On the New Natural Law School's Reinterpretation of Thomas Aquinas' Teaching of the Natural Law

The New Natural Law School reinterprets the teaching of Thomas Aquinas on the natural law. According to their interpretation, the natural law proposed by Aquinas is the product of practical reason. It is an ordered set of principles and norms, including the first principle of practical reason and the first principle of morality. The first principle of practical reason is that "good is to be done and pursued, and its opposite, evil, is to be avoided", which is self-evident. It is a premoral principle, not a moral one. It identifies the basic human goods that we are to do and pursue. The first principle of morality is that you are to love the Lord your God and you are to love your neighbor. There are some exceptionless, absolute moral norms. This interpretation has generated intense controversies among both the Catholic ethicists and the secure ethicists.