Truthfulness , . the Common Good , and the Hierarchy of Goods

An ongoing debate among natural law theorists concerns the way in which the various basic goods are related to each other. St. Thomas maintains that the ultimate good ofhuman beings is the beatific vision. It follows that any action is good inasmuch as it leads one toward this goal, while an action is evil if it leads one away. Germain Grisez laments the way in which many post-Suarezian or "conventional" natural law theorists have used this understanding of the ultimate human end as a foundation for their natural law theory. According to Grisez, they have attempted to derive basic moral principles by combining a theoretical knowledge of human nature with the knowledge that God wills that we achieve the fulfillment ofthat nature.' By seeking to act in conformity with the natural purposes of one's faculties, one fulfills the divine will, and this in tum leads to the attainment of the beatific vision. This attempt at natural law theory leads to an otherworldly attitude, says Grisez, for the goods of this life have all been instrumentalized for the sake of religion, that is, obedience to the will of God. 2 His own theory avoids this otherworldliness by claiming that each basic human good is