Cicero and Aquinas

This is the author's version of a book review that was submitted/accepted for publication in the following source:

Shaffett, John E. Catholic Library World Vol. 88, No. 2 December 2017. p. 114. A Comparative Analysis of Cicero and Aquinas: Nature and the Natural Law by Charles P. Nemeth. Bloomsbury, 2017. 192 pages.

In A Comparative Analysis of Cicero and Aquinas, Charles P. Nemeth investigates whether Aquinas and Cicero’s writings on natural law are compatible. Both these authors were prolific writers and influential in their own time and after. Is it possible to compare writers whose occupations and historical periods were very different? Nemeth, in this book, investigates these two authors views on “nature and the natural order,” “nature and reason,” and the natural law. Nemeth suggests several agreements between Aquinas and Cicero after his investigation. First, their ideas of nature and the natural order were similar. Nemeth disagrees with the opinion that Cicero was “comfortable with the natural determinism residing in Stoicism” (25). The Stoics saw God and nature as identical; in contrast, Cicero thought of God as “metaphysically transcendent—overseeing a universe He created, not just existing” (25). Both Cicero and Aquinas emphasized the role of reason in knowing and applying the natural law. Nemeth asserts, “For St. Thomas, the natural law is known by all, imprinted on all, and discoverable by all” (66). Cicero thought that reason provided the “proper mechanism for making moral decisions” (51). Both authors believed that there existed a divine component of law that was higher than human law. Though there were basis similarities in Aquinas and Cicero’s writings on natural law, there were also differences. Cicero tends not to apply the natural law to troubling social issues. For example, Aquinas applies the natural law to specific moral issues: abortion, suicide, and homosexuality. Nemeth does a good job in showing both the similarities and differences of Aquinas and Cicero’s writings on natural law. This book is recommended for both universities and seminaries.   

 Reviewed by John E. Shaffett, Director of Library Services, The Baptist College of Florida, Graceville, Florida.