ABSTRACT
Thomas Aquinas's ethics altogether lacks any sort of substantive, straightforward criterion for the Tightness and wrongness of moral acts. Although he believes that there are ethical first principles, he sees these principles as too general to offer any substantive ethical guidance in particular cases. Such universal knowledge is possible inasmuch as God has imprinted upon the human mind certain aspects of the eternal law, enabling us to live our lives well, in the way intended by God. A full treatment of Aquirvas's ethics would need to consider in detail his theory of grace and the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. The theory of natural law offers what looks to be a fully developed ethical account, explaining both the foundations of ethics and our knowledgesi of it. Aquinas goes so far as to say that the virtues guarantee right action.
