lecture 2. Classical Natural Law - Plato and Aristotle

Reading – PSN, 35-41
Lecture 1. Classical Natural Law I - Plato and Aristotle
Natural law intro
- Thinking behind natural law – there is a connection which exists between law and morals and that law must be just
and fair THUS man-made law must conform to higher principles of right conduct, discoverable through reason.
 this concept varies from person to person, time to time and place to place
- natural law has developed over time. Can be said there are generally 4 different stages;
 classical, - dominated by ancient Greeks/romans.
 Aristotle – universal and immutable standards, discoverable through reason and man-made law.
should conform to these standards
 Plato – ‘ultimate justice is discoverable through reason
 middle ages – marked decline in the study of Greeks/romans & emphasis placed on religion and faith
 st Thomas Aquinas - considered that unjust law deserves no obedience. Aquinas said man can find out
natural law by applying reason and studying scriptures of revelations of god. HIS CONTRIBTION –
attempted to harmonise the teaching of Greek philosophers with beliefs of the catholic church
 st Thomas – says law can be considered in 4 different aspects
1. eternal law – known only to god
2. divine law – part of eternal law revealed to men by god through holy scripture
3. natural law – part of divine law understood by men through reason
4. human law – the man-made law
 this can be said to be unjust as it
o furthers the interest of the law finger only
o exceeds the power of the lawgiver
o imposes burdens unequally on the governed
 renaissance – revival of leaning as scholars re-studying Greeks and romans; instead of relying on scripture they
looked at the purpose of human life itself to extract natural law principles. Theory of social contract shift from
natural law to natural rights
 modern – 19th century saw the decline of interest in natural law. why?
 Emergence of scientific knowledge
 Emergence of positivists who believed that role of jurist’s area to study and analyse law as It is; NOT
how it ought to be.
 HOWEVER, following WW2, natural law gathered acceptance due to the atrocities of the Nazis during
the war
 OUTOME of this all was – the universal declaration of human rights by the UN in 1948

Preliminary comments =
- Two misconceptions about classical natural law (hereafter: ‘CNL’) theory:
1. The first misconception: CNL theorists were exclusively focused on a transcendent realm of morality without
paying attention to the practicalities and realities of lawmaking in the actual world
2. The second misconception (or, at least, serious oversimplification): CNL theory can be encapsulated in the
maxim ‘an unjust law is not a law’.

Historical background for the early development of natural law
- Geopolitical conditions
 The emergence of the polis – different tribes coming together to form a larger political community.
 Need for reconciliation between their different customary laws and creation of a common body of law.
 Required reference to a set of principles conceived of as superior to man-made laws, which could provide a
common standard.
- The intellectual milieu
 The sophists and their scepticism towards objective truth and objectively true knowledge
 Counter-reaction to the Sophists: Socrates and his pursuit of truth and true knowledge – leading to Plato’s
dialogues.

Plato (427-347 BCE)
- Plato’s theory of ‘forms’
- The ‘forms’ – including the ‘form’ of justice and other moral notions – are not accessible through our senses, but only
through an exercise of reason.
- Best placed for this task are those engaged in philosophy. They should use their knowledge to guide the polis (the idea
of a ‘philosopher king’)
The parable of the cave
- Universally true moral standards – discoverable through reason – translated into man-made rules.