St Thomas Aquinas - Precepts
Religious Studies: OCR A Level, topic 2.1.2
The Precepts
The overriding principle of Aquinas natural law is “do good and avoid evil”. This is the synderesis rule.
Natural human desire to do good
- Aquinas believed that humans naturally want to do good and, through their ability to reason, can work out the correct course of action.
What are the primary precepts?
- Aquinas proposed five primary precepts. These are the five fundamental rules that guide human behaviour.
- Our actions must uphold these precepts at all times. If they do, our action is right. If they do not, the action is wrong.
The five precepts
- Preservation of Life - to defend and protect human life.
- Ordered Society - to live in a lawful society following the primary precepts.
- Worship God - to pray to God who gives the eternal law.
- Education - to learn and teach others about God and his law.
- Reproduce - to continue God's creation.
Secondary precepts
- When humans are faced with a moral choice, they must use reasoning to work out whether or not their action will uphold the primary precept.
- In doing this, they create a secondary precept. This is an application of the Natural Law to a specific situation.
- The secondary precepts vary depending on the situation. But they will always uphold the primary precepts.
Absolute wrongs in Catholicism
- For example, 'killing' of any kind (murder, euthanasia, abortion) is always wrong because any type of killing breaks the primary precept of preservation of life.
- This continues to influence the Catholic Church today, which teaches that homosexual activity is a sin because it cannot lead to reproduction.
- The same reasoning applies to the use of artificial contraception.
Test yourself on St Thomas Aquinas - Precepts
What is the synderesis rule of Aquinas' natural law?