218. Death and Natural Corruption in Human Nature
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Lecture Notes
Main Topics #
The Question: Is Death Natural to Man? #
The lecture addresses whether death and bodily defects are natural properties of human nature or rather punishments for sin. This requires clarifying what we mean by “natural.”
Two Senses of Nature #
Particular Nature (Natura Particularis): The proper active virtue (potentia activa) of each thing that intends its being and conservation. According to this sense, all corruption and defect are against nature, since particular nature resists destruction.
Universal Nature (Natura Universalis): The active power in some universal principle of nature—such as a celestial body or God as Natura Naturans (nature giving). This universal principle intends the good and conservation of the universe, which requires the alternation of generation and corruption in particulars.
Key Arguments #
Three Objections: Death Seems Natural to Man (Proceeding from Matter) #
- Genus Argument: Man shares the genus “animal” with other corruptible creatures; therefore man is naturally corruptible.
- Composition from Contraries: The human body is composed of contraries (hot/cold, wet/dry); everything composed of contraries is naturally corruptible.
- Heat and Moisture: Life is conserved by natural heat and moisture, which naturally consume each other, so death follows naturally.
Three Counter-Arguments: Death Is Not Natural (Proceeding from Form) #
- God Did Not Make Death (Wisdom 1:13): Whatever is natural to man, God made in man; but God did not make death; therefore death is not natural.
- Death Is Punishment, Not Nature: That which is according to nature cannot be called punishment or evil; but death is the punishment of sin; therefore death is not natural.
- Soul-Body Proportion: Matter is proportioned to form, and each thing to its end. Man’s end is perpetual beatitude, and his form (the rational soul) is incorruptible; therefore the body should be naturally incorruptible.
Aquinas’s Resolution #
Thomas distinguishes how we speak of corruptibility:
- According to Particular Nature (Form): Man is not naturally corruptible. The rational soul is incorruptible and has its own immaterial operation (universal understanding). The soul intends perpetuity and is not entirely subject to bodily matter.
- According to Universal Nature (Matter): Man is naturally corruptible. The body is composed of contraries, which have a natural disposition toward corruption. This disposition is not chosen by nature but is a condition of matter.
Key Insight: The form intends perpetuity; the matter (left to itself) tends toward corruption. Nature would choose incorruptible matter if possible, but it cannot. God supplied this defect through the gift of original justice before sin.
Important Definitions #
Nature (Natura): A beginning and cause of motion and rest (ἀρχὴ κινήσεως καὶ στάσεως). Said both of matter and form, but more properly of form, which actualizes potential.
Original Justice (Iustitia Originalis): The supernatural gift by which reason perfectly contained inferior powers, and the soul perfectly contained the body without defect. This gift gave the body a conditional incorruptibility—the body would not die as long as the proper conditions were maintained (e.g., eating from the tree of life in Eden).
Per Accidens Causation: Causation by removal of an obstacle rather than by direct action. As a pillar’s removal causes a stone to fall (the remover is a per accidens cause), so sin removes original justice, which removes the obstacle to death.
Examples & Illustrations #
The Knife and Iron #
Aquinas uses this analogy: A craftsman chooses iron for a knife because it is hard and ductile, suitable for cutting. But that iron rusts follows from iron’s natural disposition, not from the craftsman’s intention. The craftsman would reject this property if possible. Similarly, nature chooses a temperate, well-mixed body suitable for touch and the other senses, but that this body is corruptible follows from matter’s natural disposition, not from nature’s intention. Nature would choose incorruptible matter if it could.
The Coconut #
Berquist mentions Sister Aquinas in kindergarten trying to open a coconut—it resists being destroyed. This illustrates how particular nature intends to preserve things in their being and resists corruption.
The Piano #
Pianos go out of tune over time. The musician chooses materials for good sound and right tension, but the getting-out-of-tune follows from the natural disposition of the wooden frame responding to weather changes—not chosen, and rejected if possible. Hence the need for tuning.
Questions Addressed #
How Can Death Be Both Natural and Punishment? #
Thomas resolves this through the distinction of particular vs. universal nature:
- Death is natural to man according to matter (particular nature cannot sustain itself forever)
- Death is not natural to man according to form (the rational soul is incorruptible)
- Before sin, God supplied the defect of matter through original justice, making the body incorruptible conditionally
- After sin, original justice is removed, and death follows naturally from matter’s disposition
- Therefore death is both (1) a natural consequence of material composition, and (2) a punishment for sin (ordered by divine justice as removal of the obstacle that prevented it)
Why Must a Body Composed of Contraries Be Corruptible? #
Things composed of contraries are in tension—heat and cold, wet and dry in perpetual opposition. This internal tension means the body will eventually succumb to one contrary or the other; corruption follows naturally from this composition. No form of a corruptible thing can achieve perpetuity by itself, except the human soul, which is incorruptible and has an immaterial operation (understanding the universal).
Philosophical Method #
Berquist emphasizes Aquinas’s use of distinctions to resolve apparent contradictions. The three arguments for death being natural all proceed from matter; the three against all proceed from form. Rather than choosing one side, Aquinas distinguishes the senses in which each is true. This is characteristic of Thomistic philosophy: apparent contradictions dissolve when proper distinctions are made.
Notable Observations #
- The rational soul is proportioned to perpetual beatitude (its natural end) by its incorruptibility
- The body, though naturally suited to serve the soul (temperate complexion for sensation), cannot sustain itself eternally by its natural powers
- God’s gift of original justice was a supernatural compensation for this natural defect—not making matter incorruptible in itself, but subjecting the body perfectly to the soul’s immortal form
- This explains why removing sin (through baptism) does not restore the body’s immunity to death: that immunity was supernatural (original justice), not natural. Its removal is a punishment of sin.