`Thomas Says . • •
THE author of this admirably translated little book is a Thomist and he has frequent recourse to St. Thomas's own words. His book can be thoroughly recommended to anyone who wants a lucid and concise statement of the historical Thomist theory of justice. But he also wants to bring this theory 'face to face with our contempo- rary world.' Originality, he rightly says, is of little importance here. His book is primarily directed against the fatal idea that ii n'y a pas de nature humaine, an idea which provides at least a nega- tive justification for human liquidation whereby a person and his family and his property and his memory all silently disappear without trace. Against all this we have to insist, he says, that men must be treated justly first because they are persons (animals receive no justice on this view) and ultimately because they are God's creatures. One might question the logic of this argument. And I am doubtful about its practical efficacy in a largely agnostic world. An argument which makes morality depend on religion will have no effect on an atheistic liquidator. It may have some effect on a conscientious agnostic, but what this effect will be is a gamble : it may turn him to religion for support for his morality, or it may make him despairingly abandon his morality as groundless. The book elaborates the idea that justice is restitution: the word 'ought' derives from the word 'owe' and to do justice is to give what is due to people. I am inclined to think that an idea of justice is best arrived at not, as here, by a direct examination of the just act, the just man, commutative justice and distributive justice, but indirectly by an examination of injustices. Justice is like health in that there is much more to talk about and inquire into when you have not got it. Dr. Pieper seldom soils his hands by holding injustices up for inspection.
His views on the political aspects of his topic will please some people—they are quietly authori- tarian and firmly critical of individualism, liberalism and democracy (did not St. Thomas say that monarchy is the most natural form of government?).
His tone is kindly and didactic. He never wrangles. What is the status of his assertions? Why should we accept them? Tne words which most frequently recur in his book are 'Thomas says . . .,' and the authority of the great Doctor is 'simply taken for granted.' Exegesis is the way to truth. Yet this was not St. Thomas's way. 'In the field of human science,' he said, 'the argument from authority is weakest.'
3. W. Ns. WATKINS
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