Introduction
Natural law includes rules for human activities, and sometimes postulated as having supernatural origins. Because of its worldwide and political system, stoic thinkers, who accepted that natural law was important for the essential structure of the universe, were among the first philosophers to develop natural law concepts. In other words, natural law is the conviction that there exists in human nature principles for moral direction, which all people, who are endowed with reason, can recognize without assistance from any supernatural source. People can employ this standard to evaluate the morality and ethic in human traditions and composed laws. Although early Greek philosophers had an understanding of natural law concepts in their pursuit of justice, the Roman philosopher Cicero was among the first to employ natural law terminology (Chupp 2020). Christian philosophers employed the natural law idea as self-evident principles of human behavior, which only rational thinkers know. Thomas Aquinas believed that human reason could reveal God’s objectives concerning the actions of humanity to preserve the common good and the virtue of the community. Obeying the natural law is a significant part of obedience to God. The specific laws of countries and people groups may contrast, however the essential standards of natural law are worldwide (Zack 2010, 138). Analysis of the Greek precursors to natural law concepts, natural law and its place within political science, concepts of natural law thinkers, justice, and statesmanship, and natural law arguments and their origins, appears to reflect elements of the natural law found in God’s Holy Scriptures.
The pre-cursors to Natural Law concepts of Plato and Aristotle
Both Plato and Aristotle had concepts similar to natural law. For example, despite the fact that Plato never developed a clear concept of natural law, his idea of nature contains a portion of the components found in numerous natural law speculations (Wild 1953, 136). For Plato, people live in an orderly and predictable universe, according to Plato’s Gorgias. The premise of this systematic universe or nature are the structures, most in a general sense the Form of the Good, which Plato portrays as the most splendid area of being, according to Plato’s Republic. The Form of the Good is the reason for all things, and when people perceive it directs them to behave wisely (Plato, The Republic, 518). The Good relates to the excellent (Plato, Symposium, 205-6). Plato describes the experience of the beautiful through Socrates resistance of the temptations of wealth, and sex (Plato, Symposium, 211). The perfect society is a city founded in harmony with nature (Plato, The Republic, 428-429).
From books 2 to 4 in Plato’s Republic, the discussion offers a reasonable explanation for justice. Socrates begins the conversation about a structure for the perfect society. He criticizes the lies in traditional Greek poetry and mythology. Eventually, he describes justice as a social condition involving balance and harmony, both in the state and the people. Analysis of Book4 reveals a definition of justice, which Socrates describes as the four major virtues, which are wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice. These virtues mirror the soul’s nature. The soul has three parts, which are reason, spirit, and appetite. Socrates discussion of the soul and the four virtues appears to sketch elements of natural law ideas. These virtues were first identified through Socrates, and they appear later in works of Aristotle, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas. (Plato, Republic, 211-275)
For Aristotle, Greek philosophical tradition underscored the difference between nature and law, and tradition or agreement. For some Greek historians, Aristotle is the inventor of natural law concepts (Shellens, 1959, 72-100). The best example for Aristotle’s natural law views originates from his argument saying aside from the “particular laws”, which people have set up for themselves, there is a “common” law of nature (Aristotle, Rhetoric, 1373). In Book 3 of Aristotle’s Politics, the philosopher determines who can be a citizen and the citizens’ role in the government. Aristotle discusses the different kinds of governments: monarchy, absolute monarchy, barbarian, and dictatorship. For Aristotle, justice is lawful and fair; with fairness, including reasonable disseminations and the modification of what is unreasonable (Aristotle, Politics, 1252)
Natural Law and its place within political science
Natural law is a hypothesis in morals and theory that says that individuals have inborn qualities that administer our thinking and conduct. Natural law keeps up that these guidelines of good and evil are inalienable in individuals and people do not make them through society or court judges (Wright Jr, 1926). Natural law has been an enduring topic for political savants; and even in the mid-20th century, following many years of indispensable examination, it holds an intrigue and imperativeness. The natural law concept began during the classical Greco-Roman era before reaching its apex during the late medieval and early modern periods. Natural law continues to influence legal theory, and elements of Christian democratic ideology, and other Christian inspirational movements. Within the past 25 centuries, the attraction to certain universal principles, which the philosopher perceives in nature and in the fallen nature of humanity, has taken an assortment of configurations to serve various purposes. However, as long as philosophers and political thinkers seek rationalizations for the political order over those of tradition and moral revelation, the appeal to nature and natural law will always remain an element in political thought (Wright Jr, 1926).
Natural Law thinkers, justice, and statesmanship
The concept of natural law originated with Greek philosophers as Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle before the Stoics formulated the concept. The Stoics believed the basic moral standards, which motivates many of the legal systems were natural law rules (Strauss 1953, 141). Later natural law thinkers include Cicero, St. Paul, Albertus Magnus, and St. Thomas Aquinas. Civil law originates from natural law. When natural law is unclear, the government should create standards that are more explicit. In a perfect universe, people would self-govern internally through natural law. Governments would not be required because all humanity would subject themselves to internal universal principles. The problem is humanity always fails to concur on natural law definitions, and humankind is unable to determine how to enforce natural law. Natural law protects people, according to Hobbs. For Hobbes, natural law is “a precept, or general rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do that which is destructive of his life, or takes away the means of preserving the same; and to omit that by which he thinks it may best be preserved” (Hobbes, Leviathan, 64). Natural was support of the state, according to Cicero (Cicero, De Legibus, 2080). Natural law is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, according to Thomas Jefferson (Pangle 1988, 209).
Natural Law arguments and their origins
Natural law concepts originated with the Greek philosophes before it reached majority under the Roman Catholic Church. St. Thomas Aquinas remains the most celebrated of all natural law Christian philosophers. Aquinas’s doctrine argues that natural law is essential to divine wisdom. “Eternal law” is the supreme law, which God created, and it gives order to creation. Eternal law elements relate to humanity, and for Aquinas, this is natural law. Unlike animals and natural bodies (the sun, moon, and stars), natural law do not always determine human behavior. Rather, God has created in all of humanity an internal moral compass to influence human reasoning. Aquinas argues that reasoning is the means through which people should be able to recognize universal moral truth (O’Connor 1967, 32).
The primary objections to natural law theory began during the enlightenment period, from the 17th to the 18th centuries. The Scottish philosopher David Hume argued that people could not reasonably derive either a moral imperative or value judgment merely through observation of the laws in nature. Natural Law theorists argue that because God’s laws direct the purpose of sexual relations for reproduction, it is unnatural and immoral to have sex for any other purpose. The problem with this reasoning is obvious when people think of natural inclinations, which are contradictory with ethical behavior. For example, if people accept that it is natural for everyone to care of himself or herself before helping suffering strangers, then people must accept that this is part of natural law (James 2007, 55-58). The second argument against natural law theory is its assumption that God wrote moral principles in the laws of nature. For some people, modern science challenges this assumption because scientific observations primarily address cause and effect within the natural world, and concepts like morality and value judgments, appear to be human inventions from the mind. However, Christian philosophers respond to the scientific argument by quoting atheists astronomers who declared the “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” according to astronomers Martin Rees and Carl Sagan (Quote Investigator 2019). In other words, because modern science cannot detect moral laws in the natural world, it does not necessarily follow they do not exist. While atheists consider this argument fallacious because it is an argument from ignorance, it opens the door to faith in natural law.
Natural Law and the Holy Scriptures
For some Christians, when Thomas Jefferson wrote, “we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal” he was likely referring to natural law and the common ancestry of all humanity as described in the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Because God created natural laws, many Christian philosophers have been searching for God’s natural law definition. The Holy Scriptures appear to support the natural law concept. For example, St. Paul mentions natural law when he wrote “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them”(Romans 2:14-15, ESV).
“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin” (Romans 7:14-25, ESV).
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