The relations among nature, reason, and revelation are mysterious for both Protestants and Catholics. Consider John Paul II’s remark that “the primary and definitive source for stu
Plato, Aristotle, and other philosophers in the ancient world were much concerned with the general metaphysical problem of the “one and the many”—that is to say, the question of th
This entry considers natural law theories only as theories of law. That is not to say that legal theory can be adequately identified and pursued independently of moral and politica
‘Natural law theory’ is a label that has been applied to theories of ethics, theories of politics, theories of civil law, and theories of religious morality. We will be concerned o
For Thomas Aquinas, as for Aristotle, doing moral philosophy is thinking as generally as possible about what I should choose to do (and not to do), considering my whole life as a f
Natural law ethics forms a distinctive family of ethical theories, all of which take the human good, or human well‐being, as central to their theoretical approach. After a period o
Are there objective moral values which can unite human beings and bring them peace and happiness? What are they? How are they discerned? How can they be put into action in the live
Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to kn
The expression ‘Natural Law’ is used in three related ways: First, in philosophy of law to refer to the idea that as well as the realm of laws made by legislators (‘positive law’) there is another realm prior to and independent of it by which the justice of positive laws may be judged, this being the natural law or ‘natural justice’. Second, as referring to that part of morality that can be known by natural reason in contrast to that which is only known through revelation, hence: natural vs revealed law. Third, in reference to an approach, and to of set of values and principles advocated by that approach, that are rooted in an account of human nature. Versions of all three are to be found in Plato. An example of this third use is the attempt to establish fair principles of ownership and exchange, of marriage and sexual ethics, etc., based on theories of human nature and of what protects and promotes the human good. Critics of natural law sometimes accuse it of committing the ‘naturalistic fallacy’ by trying to derive ‘ought’ from ‘is’. Defenders hold that the criticism is misconceived in assuming an absolute distinction between facts and values, whereas these are often inextricably linked, thus to say that something is cruel is both to describe and evaluate it.