Companion to the Commentary
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Companion to the Commentary J. BUDZISZEWSKI 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107029392 © in the Site, Cambridge University Press 2014 © in the content, J. Budziszewski 2014 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2014 Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Contents The Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Law is self-contained. However, this Companion to the Commentary offers additional resources and reflections for those who wish to investigate further. First, extra commentary on selections from the Treatise on Law, Questions 100, 105, and 106, over and above what is provided in the Commentary itself; second, additional topics of discussion on Questions 90–97 as well as the selections from Questions 100, 105, and 106. I. Additional Commentary The Context of the Selections from Questions 98–108 1 Before Reading the Selections 4 Commentary on St. Thomas’s Prologue to Question 100: Of the Moral Precepts of the Old Law 6 Commentary on Question 100, Article 1: Whether All the Moral Precepts of the Old Law Belong to the Law of Nature? 12 Commentary on Question 100, Article 8: Whether the Precepts of the Decalogue Are Dispensable? 24 Commentary on St. Thomas’s Prologue to Question 105: Of the Reason for the Judicial Precepts 39 Commentary on Question 105, Article 1: Whether the Old Law Enjoined Fitting Precepts Concerning Rulers? 40 Commentary on St. Thomas’s Prologue to Question 106: Of the Law of the Gospel, Called the New Law, Considered in Itself 60 iii iv Contents Commentary on Question 106, Article 1: Whether the New Law Is a Written Law? 62 II. ADDITIONAL TOPICS Explored LISTED IN boldface Question 90: 74 Reflections on the Prologue to Questions 90–92 (of the essence of law): 74 The architecture of law 74 Reflections on Article 1 (whether law is something pertaining to reason): 76 The “dialectical” movement of Question 90 76 Reflections on Article 2 (whether the law is always something directed to the common good): 78 What is the common good, anyway? 78 Reflections on Article 3 (whether the reason of any man is competent to make laws): 83 Do-it-yourself lawmaking 83 Reflections on Article 4 (whether promulgation is essential to a law): 85 Secret laws, vague laws, and other failures of promulgation 85 Question 91: 90 Reflections on the Prologue to Question 91 (of the various kinds of law): 90 Are these the only kinds of law there are? 90 Reflections on Article 1 (whether there is an eternal law): 91 Does the eternal lawmaker really exist? 91 Reflections on Article 2 (whether there is in us a natural law): 97 If the natural law is really natural, why bring God into it? 97 Reflections on Article 3 (whether there is a human law): 99 Why not base human law on a social contract? 99 Reflections on Article 4 (whether there was any need for a Divine law): 103 The relation between natural and Divine law 103 Reflections on Article 5 (whether there is but one Divine law): 106 Revelation – says who? 106 Reflections on Article 6 (whether there is a law in thefomes of sin): 108 The architecture of law, revisited 108 Question 92: 111 Reflections on the Prologue to Question 92 (of the effects of law): 111 The elemental operations of law 111 Contents v Reflections on Article 1 (whether an effect of law is to make men good): 112 Making men good 112 Reflections on Article 2 (whether the acts of law are suitably assigned): 113 Is there anything law may not command? 113 Question 93: 116 Reflections on the Prologue to Questions 93–108 (of the eternal law): 116 Eternal law, original justice, and original sin 116 Reflections on Article 1 (whether the eternal law is a sovereign type existing in God): 119 God as the originator of reality; truth as correspondence with reality 119 Reflections on Article 2 (whether the eternal law is known to all): 121 How the finite intellect knows what it knows 121 Reflections on Article 3 (whether every law is derived from the eternal law): 123 Law and the “appearance of law” 123 Reflections on Article 4 (whether necessary and eternal things are subject to the eternal law): 125 Could God have created a different nature? 125 Reflections on Article 5 (whether natural contingents are subject to the eternal law): 129 Two ways of imposing order 129 Reflections on Article 6 (whether all human affairs are subject to the eternal law): 131 The “inward motive principle” 131 The indestructibility of the good of nature 132 Question 94: 136 Reflections on the Prologue to Question 94 (of the natural law): 136 The organization of Question 94 136 Natural laws and natural rights 136 Reflections on Article 1 (whether the natural law is a habit): 141 Conscience, conscience, and conscience 141 Reflections on Article 2 (whether the natural law contains several precepts, or only one): 144 The natural inclinations 144 The ruling and subordinate powers of the soul 146 Reflections on Article 3 (whether all acts of virtue are prescribed by the natural law): 149 Just be reasonable? 149 So-called virtue ethics 151 vi Contents Reflections on Article 4 (whether the natural law is the same in all men): 152 The problem of common ground 152 Are natural rights more “evident” than natural duties? 154 The case of the German tribes: Is it possible not to know that theft is wrong? 155 Reflections on Article 5 (whether the natural law can be changed): 159 Inventions, innovations, and nature 159 The problem of slavery 160 Reflections on Article 6 (whether the law of nature can be abolished from the heart of man): 166 Do even sociopaths and psychopaths know the natural law? 166 Is every apparent case of moral ignorance a real one? 169 Question 95: 171 Reflections on the Prologue to Question 95 (of human law): 171 Are we co-legislators with God? 171 Reflections on Article 1 (whether it was useful for laws to be framed by men): 172 The futility of anarchism 172 Reflections on Article 2 (whether every human law is derived from the natural law): 173 Discerning the reasons for the laws 173 Reflections on Article 3 (whether Isidore’s description of the quality of positive law is appropriate): 176 Rationality is not the same as rationalism 176 Reflections on Article 4 (whether Isidore’s division of human laws is appropriate): 177 Why does classification matter? 177 Question 96: 179 Reflections on the Prologue to Question 96 (of the power of human law): 179 Why just these questions? 179 Reflections on Article 1 (whether human law should be framed for the community rather than for the individual): 180 Legal “privileges” 180 Reflections on Article 2 (whether it belongs to the human law to repress all vices): 181 What counts as harm to others? 181 The need and the burden of prudence 183 Reflections on Article 3 (whether human law prescribes acts of all the virtues): 186 Shared private goods 186 Contents vii The problem of toleration 187 Reflections on Article 4 (whether human law binds a man in conscience): 189 Conscience, conscience, and conscience, revisited 189 Inviolability of conscience 190 Conscientious disobedience to unjust laws 192 Conscientious resistance to unjust governments 195 Are there specific “rights of conscience”? 198 Reflections on Article 5 (whether all are subject to the law): 201 Legal “privileges,” revisited 201 Reflections on Article 6 (whether he who is under a law may act beside the letter of the law): 204 More difficult examples 204 Equality of justice 208 Question 97: 210 Reflections on the Prologue to Question 97 (of change in laws): 210 Why not skip Article 1? 210 Reflections on Article 1 (whether human laws should be changed in any way): 210 Shielding laws from change 210 Reflections on Article 2 (whether human law should always be changed, whenever something better occurs): 214 Prototype of a radical reformer 214 Reflections on Article 3 (whether custom can obtain force of law): 216 The continuing vitality of St. Thomas’s view of custom 216 Reflections on Article 4 (whether the rulers of the people can dispense from human laws): 218 The use and abuse of dispensation 218 Question 100: 221 Reflections on the Prologue to Question 100 (of the moral precepts of the Old Law): 221 The moral architecture of the Old Law 221 The Two Great Commandments 221 The Decalogue 222 The rest of the moral precepts 224 Reflections on Article 1 (whether all the moral precepts of the Old Law belong to the law of nature): 225 Does what holds for the Old Law hold for the New Law too? 225 Why is Divine instruction needed? 226 Reflections on Article 8 (whether the precepts of the Decalogue are dispensable): 227 viii Contents False difficulties 228 Real difficulties 229 Question 105: 232 Reflections on the Prologue to Question 105 (of the reason for the judicial precepts): 232 Why Article 1 is important even for secular readers 232 Reflections on Article 1 (whether the old law enjoined fitting precepts concerning rulers): 233 What St.