2. Aquinas’ concept of Natural Law is sometimes thought of as his method of harmonizing reason and religion. Why?
Aquinas says that Natural Law is what humans understand of Eternal Law. That is, we are able to discover some of the unchanging truths of the universe and, ideally, base our Humans Laws off of this knowledge. This can be seen as a bridge between religion and reason because reason can increase the extent of Natural Law, by helping us understand more about the universal truths that according to Aquinas are determined by God and reflect his will. This could take the form of reasoning about issues such as what makes a person good and what the best system of government is, as most of the thinkers we have read this year have done, in order to determine how God wants us to act. And although Aquinas my not have had this in mind, the experiments of the Scientific Revolution can also be seen as enhancing Natural Law because they allow us to discover truths about how the universe that He has created works.
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