Saint Thomas Aquinas: Justice

Jack Davis

Professor Schall

December 9, 2009

St. Thomas and Political Philosophy: Justice

The unknown is one of the more frightening aspects of human existence. Man finds solace when he is able to apply his intellect in order to initially or further identify with something; however, often times there is no simple, observable answer to the order of life and humanity. The origin of being can be categorized into this realm of uncertainty and has frequently eluded the brightest minds. Saint Thomas Aquinas understood the perceptual importance pertaining to the derivation of life. Affecting not only the purpose of man but the generalized assessment of activity and the social order, Aquinas utilized God’s relationship with man to establish humanities’ place within the universe, along with a definable purpose to be reached. Etienne Gilson, author of The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, “God exists for our understanding” (Gilson 56). Although Aquinas may not have agreed with such a statement, the theoretical answers God can provide became an extensive foundation for his work. Realizing the undeniable importance of a higher power to man, Aquinas utilizes the characterization of God to establish imperative facets of life such as justice and law. This approach toward the

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existence of God profoundly influenced the nature of man along with the arrangement and perception of society.

Aquinas established five theoretical proofs supporting the existence of God. Drawing heavily from the writings of Averroes, a Muslim philosopher during the 12th century, St. Thomas compounded upon the Aristotelian concepts of his predecessors’ literature and established his own conjectures. Aquinas explains, “Some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being the one we call God” (Aquinas 75). In order to satisfy the inferable nature of man however, Aquinas realized that a theoretical approach to such a broad...