Aquinas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Aquinas - Essay Example Man typically behaves in accordance with the nature that leads to the good or what is ideal as convened or sought after by the majority of members in the society. By natural law, this setting enables men to compete with each other exhibiting skills that are subject to desired recognition but the problem emerges when, in an effort to improve, an individual tends to consider deceitful schemes to outwit others and succeed thereafter. Because we all live in a society, the law of nature drives us to excel with the potentials that we have, it is inevitable to think constantly of matters that bring good to ourselves. To Aquinas, anything good is within precepts or dictates of the human intellect over which natural law governs. By knowing what is good for us as humans with the power of will and intellect, we allow nature to direct our capacities to the attainment of such good and Aquinas further claims that our knowledge of the good comes with our knowledge of the opposite so that the natura l law automatically guides our path of thinking and action in discord with the bad or evil. Though this principle can possibly arrive at full realization and in time should make better human beings, still we ask, why do crimes prevail and humans often end up hurting each other in the process of personal development? Analyzing based on the grasp of human intellect, we begin to understand that since there is no way we can fully comprehend God’s design by participating to obtain the perfective object within the realm of divine instructions, we are disposed to compensate by seeking guidance through man-made laws. These laws have correspondingly established norms which are agreed upon by the majority, but not by all. So that those who commit misdeeds to the extent of crime in the society are considered the deviants whose weakness at grasping the moral law as a manifestation of the eternal law renders them to depart from the original precepts of good. Besides crimes or acts of inju stice of one man against the other, the society may be observed with people who continue to live with dissatisfied or emotionally complicated lives. On the basis of a concrete experience of human trouble, say of the state of depression or feeling empty despite the presence of material wealth and quality of intelligence, we examine what could have gone wrong as natural law facilitates human’s inclination toward the good or ideal accomplishments described within its scope. Then gradually, we discover that the satisfaction or happiness aimed for is subject to what a human being uniquely treats as a concept of perfection and desire; and because humans are distinct from each other in several ways, we may not readily guarantee or acknowledge that a common good end applies to everyone under the same sun. Hence, if for instance I were a human being with a broken heart, my highest priority would be to acquire relief from such condition of broken-heartedness and it would bear no releva nce for me to strive to achieve perfection in other fields even if this is where the larger part of the ethical society is headed at. As Aquinas proposed, the human mind is limited and most of us are consumed by the worries of the world in the manner cited due to this limitation which prevents men from resolving to eradicate the consequence of weakness made by it. Moreover, the contemporary society in which we live may be