Human Beings and Natural Law
Human beings are governed by natural laws and eternal laws. They must live and meet an end at some point. It must be proper and thus should be determined by great precision since human beings have the ability to think and make choices freely. We as human beings must provide both for ourselves and others in order to meet the future. Natural law is known as the ability of humans to meet a proper end through free will, reason, and knowledge to choose between what is evil and good. It can be used in making the right decisions in critical moments.
Aquinas's Theory and Fulfilling Purpose
In Aquinas’s theory, there is a purpose and plan for everything according to eternal law. Something is only valuable if it fulfills a purpose. Human beings are to reason and thus fulfill their purpose if they can reason properly. In the case of the five explorers, the experience is traumatizing and has made one person confused. Such an individual can be assumed to have lost his personality and reasoning (Kearney and Trull 158). It implies that the person is likely to harm the rest of the scientists, and also he or she cannot meet the reasoning purpose of human beings. Anything, which cannot meet a purpose, is useless and is the best if eliminated; therefore, this man should be killed and eaten.
Meeting the End and Responsibility
From the theory, everything has an end. The state of the people, which is over dehydration, restlessness, and pain, could be a sign that a person was about to meet his end. The rest of the four men even though they were to meet their end at one point were not as close as that fifth person. The four have the responsibility to reason, find for themselves, and do what is good (Pennance-Acevedo 222). Their state could be stressing his mates and adding more pain to what they are already going through, thus the four should get rid of him and use him as a meal to survive.
Works Cited
Kearney, Christopher A. and Timothy J. Trull. Abnormal psychology and life (3rd
ed). Cengage Learning, 2018.
Pennance-Acevedo, Ginna M. “St. Thomas Aquinas and John Locke on natural law.” Studia Gilsoniana, 2(2), April – June 2017, pp. 221-248.
