Natural Law and Philosophers Quiz

Classic Natural Law

• Natural law approaches have two branches: one stemming from God (religion/scriptural revelation) and the other from Nature (human reason).
• Law and morality are intrinsically connected.
• No rule can be law unless it is just.
• Moral principles are a component of just law.

Natural Law Theory - Assumptions

• Natural law is based on value judgments from an absolute source, aligning with natural/divine law and reason.
• Value judgments express principles governing the essential nature of people and the universe.
• These immutable, eternally valid principles can be grasped by human reason.
• These universal principles overrule all positive law, requiring conformity with natural law for true law.
• Law is fundamental to human life.

Natural Law Theory - Methodology

• Teleological approach views law as functioning to achieve the desired good, acting as a guide and control mechanism.
• Valid human laws align with specific moral constraints, aiming for the common good.
• Reflecting on "what the law ought to be" is crucial to truly reflect natural law.
• Any law deviating from natural law principles is considered bad and potentially invalid.

The Classics

• Socrates (470-399 BCE): Believed principles of morality could be discovered through reasoning & insight, leading to correct legal reasoning.
• Plato (428-348 BCE): Considered justice as an absolute concept, with qualities of truth and realities higher than positive law; only laws pursuing ideal justice are considered right for a just society. The ideal state is ruled by a philosopher-king.
• Aristotle (384-322 BCE): Everything has a purpose/goal. Happiness is the basic human good, making all other worthwhile.

Aristotle: Teleological Views

• Aristotelian teleology posits that all things have a potential for development specific to their nature.
• The goal is the 'good' according to the particular thing (acorn to oak tree).
• A good law enables subjects to achieve their potential by enabling development and moral education.
• Bad law hinders natural development.

The Classics - Stoics & Cicero

• Stoics (3rd cent BCE): Nature equals Reason. Human behavior operates with shared reason, and naturally leads people to live well according to reason.
• Cicero (106-43 BCE): Nature provides rules for human conduct. These rules can be discovered through reason and form the basis for law; unjust laws are not true laws.

Cicero

• True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it’s universal, unchanging, and everlasting, with duties commanded and offenses prohibited.
• There is no need to seek external law makers or interpreters.
• One eternal and unchangeable law applies equally to all nations and times. The law's author, promulgator and judge is God.
• Disobedience results in the worst penalties.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1948

• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights; endowed with reason and conscience.. They should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Natural Law & Christianity

• Catholic morality links morality with belief in God, creating a connection between ethics and religion.
• Christian morality is rooted in the Bible and Church tradition.
• However, Aquinas argued that human reason, given by God, can offer a logical base for Christian precepts.

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

• Law is the ordering of reason toward the common good, formulated and promulgated by the governing power.
• What is good is what is reasonable.
• God created the world with order and purpose.

Aquinas' 4 Categories of Law

• Lex Aeterna (Eternal Law): Known only to God and those who understand his essence. The ultimate order imposed by the creator.
• Lex Divina (Divine Law): Law of God, revealed in scriptures (10 Commandments, teachings of Jesus). Directly concerning human relations with God.
• Lex Naturalis (Natural Law): The participation of rational human beings in divine law through reason. Identifies what is naturally good for people.
• Lex Humana (Human Law): Laws created by humans based on reason, using natural law. Deriving from divine law and natural law..

Unjust Laws

• An unjust law is no law. An unjust law only pursues the interests of the law maker.
• Unjust laws either exceed the power of the law-maker or impose burdens unequally.

Compliance with Unjust Laws

• Disobeying unjust laws can be a duty if the overall situation requires it.
• There can be good reasons to obey unjust laws to prevent social instability.

20th-century Thought & Social Movements

• Laws that uplift human personality are just, whereas those that degrade are unjust.

In Sum

• Aquinas combined Aristotelian natural law with Christian tradition, refining it before the 20th century.
• Aquinas's work is central to understanding natural law.
• Man, through reason, participates in divine wisdom, living in a flourishing community.
• Just laws reflect universal moral principles of natural law.

Secularisation of Natural Law

• Hugo Grotius (1583-1645): Human actions and actions of states are constrained by reason; natural law is binding even if there is no God.
• Natural law is secularized, removing God as the source.

Decline of Natural Law

• 18th & 19th Centuries: Natural law came under attack from rationalist and secularist thinkers.
• Critics like Hume and Smith questioned the use of a priori reasoning in deriving ought from is.
• 19th century thinkers saw states as absolute powers, derived from historical laws rather than higher ones.

Normative Conclusions of Natural Law

• (John Finnis): Natural law is based on a reflective grasp of what is self-evidently good for human beings and a practical understanding gained from experience.
• It substitutes intuition with rational speculation to derive "ought" from "is".

Finnis

• Finnis's "pure naturalism" doesn't derive natural law from God. Natural law is based on basic goods that are intelligible by reason.
• Natural Laws are based on two major propositions: basic goods and practical reasonableness.

John Finnis (1940-)

• Objective knowledge of right is possible through basic forms of human flourishing (Basic Goods).
• Integrating basic goods with practical reasonableness establishes universal and unchanging natural law.

Seven Objective Goods

• Fundamental intrinsic goods and basic values forming the basis of human flourishing.
• They are pursued and achieved through practical reasonableness.
• Determined by reflection, not empirical observation.
• Self-evident forms of good and fundamental values.

Basic Requirements of Practical Reasonableness

• (Finnis): To form a rational life plan, to chose one good over another for a good reason.
• Basic goods apply equally to all people.
• Flexibility to respond to changes in one's circumstances, and to others' changing needs.

Test your knowledge on concepts of natural law and its critics. This quiz covers essential principles, key philosophers, and foundational arguments surrounding the theory of lex humana. Dive deep into the philosophical debates that have shaped our understanding of law and ethics.