Augustine and Aquinas

 Augustine and Aquinas

In the thought of Augustine (354-430) and Aquinas (c. 1225-1274), the natural law as conceived by the Stoics, which according to Cicero was the only valid basis for human law, was Christianized. Natural law was conceived by these Church philosophers to be the eternal moral law of God as humans apprehend it through the dictates of their conscience and reason.

With Augustine and Aquinas, two vital questions were raised: the relationship of secular law to the natural law of God and, correspondingly, the relationship of state to church. According to both thinkers, the laws of the state must be just, which meant, for them, that the laws of the state must accord with God’s natural law. If secular laws do not accord, they held, they are not truly laws, and there is no legitimate state. For Augustine, the purpose of the state was to take “the power to do hurt” from the wicked; for Aquinas, it was to attend to the common good (which, for Aquinas, meant much more than merely curbing human sinfulness). For both, the Church provides for a person’s spiritual needs, and, though the state does have rights and duties within its own sphere, it is subordinate to the Church, just as its laws are subordinate to natural law.

Perhaps Aquinas’s most distinctive contribution to political philosophy was his discussion of law. Aquinas distinguished among four kinds of law. Most fundamental is eternal law, which is, in effect, the divine reason of God that rules over all things at all times. Then there is divine law, which is God’s gift to man, apprehended by us through revelation rather than through conscience or reason, and which directs us to our supernatural goal, eternal happiness. Natural law is God’s eternal law as it applies to man on earth; in effect, it is the fundamental principles

of morality as apprehended by us in our conscience and practical reasoning. Natural law directs us to our natural goal, happiness on earth. Finally, human law is the laws and statutes of society that are derived from man’s understanding of natural law. A rule or decree of a ruler or government must answer to a higher authority, said Aquinas; it must conform to natural law. Any rule or statute that does not, he said, should not be obeyed: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Aquinas’s conception of law, especially of natural law and human law, bears widely on our own conceptions.