Natural Law, the Obligation to Work, and the Limits of Contributive Justice in Aquinas and Bonaventure

Abstract

This article examines the moral obligation to work in the thought of Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure, focusing on their responses to critiques of Mendicant poverty in thirteenth-century Paris. It explores their natural law arguments for manual labor as a collective duty rooted in self-preservation and human physiology—particularly the significance of hands. Both thinkers affirm occupational diversification based on natural inclination and social utility, thereby rejecting a universal duty to work. While spiritual labor justifies friars' exemption from manual work, Aquinas and Bonaventure also defend the legitimacy of contemplation (otium) as exempting friars even from spiritual labor. This article argues that such an exemption reflects a broader critique of societies that prioritize productivity and utility over non-instrumental values. It concludes that full contributive justice may risk suppressing non-productive activity.