Wisdom, Law, and Virtue: Essays in Thomistic Ethics

Chapter 19: Death in the Setting of Divine Wisdom: The Doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas

Chapter 19 DEATH IN THE SETTING OF DIVINE WISDOM: THE DOCTRINE OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS Introduction The contemporary phenomenon that has stimulated the following reflections is suicide as a tactic of war waged in the interest of a religious cause. Certain Muslims have recently been using such tactics, driving trucks of explosives into emplacements, the truck driver having no possibility of escape (and making a videotape prior to the event to proclaim his religious and suicidal intention)—all this in the name of a ‘‘holy war.’’1 In a world where suicide for private reasons seems to be gaining in acceptance, and where suicide as an escape for captured spies is often presented as a sort of duty, the question of suicide as an instrument of war, and particularly of religiously motivated war, must be taken seriously.2 The discussion of this matter requires recourse to the highest sources of wisdom if we are really to come to grips with the issue. We are in a sphere of reflection, I would say, where philosophy can merely ‘‘be of some assistance’’: it does not have the last word, because a higher light is needed. Though present-day Islamic practices have occasioned the discussion, I am going to take as my guide here a Christian sage, Thomas Aquinas— because of his place of honor in the Church and in philosophy, and because of my own field of specialization. I hope, all the same, to raise questions for those who have other guides. St. Augustine, in The City of God, discusses suicide undertaken by Christians, and even gives his opinion regarding the practice we are interested in, namely, the case of Samson who killed himself in order to kill  Death in the Setting of Divine Wisdom  the Philistines, the enemies of God (Samson, says Augustine, was the beneficiary of a special divine inspiration). So also, St. Thomas Aquinas took up the question of suicide, repeating and improving upon, I would say, the positions of Augustine.3 Suicide undertaken for religious reasons leaves far behind arguments against it based on the natural inclination to preserve one’s life. This inclination is presented by St. Thomas as subordinate to, dependent on, the inclination to favor God more than oneself.4 It is especially clear that the argument against suicide drawn from natural inclination needs considerable shoring up in a context that affirms the immortality of the soul, and in which bodily existence is, of course, something good, but is a lesser good than the goodness of the soul (virtue, good conduct).5 If we are to discern in the teachings of St. Thomas on death and homicide anything more than arbitrary vetoes, it is necessary to look at the overall sapiential vision he presents. The Justice of God and His Wisdom Eventually, I wish to clarify St. Thomas’s doctrine that the Decalogue, including the commandment ‘‘thou shalt not kill,’’ has such primacy in the order of law that God himself cannot dispense anyone from obeying any of them—God himself cannot make it just that anyone act contrary to any of the Ten Commandments. This seems evident enough for those commandments having to do with man’s order to God, but it is more difficult to admit when the commandment treats of the relations among human beings. To see why Thomas teaches that God cannot make exceptions even concerning the order of man to man, one must grasp the unity of justice, or the unity of eternal law (which is identical with God),6 the indissociability of the order of man to God and the order of man to man. To bring out this indissociability, which pertains to the eternal establishment of fundamental human relations, I begin with Thomas’s presentation of God as just. I do so because, as we will see, the reason God cannot permit exceptions regarding ‘‘thou shalt not kill’’ is that the commandment belongs essentially to justice itself, and, God being justice, for him to deny this commandment would be for him to deny himself.7 Summa theologiae (ST) 1.21.1, which asks, ‘‘is there justice in God?’’— that is, is the statement ‘‘God is just’’ appropriate?—sets aside the sort of justice based on commerce or mutual exchange, and focuses on justice as  Wisdom, Law, and Virtue suitable distribution, the way we call ‘‘just’’ the governing person who gives to...