The actuality of Thomistic natural law

The Thomistic doctrine of natural law has been questioned by both theology and philosophy: it has been accused of constituting a pagan alternative to evangelical morality, of falling into the naturalistic fallacy by deducing values from facts, of assuming a metaphysical perspective that is unsustainable in modern times, of appealing to the obsolete concept of “human nature”, of denying the autonomy of the moral subject. This paper attempts to critically examine these accusations, based on some recent studies which, although they often come from very distant horizons from Thomism, show the consistency and usefulness of this doctrine.