- (From Aristotle) Man is rational animal and this necessitates that he is a political animal
o Because practical wisdom is best exercised in a community
o Man is a social animal
 The idea of the political fails to capture the existence of the Church.
 Refers to man’s sense of belonging to a community within the church.
- (Agustin) The body misaligns with the soul
o Creation (body) reflects the divine will
o Thomas Aquinas believes that the body and soul is complimentary
o In nature we can see order and the will of God
 Hierarchy of Laws

- Eternal Law
o Reasoning of God which is unknown to Man.
- Natural Law
o Unwritten laws that are creation’s way of participating in the will of God
o Implies that they reflect the divine will
o Can be observed deductively or felt inductively
o Ex. Morality, laws in science.
- Divine Will
o Explicitly stated from the Scriptures
 Comes from God
 Knowable
- Human Law
o Ordinance of reason
 It has to stem from other laws and be in line with the Eternal law.
o For the common god
 Different from individual good
 The sum of all is less than the whole
 Reflection of his notion of Rule for All
 Laws that are not for the common good or is stemmed from the ordinance of
reason is not a law at all.
 Different from how Augustine believes that some “sin” are present in
order for it to survive or operate.

o Promulgated
 Must be announced and made known to man. It also serves the purpose of
clarifying natural laws and operationalizes them.
o By those in authority

Theory of State

- Six types of state (from Aristotle)

o Kingship
 It is also beneficial for the ruler because he doesn’t need to submit to a rule by
an inferior
o Aristocracy
o Polity
 Ideal point between democracy and oligarchy
 Quantity of democracy + quality of oligarchy
o Democracy
o Oligarchy
o Tyranny
 o RED = Good for all
o Blue = Good for Ruler
o Underline – Aristotle’s ideal.
 The leader knows better than a leader thus it is better for the community to let
them.
 It is unlikely to find such King.
o Italicized
 Realistic best state for Aristotle

- Best Kind of governance by Thomas Aquinas

o KINGSHIP/MONARCHY
 Similar to Aristotle’s reasoning plus the idea that human authority should reflect
how the eternal authority is organized. Scriptures imply that all of creation is
placed under God and as such human authority follows in that they have one
ruler that acts for all towards God.
 Subsidiaryly in politics means that problems should be dealt with by the
authorities that are closest to where it arise. (QC crime – QC police)
 This is in line with Kingship in that the problems that exist on Earth need not be
dealt with by God himself. In his place, the King should deal with it.
 Stately problems must be dealt by the state and churchly problems by the
church

- Aquinas believes that Aristotle’s hierarchy is explicitly strict

o He believes that the arrangement of states is as such because
 The first three are better than the bottom because it is for the good of all.
 In natural –
 Monarchy reflects Gods authority.
 Aristocracy is above polity because the quantity of rulers make decision
making slower than they need be
 In a way it is best for the decision making to be uninterrupted because it
is for the good of all.
 In unnatural –
 Since it is a rule for the ruler, the efficiency of moving resources for just
one ruler is the fastest, thus Tyranny is the lowest.
 In the same manner, the quantity effect makes democracy better since
it is harder for resources to move to rulers.

When is it valid to rebel against the king?

- Unjust succession
- When a king becomes a tyrant.
o Even if these 2 are present, is it always better to rebel?
 Not necessarily. The people must calculate whether their rebellion’s benefit
would outweigh the injustice that would happen during the conlflict.