Answer to Question #297462 in Political Science for Soul Chan

Question

Analyze St. Thomas Aquinas’ views on the state, government and religion

Answer 1

Aquinas, like most statist thinkers, argues that the state is responsible for social order's "good." It establishes an atmosphere for individuals to flourish and develop, free of the hazards of violence and instability, by establishing clear laws, rights, and responsibilities. As a result, everyone's general welfare is dependent on state power. According to Aquinas, rulers who violate natural law become "tyrants," and "a tyrannical government is not just," because "it is directed not to the common good, but to the private good of the ruler, as the Philosopher says."He promotes the belief that when it comes to ruling over the people, a king should be smart and just.

The existence of God, according to Saint Thomas Aquinas, could be demonstrated in five ways: 1) observing movement in the world as proof of God, the "Immovable Mover"; 2) observing cause and effect and identifying God as the cause of everything; 3) concluding that the impermanent nature of beings proves the existence of a necessary being, God, who originates only from within himself; 4) observing varying levels of human perfection and determining that a supreme Following his defense of people's innate ability to see proof of God, Thomas took on the task of defending God's image as an all-powerful deity.In addition, Saint Thomas Aquinas addressed the issue of right social behavior toward God in a unique way. He gave his thoughts a contemporary—some might say timeless—everyday context in this way. Thomas felt that state laws were a natural outgrowth of human nature and that they were essential to social wellbeing. People could gain eternal redemption of their souls in the hereafter by complying by the state's social regulations, he claimed. Natural, positive, and eternal rules were identified by Saint Thomas Aquinas.Natural law, according to his treatise, prompts man to act in accordance with his goals and governs man's sense of right and wrong; positive law is the law of the state, or government, and should always be a manifestation of natural law; and eternal law, in the case of rational beings, is based on reason and is put into action through free will, which also works toward man's spiritual goals.