The 60-Second Aquinas
Lesson
The Nature of Things
November 14, 1998
If you put molasses in your gas tank, don’t expect to go anywhere!
I’d like to claim that, but it is actually a little proverb of sorts provided to me by a professor of mine.
The point is that things have natures, and when those natures are ignored, our hoped for results do not occur. The nature of molasses is not to power a car. If we put it in a gas tank in the hopes of running a car, it’s not going to work.
Now, turning to man. It is man’s nature to reason. Aristotle, in the first line of his Metaphysics proclaims that "all men by nature desire understanding." Aquinas explains that this desire is fulfilled by reason: "man arrives at the knowledge of intelligible truth by advancing from one thing to another; and therefore he is called rational" (ST I, Q. 79, Art. 8).
We often critique the actions of another by calling them unreasonable or irrational. Such actions are not in line with man’s nature as a rational creature.
Thus, it is clear why we can proclaim the existence of a natural law that guides our actions from a basis of reason.
Explanation of The 60-Second Aquinas Lesson
