Aquinas and Hobbes
In his writings on Early Christian Ethics, Thomas Aquinas proposed the existence of four distinct types of laws. These laws are eternal, natural, human, and divine. Aquinas defines eternal law as that which orders everything in the universe. It is a cosmos which issues from the will and wisdom of God. He defines natural law as a subset of eternal law. He states that the natural law is the location for the fundamental principles of morality, and we come to the natural law through conscience and reason. Essentially, Aquinas incorporates Aristotle's ideas of practical wisdom and reason, incorporates them into his natural law, and states that the natural law comes from God. This gives ethics a divine grounding. Aquinas explains human law as customary laws which vary from place to place based on customs or values. An example of this is the punishment for stealing which is different in some regions than others. According to Aquinas, divine law is that which we see not through reason, but through revelation. An example of divine law would be the existence of heaven and hell. Human's could not possibly reason the existence of heaven and hell, so they can only learn of it through God's revelations in the Bible.
Larry May offers a psychological and ethical analysis of Hobbes' social contract theory. He states that the state of nature scenario is built upon three major conditions. The first of these conditions is the equality of strength. This equality means that anyone has the capability to kill everyone else. This is important because it means that everyone has something to fear, and this fear drives us to act in our own self-interest by seeking peace. In the Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes develops the concept that our desire for self-preservation is such a powerful force that it will eventually lead to the formation of a social contract. Hobbes begins this thought experiment by stating that if we were to exist within a state of nature, without any rules or regulations, life would be "beastly, brutal and short," our only concern would be self-preservation (http://caae.phil.cmu.edu/CAAE/80130/part1/sect4/Hobbes.html). Even those who are strong in the state of nature would still have to be very concerned about self-preservation because there are no rules to protect them. Hobbes states that reason will tell us that we need to do something to insure our survival and that we should attempt to secure peace because that is in our self-interest. He believe that we will secure peace through a social contract in which each individual in the society transfers his/her collective strength to a sovereign authority which Hobbes calls the Leviathan. To Hobbes, the social contract with the Leviathan becomes the source of what is right or wrong. lyzes Aquinas' moral psychology because
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Approximate Word count = 1065
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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