IAN EDUARD C.

ADRIANO
 Born of Naples Italy to an influential and landed
family
 Serve as an adviser to the Papal Court
 Famous work : Summa Theologica
 Contributed to the emergence of Scholasticism.
 All about fusing faith and reason.
 What’s important with scholasticism??
 Its the combination of God’s will and Human will
(capacity to exercise reason)
 According to St Thomas, Faith and Reason can co-exist
since they both come from God. But faith is still
dominant because its based on revealed truth while
reason is founded on human insight.
 Revealed truth is nothing less than perfect while
human insight can never be perfect
 Aquinas view man the same as Aristotle where man is
both social and political being.
 Associations are formed because of social impulse in
men. There must be some order by which man’s social
and political life is organized which is the function of
the state.
 A good life for Aquinas consist of virtuous life, a life
founded and based on relationship with God and on
the enjoyment of God.
 Good life can only be achieved once man is in possession
of God.
 Laws are created with one objective : to attain common
good. Common good is the welfare of the entire
community.
 Aquinas identified four types of laws according to their
scope and origin
 Eternal law
 Natural law
 Divine law
 Human law
 Law that governs the Divine law and all animate and
inanimate things in it. It covers all things that are
governed by Divine Providence. As such, eternal law is
sometimes seen as being beyond the comprehension
of human being because it is based on Divine reason –
reason of God.
 Law in which Aquinas describe as results from the
participation of eternal law in the rational creature
that is man. This applies only to the “rational
creatures” or those who are capable of exercising
reason. Among all God’s creatures, it is man that can
exercise reason. Natural law governs those things to
which a man is naturally inclined.
 The expression of God’s divine will. It is the law that
directs man to live the virtuous life. This type of law is
given by God to man to tell him what to do and what
not to do. Since human judgment is characterized by
uncertainty, laws that based on human reason often
conflict with each other. It is divine law that reconciles
conflicting laws. Divine law may be seen as that part of
eternal law that has been revealed to man through the
bible for instance.
 Governs practical matters that arise in man’s every day
life. It deals with the more particular determination of
certain matters and is devised by human reason. We
can summarized the characteristics of human law as
follows:
 Human law is derived from the law of nature
 Human law is geared towards the common good
 Human law is framed by the one who governs the
community
 Human law seeks to direct human action
 The important element of law is promulgation.
 Refers to the act of making something public – in this
case we are referring to the process of making a certain
law public.

 If you do not know the law how can one follow it?

 Eternal law is the highest form of law and human law is

the lowest.
 Eternal is founded on divine reason while human law is based
on human insight.
No. Of Rules Just Government Unjust Government

Rule of One Kingship Tyranny

Rule of Few Aristocracy Oligarchy

Rule of Many Polity Democracy

 Kingship – government that is ruled by a chief who acts as a
“shepherd seeking the common good”
 Aristocracy – government by a few men of virtue or by
noble men
 Polity – government run by the many which seeks to
promote the common will
 Tyranny – government administered by a single individual
which seeks to benefit only the ruler and no one else
 Oligarchy – government ruled by the few who oppress the
people using their wealth
 Democracy – government managed by the many who
oppress the rich using their numbers
 Just government – are those established to promote
and protect the common good
 Unjust government – are those geared to promote the
interest of only one or a few.

 Best type : kingship

 The aim of the ruler should be to attain unity of peace
among those who are ruled.
 People who are subject to tyrannical rule have the right
to resist a tyrant. But under what conditions?
 What kind of tyranny exist in the society.
 If tyrant is mild then people should bear but if its unbearable
then tyrant should be removed.
 Who should remove the tyrant?
 The one who placed the tyrant in position should be the one
to removed him in position
 What if the people or king cannot replace the tyrant?
 People should turn to Divine ruler – God. But, they need to
do away with sin.