Laws are important in the sense that it prescribes the proper action or decision geared to what is acceptable and beneficial to the majority. It is likewise a means through which behavior is regulated through punishment and certain actions are rewarded. Natural law is a highest form of law because it is grounded on universality, its provisions seek to preserve life, protect human rights and uphold the truth. More importantly,
" To that, Aquinas responded that the perfect beatitude, in Bradley's paraphrase, "...through grace, has a sort of beginning in this life," and while on earth humans need friends to achieve the material and spiritual input that keeps them seeking happiness, "In heaven," Bradley paraphrases, "the society of friends is not an essential or necessary condition for enjoying the vision of God, Who as the perfect good, in and of
Therefore the Old Law should have been given to all nations, and not to one people only. (Aquinas: 811) Aquinas responds in these words: Although the salvation, which was to come through Christ, was prepared for all nations, yet it was necessary that Christ should be born of one people, which, for this reason, was privileged above other peoples, according to Rom. ix. 4: To whom, namely, the Jews, belongeth the
Aquinas and His "Five Ways," an Expression of Assumed Faith The Five Ways of the existence of God, penned by the famed Thomas Aquinas are reported to be some of the most practical and real philosophical arguments of the existence of God. Though they are with much merit the reality of each both ends and begins with simple faith. Once again the reader or philosopher is left to interpret the logic
Or Aquinas will rely on the evidence of Augustine, himself a convert to the Church, and who also had a keen interest in the teachings of Plato and Aristotle. Therefore, it is unfair to assert that Aquinas is only attempting to prove the existence of God after the fact of his conviction -- for Aquinas' conviction is based upon the proofs he gives -- that which is found in
It is feasible, perhaps, that someone could hold the principle that he should always act rationally but also believe that this rationality should act towards maximizing their individual base pleasures. Clearly, this could be carried out at the expense of other rational beings. This would violate Kant's universal laws of morality because it would reject the elevated nature of humanity in general. At the same time, if this person