St. Thomas Aquinas
Politics and The Catholic
Christian Tradition
Overview



Biographical Background
God and Justice
Property & Obligations to the Poor
I. Biographical Notes
Born 1224 near
Aquino, Italy into
noble family
Entered University of
Naples about 1236
Entered the Order of
St. Dominic around
1240-1243 and
lived rest of life as
a monk (against his
family’s wishes)
I. Biographical Notes





Rediscovery of Aristotle prompts Pope to
reassess relation between theology and
Greek philosophy.
Aquinas spends his life attempting to
reconcile faith and reason into a synthesis
Dies at age 50, having authored some 60
works
On 4 August 1879 Pope Leo XIII declared
his the “official” teaching of the Church
On 4 August 1880, same Pope designated
him patron saint of all Catholic universities,
God and Justice

Types of Law




Eternal Law
Divine Law
Natural Law
Human Law
God and Justice

Types of Law




Eternal Law
Divine Law
Natural Law
Human Law
Eternal Law



Unchanging reason of God.
God’s plan for the universe
Affects everything, including irrational
creatures
“Now it is evident, granted that the
world is ruled by Divine providence…
that the whole community of the
universe is governed by Divine
Reason (Question 91, Article 1)
God and Justice

Types of Law




Eternal Law
Divine Law
Natural Law
Human Law
Divine Law


Applies to religion and church issues
Apprehended through revelation
“[s]ince man is ordained to an end of
eternal happiness which is
inproportionate to man’s natural
faculty… it was necessary that,
besdies the natural and the human
law, man should be directed to his end
by a law given by God (Question 91,
God and Justice

Types of Law




Eternal Law
Divine Law
Natural Law
Human Law
Natural Law




The eternal law etched upon the
human mind
Uniquely human
Determines an individual’s telos (end)
Helps you seek your essential human
purpose
Natural Law
“Now among all others, the rational creature
is subject to Divine providence in the most
excellent way, in so far as it partakes of a
share of providence, by being provident
both for itself and for others. Wherefore it
has a share of the Eternal Reason, whereby
it has a natural inclination to its proper act
and end: and this participation of the
eternal law in the rational creature is called
the nature law” (Question 91, Article 2)
Natural Law

Operates in 2 ways
Appeal to one’s reason to
know how to act in particular
circumstances
Human Law
God and Justice

Types of Law




Eternal Law
Divine Law
Natural Law
Human Law
Human Law



Emulate natural law to promote justice
and the will of God
Necessary to help us when our own
reason fails
Guide community to serve justice and
the common purposes of all its
members
God & Justice


To be “true” law, it must follow natural
law
Purpose is to help one:




Fulfill his/her telos
Fulfill one’s function as a rational
creature
Seek out the vision of God
If law deviates from natural law, it is
non-binding
God & Justice
“A tyrannical government is not just,
because it is directed, not to the
common good, but to the private good
of the rule, as the Philosopher states.
Consequently, thre is no sedition in
disturbing a government of this kind…”
God & Justice
“…unless indeed the tyrant’s rule be
disturbed so inordinately, that his
subjects suffer greater harm from the
consequent disturbance than from the
tyrant’s government” (Question 42,
Article 2)
God & Justice
“Indeed, it is the tyrant rather that is
guilty of sedition, since he encourages
discord and sedition among his
subjects, that he may lord over them
more securely; for this is tyranny, being
conducive to the private good of the
ruler, and to the injury of the multitude”
(Question 42, Article 2).
God & Justice




An unjust law is no law at all
An unjust ruler is no ruler
Human law as its own telos – political
authority and human law must obey
God and natural law.
Both God and natural law act as
external restrictions constraining what
the ruler can and cannot do
God & Justice

Aquinas provides 2 sets of checks on
tyrannical rulers: God/natural law and
the threat of execution through
insurrection
Property


Is property natural to the human species?
Yes
God has given man power over the other
elements of His creation
“This natural dominion of man over other creatures,
which is competent to man in respect of his
reason wherein God’s image resides, is shown
forth in man’s creation by the words: Let us
make man to Our image and likeness: and let
him have dominion over the fishes of the sea,
etc.” (Question 66, Article 1)

Property

Private Property?

Yes, necessary for human life for 3
reasons:
1. Human beings are selfish:
“every man is more careful to procure what is for
himself alone than that which is common to
many or to all: since each one would shirk
the labour and leave to another that which
concerns the community” (Question 66,
Article 2)
Property

2. Division of Labor/Specialization
leads to greater productivity:
“Because human affairs are conducted in
more orderly fashion if each man is
charged with taking care of some
particular thing himself, whereas there
would be confusion if everyone had to
look after one thing indeterminately”
(Question 66, Article 2)
Property

3. Ensures tranquility:
“A more peaceful state is ensured to man if
each one is contented with his own.
Hence it is to be observed that quarrels
arise more frequently where there is no
division of the things possessed”
(Question 66, Article 2)
Property


Any limits on property? Any
obligations?
Recall hierarchy of laws:
“Things which are of human right cannot
derogate from natural rights or Divine
right” (Question 66, Article 7)
Property

Further recall the idea of the natural order to
the universe, its source, and its implications:
“Now according to the natural order established by
Divine providence, inferior things are ordained
for the purpose of succouring man’s needs by
their means. Wherefore the division and
appropriation of things which are based on
human law, do not preclude the fact that man’s
needs have to be remedied by means of these
very things” (Question 66, Article 7)
Property

Thus, the rich do
not have unlimited
entitlement to
“superabundance”
Property
“Whatever certain people have in
superabundance is due, by natural law, to
the purpose of succouring the poor. For this
reason Ambrose says,and his words are
embodied in the Decretals: It is the hungry
man’s bread that you withhold, the naked
man’s cloak that you store away, the money
that you bury in the earth is the price of the
poor man’s ransom and freedom” (Question
66, Article 7)
Property

Upshot?
“If the need be so manifest and urgent, that it is
evident that the present need must be remedied
by whatever means be at hand 9for instance
when a person is in some imminent danger, and
there is no other possible remedy), then it is
lawful for a man to succour his own need by
means of another’s property, by taking it either
openly or secretly: nor is this properly speaking
theft or robbery” (Question 66, Article 7)
Conclusion
Given hierarchy of laws, what political
structure emerges?
Divine Power
Ecclesiastical Authority
Political Authority