Do We Make Morality, or Discover It? An Examination of the Basis of Natural Law – Dr. Erik Dempsey
The Thomistic Institute
The Thomistic Institute
4.8 • 873 Ratings
🗓️ 1 January 2026
⏱️ 38 minutes
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Summary
Dr. Erik Dempsey explores whether we make morality or discover it by unpacking Aquinas’s three natural inclinations and arguing that they ground objective, inescapable moral obligations rather than mere social conventions.
This lecture was given on October 11th, 2025, at Michigan State University.
For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.
About the Speakers:
Professor Erik Dempsey an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Departments of Government, Classics, and Religious Studies, and is the Assistant Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. He has taught at the University of Texas at Austin for over ten years, during which time he has offered classes in the history of political philosophy, on the Bible and its interpreters, on American political thought, on classical philosophy and literature, and others. His favorite classes to teach are Jerusalem and Athens, a class comparing the political, moral, and theological ideas of the Hebrew Bible to Aristotle's, and the Question of Relativism, a class on what he considers the central quandary of our time. He writes primarily about Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, and he is currently studying John Locke's commentaries on St. Paul's epistles. Last but not least, he is an Eagle Scout.
Keywords: Conventionalism and Justice, Human Moral Inclinations, Modern Science, Morality, Natural Law, Objective Moral Obligation, Rational Order of Goods, Self-Preservation and the Common Good
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Tomistic Institute podcast. |
| 0:06.2 | Our mission is to promote the Catholic intellectual tradition in the university, the church, and the wider public square. |
| 0:12.7 | The lectures on this podcast are organized by university students at Temistic Institute chapters around the world. |
| 0:19.0 | To learn more and to attend these events, visit us at to mystic institute.org. |
| 0:25.1 | The theme of my talk tonight is the assigned theme, in fact. |
| 0:30.4 | I believe this was your title, Ann, no? |
| 0:32.7 | Do we make morality or discover it, an examination of the basis of natural law in the thought |
| 0:40.7 | of Thomas Aquinas, to pre-do my conclusion, as it were, since this is a Thomistic Institute lecture, |
| 0:48.0 | I did think it was appropriate to take his side, as it were, and suggest, along with Thomas, that morality is something |
| 0:56.8 | discovered, not created, that it's something that exists in reason and in nature, and is not |
| 1:02.5 | a mere human invention. |
| 1:04.9 | I want to say at the outset, before I get into the meat of this talk, that I was warned |
| 1:10.4 | by Anne that this is a, do you like Anne or Anne Elizabeth? |
| 1:12.6 | Annalisabeth. |
| 1:13.6 | Ann Elizabeth. |
| 1:14.6 | I was warned by Anne Elizabeth that our audience tonight would be a nice mix of religious and secular students. |
| 1:19.6 | I've chosen to focus on an aspect of Thomas Aquinas' thought, really the aspect of Thomas's thought, that both Catholics and not Catholics, |
| 1:30.1 | both those who accept biblical religion and those who don't, are at least in principle |
| 1:35.7 | supposed to be able to agree upon. The natural law is the law according to nature and the law |
| 1:41.6 | as it's known by reason or loan. So I hope this is an interest to everybody. |
| 1:46.0 | And if you don't find Thomas' case persuasive, |
| 1:48.0 | then your questions are legitimate. |
... |
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