Aquinas Concept of Law and Conscience

[T]here is in nature a common principle of the just and unjust that all people in some way divine [i.e., discern], even if they have no association or commerce with each other. Aristotle, On Rhetoric

LEX
Law means a promulgated rational ordering to the common good on the part of one with authority in the community.
Eternal Law Natural Law Human Positive Law

Thomas Aquinas
Aquinas offers a structure of counsel that moves from principles to a conclusion that guides choice and action.

Natural Law
This law derives its force and authority from God. It is superior to other laws. It is binding to the whole world, in all countries, and at all times.

 All creatures governed by God manifests his divine reason and this is true to man being imago dei. Man participates in this eternal law through the natural law. However, man is more complex than other natural beings because it has his own reason and liberty that enables him to judge from what is good and what is not.

 This then is the first precept of the law: Good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided. On this are based all the other precepts of the law of nature; such that all things to be done or avoided pertain to precepts of natural law that practical reason naturally grasps as human goods.

 This general principle is being tested in particular circumstances because human conduct is necessarily bound up conditions of time and space.

Conscience
The obligation to act in a particular way in a particular instance affects the will through the intermediary of act of knowledge, that is, applying or not the general principles of law to a particular case.

 Synderesis which is the use of right reason by which we learn basic moral principles and understand that we have to do good and avoid evil. Conscientia which is the actual judgement or decision we make that leads us to act.

 Prudence, the right reasoning concerning things to be done, which determines what act should be performed in particular cases.

Two types of ignorance: 1. INVINCIBLE IGNORANCE Nonculpable ignorance, factors that are beyond your control. 2. VINCIBLE IGNORANCE Culpable ignorance, factors within the realms of your duty to be knowledgeable of.

They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. (Romans 2:15-16)