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Thomas Aquinas Research Paper

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Thomas Aquinas was born around 1227 in the Italian town of Roccasecca. His father, Landulph, who was the count of the commune of Aquino, put Thomas under the care of the Benedictines of Monte Cassino at the age of five. There he was noted as a quick learner, as he surpassed his peers in learning and the practice of virtue. When he was of age, Thomas chose to enter the Order of Saint Dominic, and went to study in Cologne, under St. Albert the Great. At the age of twenty-five, he became a priest and was appointed to teach in Cologne, while at the same time he began to publish his first works. After four years there, he was sent to Paris where he befriended the King, St. Louis, and at the age of thirty-one, he received his doctorate. He left the …show more content…

Thomas Aquinas's philosophy was that law existed for the common good of the particular community, and he separated law into four main sections; Eternal law, Natural law, Divine law, and Human law. Eternal law is the law of God that exists universally. Thomas said that God rules over creation like a ruler would govern their community, equating Eternal law to Human law in a sense. Divine law is dirived from eternal law, and is unchangeable by man. It is the will of God and it is usually revealed though revelations such as the Ten Commandments, or the teachings or Jesus. Human law is the section of law that deals with law that involves human rules on a societal scale. Unlike the previous two sections, human law can, and oftentimes should, be changed to better work for the common good of the community. Thomas also states that "human law cannot punish or forbid all evil deeds: since while aiming at doing away with all evils, it would do away with many good things", meaning that human laws cannot change the consience of people, and that they don't hold as much power or influence as the other three categories of law. When explaining human law, Thomas Aquinas is acknowledging positive law, but in order for those laws to be worthy of the name law, they have to closely match the natural laws that exist

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