Forum. Supplement to Acta Philosophica

The Definition of Law: Dante Alighieri Critic of Thomas Aquinas?

Paolo Savarese — 2024-05-09

The essay departs from Dante's critique of the classical definition of law and justice, which Alighieri stigmatises as nomine tantum, questioning whether this affects the thought of St Thomas. The emphasis Dante places on the proportio as the nucleus of law and the connection of law with the bonum commune, find broad agreement in Thomas' interpretation of the definition of justice and his conception of law as ipsa res iusta. The thought of the two supreme authors, however, includes significant differences, both in Dante's adoption of the term proportio and Thomas's adoption of aequalitas to render the core of iustum, and in the way of focusing on the nexus between this and the bonum commune, thereby helping to read more comprehensively the link between law, the political community and the auctoritas in charge of it.

Subjective Ius, Casuistry, and Christendom

Noah Torres — 2024-05-09

This paper explores two points concerning Francisco de Vitoria’s rearticulation of ius and ius gentium in early modernity, specifically in the context of the Conquest of the New World. First, recognizing the insufficiency of objective ius and the hierocratic paradigm to explain both the divisio rerum and its consequences and the increasing incongruence between Church and State, Vitoria articulates subjective ius. Formed through the heuristic of pura natura, subjective ius is the faculty to execute contingent, contractual actions, accounting for consequences of the divisio rerum. Second, Vitoria posits a complex moral casuistry for theologians to normatively determine the justice of contingent actions, expanding the Church’s juridic authority over consciences for the end of Christendom’s unity. Thus, Vitoria’s subjective ius has a dyadic purpose: it legitimizes the divisio rerum and is the basis for reassertion of the Church’s spiritual power to maintain the unity of Christendom through the prescription of justice.

A Sign of Divine Providence?

Stephan Hecht — 2024-05-09

Francisco Suárez SJ is probably one of the most influential scholars of the early modern period excessively commenting on the works of Aquinas. This article wants to introduce into the concept of “ius” in his De Legibus. Deviating from past attempts, the article suggests that Suárez can only fully be understood if read against the backdrop of Jesuit spirituality and Suárez’ adherence to the Doctrines of the Council of Trent, unfolding a renewed perspective on this scholar who saw the works of Aquinas as a binding authority. In the first part, the article therefore introduces into the concepts of “ius” and “lex” showing that “ius” must be understood as an intermediary principle between the legislative will and law as a sign of this will. The second part then turns towards anthropological foundations of “ius” as a moral faculty, followed by an overall interpretative attempt as a final part.

The Common Good and its Primacy

Antonio Petagine — 2024-05-09

This article deals with the doctrine of the common good elaborated by the Canadian Thomist Charles De Koninck (1906-1965). In 1943, he wrote De la primauté du bien commun contre les personnalistes. This book generated a controversy involving Yves Simon, Ignatius Eschman, and, at least indirectly, Jacques Maritain. Firstly, the author stresses how De Koninck defended the idea of the primacy of the common good, presenting it as a universal good shared by each singular member of a community. So, the common good is not an "alien good" the individual good is sacrificed to, but what the individual good is enlightened by. Then, the article analyses De Koninck's conception of the person and the link between the promotion of the correct idea of the common good and the primacy of speculative reason. The final part is devoted to some points concerning which De Koninck's Thomistic proposal can provide valid criteria for addressing some of the challenges we face today regarding the way we conceive the common good: multiple forms of global crisis, the true promotion of human intelligence, and ecology.

The Method of Judicial Determination of Ius in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas

Elvio Ancona — 2024-05-09

For Thomas Aquinas, the right of each is determined according to justice in the judgement of the judge, always in relation not only to a common measure, the law, but also to what is due to others. From some indications in his writings, we can infer that the method by which this result is made possible is dialectics, specifically disputative dialectics, which operates through the same argumentative, comparative, and selective procedures employed to resolve a scholastic dispute. This kind of dialectics has a logical structure that still proves its relevance today, despite the changing times and customs. It therefore proves to be particularly well suited to determining one's right even in complex and pluralistic societies such as ours.

Ius in the Exercise of Public Authority as a Guarantee of the Common Good

Ricardo Bazán Mogollón — 2024-05-09

This paper proposes returning to thomistic practic reason to determine justice in common good. To do this, explain the evolution of ius throughout history. Thus, at the moment, ius would be equivalent to principle of reasonableness. Finally, this is applied to the Social Doctrine of the Church and Canon Law.

Constitutional Thomism: On Ius and the Theory of Constitutional Government

Stefanus Hendrianto, S.J. — 2024-05-09

This article argues that Aquinas defines ius as the object of justice in its relation to individual persons, in which justice as virtue directs man in his relation to other individuals toward the common good. Considering that it belongs to the law to direct men toward the common good, justice in this context is called legal justice. While Aquinas favors the state's role in cultivating legal justice, he believes that the state must respect the freedom of its citizens. Aquinas believes the common good as the end of law must be accomplished through interior freedom. The perfect order of the common good can only come through a correct interior movement of the soul, not through reward and punishment. Therefore, man needs the divine law to bring about perfect order of the common good by reaching the interior movement of the soul, which makes possible the meaning of constitutional liberty.

Social Justice in Thomas Aquinas

Miriam Savarese — 2024-05-09

This study briefly examines the points of contact between the concept of justice and especially of general or legal justice in Thomas Aquinas and the concept of social justice in the Catholic Social Doctrine. The latter is recent and still discussed. Although its introduction in the Magisterium was not intended to mark a break from Aquinas' thought, the term legal seems to be a notable obstacle to recognizing the link. However, the Thomasian notion of general justice in Summa Theologiae II-II matures assuming Aristotle’s but differentiating itself from it: it is general per imperium, strongly related to lex naturalis and more referred to the individual person and his natural inclinations. Consequently, it offers the most elements of congruence with that of social justice. The main reference texts are II-II qq. 57, 58 and 61.

The Four Causes of “Ius” (Res Iusta) as the Proper Sources of Law

Juan Carlos Riofrio — 2024-05-09

This article explores what causes the existence of law. By applying the classical doctrine of the four causes (material, formal, agent, and final) and their subcategories (such as exemplary cause and ultimate end) to the principal concept of ius, the research reveals that traditional “sources of law” closely align with the metaphysical causes of res iusta (the just thing). These causes include the constitution, statute laws, jurisprudence, traditions, and doctrine, along with new sources such as the common good, the ultimate end, the legal facts, and the Supreme Being. This metaphysical approach provides a deeper understanding of why they are considered sources of law, expanding considerably the list of sources. The article demonstrates how the very existence of law relies on the existence and nature of its causes. If the causes change, the law will change immediately.

Philosophical Commentary on Q.40, Art.1, 4 of IIa, IIae of the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas

Stéphane Bauzon — 2024-05-09

Schmitt's thought on total war stops at the social stage of the human primate, while the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas opens the cultural question of war up to human dignity. The right intention elevates human military culture beyond the violent primate society (from which we come biologically but not culturally) thus creating an ontological rupture through the absolute refusal to reduce the Other to a They (a stranger, an enemy to be destroyed totally). It opens man to his human fullness; his dignity is to protect every innocent, every member of the human family. The right intention of the soldier in war therefore realizes his human dignity, but every homicidal intention pushes him into a simian cultural involution.

The Essential Role of Iustitia for the Existence of the Legal System: Bio-Legal Issues

Luisa Lodevole — 2024-05-09

The eclipse of reason no longer enlightened by faith in the age of secularisation tends to reduce the field of investigation of legal studies to a mere exercise in understanding, applying and systematizing the regulae iuris humani. The removal from the horizon of philosophical-legal thought of any reference to metaphysics and ius naturale has also impoverished the argumentation of legal experts, who are induced by a categorical imperative, dictated by the dominant philosophical currents in the contemporary world of nihilism and scientistic reductionism, to have as their exclusive point of reference the ius positivum. The thought of Thomas Aquinas appears to be an irreplaceable point of reference for the issues, particularly the bio-legal ones, that jurists must face in today’s world in order to defend the good of each man and of all men.

Presentation

Carlos José Errázuriz — 2024-05-09

On 21 and 22 April 2023, an international scientific conference organised by the Pontifical Universities of St Thomas Aquinas and the Santa Croce together with
the Angelicum Thomistic Institute took place in Rome on The Concept of ius in Thomas Aquinas. The conference aimed to explore the Thomistic concept of ius understood as the object of the virtue of justice and as a just thing in itself (ipsa res iusta) from the Secunda Secundae of the Summa Theologiae. We are now publishing some of the numerous contributed papers in Italian or English that were received at the conference, with the participation of scholars from various countries and different specialisations (Read more...)