Natural Law as the Principle of Reasonable Human Action?

How would you explain Natural Law as the Principle of Reasonable Human Action?

Introduction

Morality is basic to every human community. Man is a social animal, the very nature of man calls him to commune with his neighbour and environment. It is absolutely impossible for man to live in isolation of his surroundings and so there is a certain idea of transcendence in human nature. It is on the verge of seeking a suitable means and ways of coming and living together that morality evolves. In fact, morality is about man and his environment. There cannot be morality where it to be that all human beings live separately isolated from each other. So the very nature and instinct of meeting one another is the birth of morality.

However, it is very controversial, especially in the recent time, over the evolution of laws which serve as a guide to keep man in peace with one another. Law brings harmony and mutual existence to the state and human nature. Many have argued for the plausibility a law which has divine origin while many have vehemently refuted such notion and see such opinion as a distortion in human reasoning which was imposed on man during the dark ages. Natural law has been an age long concept in the history of human quest for knowledge. Man has tried to understand the origin of the laws that govern him. He tries to reach out to the transcendent and understand it as something given to him since it seem obvious that some laws are intrinsic and natural to him. The concept of natural law is a perennial classical problem that has never cease to engage the great mind of intellectuals of different epochs.

Natural Law as the Principle of Reasonable Human Action.

 According to Thomas Aquinas, the natural law is the participation of the rational creature in the eternal law. There are two reasons for calling this law of conduct natural: first, because it is set up concretely in our very nature itself, and second, because it is manifested to us by the purely natural medium of reason. The eternal law is defined as God's wisdom, in as much as it is the directive norm of all movement and action. Like all the rest of creation, man is destined by God to an end, and receives from Him a direction towards this end. The moral law has its origin in God and always finds its source in him. It is the light of understanding infused in us by God, right from the time of creation. Thus, Pope John Paul II in the encyclical Veritatis Splendor, avows that the natural law “is nothing other than the light of understanding infused in us by God, whereby we understand what must be done and what must be avoided”. God gave this light and this law to man at creation" (VS, 12).

The natural moral law is universal. “In as much as it is inscribed in the rational nature of the person, it makes itself felt to all beings endowed with reason and living in history. In order to perfect himself in his specific order, the person must do good and avoid evil, be concerned for the transmission and preservation of life, refine and develop the riches of the material world, cultivate social life, seek truth, practice good and contemplate beauty” (VS, 51).

Hence, it binds every human being, at all times and in all places, for its basis is the very nature of man. The content of the natural law that is given to man from the beginning is not in a complete form. Rather, it evolves, as he progresses in other forms of knowledge, such as the knowledge of the physical and biological laws of nature. However, the fundamental principles of the natural law can be known with certainty by every reasonable man. The most universal principle of natural law states that: “The known good must be done and its opposite, evil, must be avoided.” All other precepts of the natural law are grounded in this last.

Natural law is both immutable and dynamic. The immutability of natural moral law means that as soon as man endowed with reason had appeared, certain fundamental norms emerged from man’s nature concerning good and evil, which will exist as long as human nature exists. There is a constant in human nature that survives all historical and cultural change. The natural law is also a dynamic reality. The evolution from taboo ethics to the principles of human rights demonstrates how much natural law is a dynamic power. Yet this dynamics is immutably related to the order of being from which natural law derives, with the result that wherever nature is the same, also the demands of natural law are objectively the same.

Natural law is indispensable. In the true sense of the word, no dispensation from natural moral law is possible, at least not from the side of human authority. A part from the positive revelation, the will of God is made known only by natural law, and natural law is identical with God’s will. Human exceptions from this law are, therefore, violations of the divinely willed order. However, the possibility that God himself may allow an exception from natural law in some extraordinary case cannot simply be excluded, as long as this exception is not opposed to God’s own nature. Suspension of natural law by a special divine intervention seems just as possible as the suspension of natural physical laws in miracles. An example of such an exception is probably God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Instances of this kind, of course, always demand an express positive divine revelation.

Scripture itself speaks of the “natural law.” Although the gentiles lack the revealed law of God, the law written in their hearts testifies to whether they act well or badly. (cf. Rom 2; 14-16).

Human beings are part of creation, but a special part. Thus, Josef Ratzinger in his book God and the World designate man as the crown of creation. Other things in our experience - inanimate objects such as, plants and animals – have no choice except to conform to God’s plan; he makes them what he wants them to be. But human beings have intelligence and freedom, and God intends that these gifts be used: we can know something of God’s plan for our own fulfilment and freely help to carry out that plan. This knowledge which we naturally have about what is good for us is our share or participation in the eternal law. Thomas calls it “natural law”.

The binding or obligatory norm is the Divine authority, imposing upon the rational creature the obligation of living in conformity with his nature, and thus with the universal order established by the Creator. In short, the natural law expresses the dignity of the human person and lays the foundation for his fundamental rights and duties, it is universal in its precepts and its authority extends to all mankind. This universality does not ignore the individuality of human beings, nor is it opposed to the absolute uniqueness of each person. On the contrary, it embraces at its root each of the person’s free acts, which are meant to bear witness to the universality of the true good. (VS, 51)

Veritatis Splendor, which aims to tackle some of the pressing problems facing moral theology today, makes some important points about natural law that will serve us as a set of conclusions. Firstly, natural law depends on the power of reason but it also has God for its author, which means that it is not a law that is established by us, but is participation in the eternal law. In other words, it is objective. Secondly, natural law is to be identified with reason, which is capable of distinguishing good from evil. Again, we can recognize truth through the light of reason, and thus we participate in divine providence. Overall, Veritatis Splendor insists that natural law is objective, universal and unchanging.