The Natural Law Reader

The natural law tradition is an enduring one that has been at the very heart of Western ethical, political, and jurisprudential development.  The Natural Law Reader is a wide–ranging and representative series of readings deriving from the classical natural law tradition, following its development and applications in the modern world. Drawing principally upon the metaphysical and ethical categories first put forth by Aristotle and championed by Aquinas and others, this set of readings takes us into metaphysics, jurisprudence, politics, and ethics, demonstrating the tradition′s historical continuity and contemporary relevance. While the first part of the book introduces the reader to that historical development, the latter part vindicates the natural law tradition’s relevance to current ethical, political, and jurisprudential discourse. Specific areas of public policy are considered in a final series of readings. Scholarly and thought–provoking, The Natural Law Reader offers prescient insights into a tradition that remains one of the most resolute foundations of Western civilization.

Acknowledgements xi 1 General Introduction 1 2 Historical Readings 5 2.1 Ancient 7 Introduction 7 2.1.1 Heraclitus, Fragments 11 2.1.2 Sophocles, Antigone 13 2.1.3 The Hippocratic Oath 14 2.1.4 Plato, Apology 15 2.1.5 Plato, Crito 22 2.1.6 Plato, Phaedo 28 2.1.7 Plato, Laws 34 2.1.8 Plato, Republic 40 2.1.9 Aristotle, Rhetoric and Nicomachean Ethics 48 2.1.10 Aristotle, Politics 63 2.1.11 Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations 66 2.1.12 Cicero, The Republic, Book III 69 2.1.13 Cicero, The Laws 71 2.1.14 The Holy Bible, Romans 2: 1–16 80 2.2 Early Christian and Medieval 81 Introduction 81 2.2.1 Tertullian, Against Marcion and Apologeticus 86 2.2.2 Justinian, The Institutes 90 2.2.3 St. Augustine 93 Confessions 93 On Eighty Three Diverse Questions 94 Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount 94 De libero arbitrio (The Free Choice of the Will) 95 De Trinitate 95 25th Sermon on Psalm 118 96 Letter 157 (Epist., 157) 96 2.2.4 St. Augustine, The City of God 97 2.2.5 Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles (Of God and His Creatures) 107 2.2.6 St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica 113 2.2.7 Ibn Sina, A Treatise on Love 137 2.2.8 Ibn Rushd, On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy 146 2.2.9 Moses Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed 155 2.2.10 Moses Maimonides, The Eight Chapters of Maimonides on Ethics (Shemonah Perakim) 158 2.3 Early Modern 167 Introduction 167 2.3.1 Francisco de Vitoria, De Indis et De Iure Belli Relectiones 173 2.3.2 Francisco Suarez, De Legibus 182 2.3.3 Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan 190 2.3.4 Hugo Grotius, On the Law of War and Peace (De Jure Belli ac Pacis) 195 2.3.5 Samuel von Pufendorf, De Officio Hominis et Civis Juxta Legem Naturalem Libri Duo 201 2.3.6 John Locke, Second Treatise of Government 205 2.3.7 Sir William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England in Four Books 210 2.4 Modern 213 Introduction 213 2.4.1 Heinrich Rommen, The Natural Law: A Study in Legal and Social History and Philosophy 218 2.4.2 Jacques Maritain, Man and State 221 2.4.3 Yves Simon, Nature and Functions of Authority 228 2.4.4 A. D’Entreves, “A Rational Foundation of Ethics” 230 2.4.5 Gustav Radbruch, “Five Minutes of Legal Philosophy” 232 2.4.6 G.E.M. Anscombe, “Mr Truman’s Degree” 234 2.4.7 M.K. Gandhi, selected excerpts on the existence of a superior law 235 2.4.8 Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from the Birmingham City Jail (first version) 237 2.4.9 John Finnis, “Natural Law” 238 2.4.10 Servais Pinckaers, The Sources of Christian Ethics 245 3 Contemporary Natural Law 251 3.1 Ethical 253 Introduction 253 3.1.1 G.E.M. Anscombe, “Modern Moral Philosophy” 256 3.1.2 Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue 261 3.1.3 Charles Taylor, “Irreducibly Social Goods” 265 3.1.4 P.T. Geach, “Good and Evil” 270 3.1.5 Philippa Foot, “Human Goodness” 277 3.1.6 Michael Thompson, “Apprehending Human Form” 286 3.1.7 J. Murillo, “Health as a Norm and Principle of Intelligibility” 294 3.2 Jurisprudence 297 Introduction 297 3.2.1 Debates and Clarifications 301 3.2.1.1 R.P. George, Making Men Moral 301 3.2.1.2 Norman Kretzmann, “Lex Iniusta Non est Lex: Laws on Trial in Aquinas’ Court of Conscience” 309 3.2.2 “New” and “Old” Natural Law Debate 318 3.2.2.1 R.P. George, “Recent Criticism of the Natural Law Theory” 318 3.2.2.2 Stephen L. Brock, “Natural Inclination and the Intelligibility of the Good in Thomistic Natural Law” 323 3.2.2.3 Daniel McInerny, “Hierarchy and Direction for Choice” 329 3.2.2.4 Steven D. Smith, “Natural Law and Contemporary Moral Thought: A Guide from the Perplexed” 336 3.3 Metaphysical, Social, and Critical 341 Introduction 341 3.3.1 David S. Oderberg, “Hylemorphic Dualism” 344 3.3.2 Anthony J. Lisska, “The Metaphysical Presuppositions of Natural Law in Thomas Aquinas: A New Look at Some Old Questions” 346 3.3.3 Russell Wilcox, “Natural Law and the Foundations of Social Theory” 356 3.3.4 Alasdair MacIntyre, “Theories of Natural Law in the Culture of Advanced Modernity” 363 4 Applied Natural Law 367 4.1 Procreation and the Family 369 Introduction 369 4.1.1 Servais Pinckaers, “Inclination to Sexuality” 372 4.1.2 G.E.M. Anscombe, Contraception and Chastity 377 4.1.3 Jacqueline A. Laing, “Law, Liberalism and the Common Good” 379 4.2 Medical Ethics and Biotechnology 389 Introduction 389 4.2.1 Patrick Lee and Robert P. George, “The Nature and Basis of Human Dignity” 392 4.2.2 Daniel Callahan, “When Self–Determination Runs Amok” 401 4.2.3 Leon R. Kass, “Triumph or Tragedy? The Moral Meaning of Genetic Technology” 408 4.2.4 Finn Bowring, “The Cyborg Solution” 415 4.3 Human Rights 425 Introduction 425 4.3.1 John Finnis, “Natural Law” 428 4.3.2 Mary Ann Glendon, “Foundations of Human Rights: The Unfinished Business” 431 4.3.3 James V. Schall, “Human Rights as an Ideological Project” 438

Jacqueline A. Laing is Senior Lecturer in Law at London Metropolitan University. She has a doctorate in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford and first degrees in philosophy and law from the Australian National University. A barrister of the High Court of Australia and a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, Dr. Laing writes on a wide range of subjects in philosophy, law and jurisprudence. Russell Wilcox is Visiting Professor in Law at the University of Navarre, where he is also a Research Fellow in its newly established Institute of Culture and Society. He is a barrister of Gray’s Inn and has a PhD from the University of London.