The 60-Second Aquinas
Lesson
Ice Cream and Natural Law Part II
October 18, 1998
Yesterday, I used ice cream as an analogy for Natural Law in this way: dietary laws indicate that if one eats ice cream, one will gain weight. No matter how much we would like this not to be so, it is so and cannot be changed. Therefore, we must be willing to face the consequences if we eat ice cream.
Someone will inevitably point out the flaw in this: it is possible to eat ice cream and stay trim if one were to exercise. This is also true.
But, the law has not really changed.
Aquinas emphasizes the importance of circumstances when determining good and bad action: "It is necessary that each individual act should have some circumstance by which it becomes good or evil, if only from the intention of the end" (ST I-II, Q. 18, Art. 9).
Ice cream is fattening, but the "evil" of the treat can be mitigated if one balances it by working out.
Natural Law allows for circumstances as well. Sex itself is not wrong. Sex outside of marriage or contracepted sex is against Natural Law. But, it is possible to have sex in a morally good way – in marriage and open to reproduction. The law has not changed; circumstances have.
Explanation of The 60-Second Aquinas Lesson
