Wednesday, March 12, 2008

St. Thomas on Eliot's Crime   [David Freddoso]

As long as we're discussing the legalization of prostitution, I thought I'd throw in some thoughts from St. Thomas Aquinas. This comes from the Prima Secundae translation by Dr. Freddoso (more on his translation project here):

Now human law is made for the multitude of men, and the greater part of this multitude consists of men who are not perfected in virtue. And so not all the vices from which virtuous men abstain are prohibited by human law. Instead, the only vices prohibited are the more serious ones, which it is possible for the greater part of the multitude to abstain from—especially those vices which are harmful to others and without the prohibition of which human society could not be conserved. For instance, homicide and theft and other vices of this sort are prohibited by human law...

...Human law has the intention of leading men to virtue, but of leading them gradually and not all at once. And so it does not immediately impose upon the multitude of imperfect men what is already characteristic of the virtuous, viz., that they abstain from every evil. Otherwise, those who are imperfect, unable to bear precepts of the sort in question, would erupt into worse evils...

St. Thomas does not necessarily support legalization, as some contend he does. But he lays a groundwork from which one can argue for it, depending on societal circumstances. later, in the Secunda Secundae (translation from New Advent), he quotes St. Augustine on prostitution in the course of constructing an argument for religious tolerance:

Human government is derived from the Divine government, and should imitate it. Now although God is all-powerful and supremely good, nevertheless He allows certain evils to take place in the universe, which He might prevent, lest, without them, greater goods might be forfeited, or greater evils ensue. Accordingly in human government also, those who are in authority, rightly tolerate certain evils, lest certain goods be lost, or certain greater evils be incurred: thus Augustine says (De Ordine ii, 4): "If you do away with harlots, the world will be convulsed with lust."

I do not support the legalization of prostitution — for one thing, I live within sight of the Capitol dome and I don't want brothels springing up throughout my neighborhood, as inevitably they would. And I dread the thought of more people drawn into such an unsavory living, or the inevitable abortions that would result from its proliferation.

But the Angelic Doctor offers some perspective on the necessity of human law making concessions to human weakness. I think it also helps explain WFB's argument for ending the War on Drugs — a position I have not embraced but can at least understand.

03/12 01:02 PMShare