Faith & Reason · Sitting 6
What Is a Human For?
Aquinas said morality is not arbitrary — it's embedded in human nature. If you know what a human is for, you know what a human should do. But what is a human for?
- 40 min
- Practice · Reflect
- 15–18
Parent briefing · 5 minutes, before they sit
This is intellectual history, not catechism. Natural law: human beings can, by reason alone, discover moral principles embedded in human nature. The first principle: good is to be done and evil avoided. Everything else follows from what we are. The critique: human nature is not fixed. The student must grapple with this honestly.
Hard edges
- Natural law is the most contested part of Aquinas today. The critique: 'human nature' is not fixed — it evolves, varies across cultures, includes cruelty. If nature includes both, which part is 'natural law'?
- Don't present natural law as 'Catholic morality.' Aquinas derived it from Aristotle and Stoic law, not from Scripture. The method is available to anyone.
If they say
- “If morality comes from human nature, and human nature includes violence, then violence is natural and therefore moral.”
- Aquinas distinguishes between what is natural (fulfills the human essence as rational being) and what is merely common (happens frequently). Violence is common; it does not fulfill our rational nature. Natural law is not 'what humans do' but 'what fulfills what humans are.' The gap between the two is the argument.
Objective
The student can state Aquinas's natural law theory, identify one objection from the variability of human nature, and evaluate whether the theory survives.
The nature in the law
Aquinas's natural law: human beings can, by reason alone, discover moral principles embedded in human nature. The first principle is self-evident: good is to be done and evil avoided. Everything else follows from what we are: rational beings whose nature points toward certain goods — life, knowledge, society, procreation, truth. If human beings have a nature, then some actions fulfill that nature and some frustrate it. The question 'what should I do?' becomes 'what is a human being for?' — which is Aristotle's final cause applied to ethics. The critique: human nature is not fixed. It evolves. It varies across cultures. It includes capacities for cruelty as well as kindness. If nature includes both, which part is 'natural law'? Aquinas's response: natural law is not 'what humans do' but 'what fulfills what humans are.' Violence is common; it does not fulfill our rational nature. The gap between what is common and what is fulfilling is the argument. Whether the gap holds is the question.
Big idea
Morality is not arbitrary if human beings have a nature. The question 'what should I do?' becomes 'what is a human for?'
Try this~16 min total
Test the law
16 min- State Aquinas's first principle: good is to be done, evil avoided. Is this self-evident or circular?
- Name one human capacity that points at a good (reason → knowledge, sociability → community).
- Name one human capacity that is common but not fulfilling (violence, deception).
- Practice/Reflect: is natural law 'what humans do' or 'what fulfills what humans are'? Does the distinction hold?
Lesson guide
Ask after you try
After the test.
- Ask the model: 'What is the strongest objection to natural law theory?' Evaluate it. Then ask: 'What is the strongest defense?'
- Did they distinguish common from fulfilling?
- Is the objection real, not a strawman?
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Dinner table
If human nature includes both kindness and cruelty, which part is 'natural law' — and how do you decide?
Sits beside
- Civics. Natural law is the foundation of human rights language — universal moral principles discoverable by reason.
- Greeks. Aquinas's natural law is Aristotle's final cause applied to ethics. 'What is a human for?' connects the two units.
Integrity. Do not ask the model what natural law requires. The model can explain the theory. Applying it to real moral questions is your judgment.