... Greek philosopher Aristotle. The mediaeval church rejected Aristotle's ideas, as they believed he was trying to replace religion with reason, which the natural law's basic ideas lie on. However Aquinas showed that if human reason is acknowledged to come from God then faith and reason can provide people with the best tools for living. He said that our reason could be a guide to our virtues and if we follow our reason, others would not suffer, or would suffer less. Aquinas believed that everything existed for a reason, and had a purpose. He believed that something could be called 'good' if it fitted its purpose. If there was a knife, then its purpose would be to cut. A blunt knife would have little reason to survive as it did not fulfil its purpose, however a sharp knife would cut well and its reason for being in the world is to ...

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