Natural laws are those which are eternal and universally applicable. Plato’s vision of the pure “Form” -- an unchanging essence residing somewhere above and out of reach of man – would influence Catholic theologians millennia later. Aristotle posited in Nichomanchean Ethics that there are two kinds of laws, one that arises “by virtue of convention and expediency”, the other a natural one “which has everywhere the same force and does not exist by people’s thinking this or that”. These Greek masters believed there was a right way to live, a way that was in accordance with the laws of nature, and to act otherwise would create disharmony and thus unhappiness.
Lex Talionis as Natural Law
Lex talionis (“an eye for an eye…”) is popularly interpreted as retaliatory justice, but Julius Stone suggests it can also be considered a natural law. It’s not two eyes for an eye. By creating a limit on the punishment, lex talionis exhibits the traits of reciprocity (The inescapability of consequence is a “natural” principle of ever there was one: “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”). By anchoring the punishment to the crime, and not to the criminal or victim, lex talionis offered equality under the law.
Christian Theology and Natural Law
For many centuries, Church theocracy was the dominant force in pondering and putting forth the elements of natural law. However, this did not mean there was a consensus view on the subject. There were two main camps of “natural law”: the rationalists and the voluntarists. St. Augustine saw natural law as being based on God’s will and reason, and thus accessible through man’s faith and reason. Thomas Aquinas shifted the discussion towards rationalism: God, as Aquinas saw it, has reasons for everything He does; He is not capricious or arbitrary. Humans may not necessarily understand all of God’s reasoning, but it is there nonetheless.
As a counterpoint, the Franciscan John Duns Scotus rallied for voluntarism. He believed that 1) nothing, even reason, could bind God, and 2) humans have reason in common, but free will is what makes us unique. Duns believed the one divine law was to love God, and that all others are “mere social prescriptions… Adultery and murder in themselves would not be sins if God should revoke the precept.” Of course, when will is the most important thing, one cannot be forced to love God; one should love God because one wants to. Voluntarism makes for a tricky kind of “law”.
A further divide in Christian natural law thinking existed based on the theologician’s view of humanity. St. Augustine believed sin permeated throughout the human world, and a good Christian’s duty was to evade as much temptation in the “City of Man” as possible. Aquinas, influenced by the great Muslim scholar Acivenna (also known as Ibn Sina), believed we are social animals, created so by God. Thus our duties were not only to the otherworldly, but to be good citizens of this world, by, for example, educating children, living in society, and avoiding ignorance (Aquinas, 1920).
Christian theologians were to dominate the discussion of the true nature of natural law for centuries, until the Enlightment brought about the concept of natural rights to the forefront.
References
- Aquinas, Thomas. 1920. The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas Trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province. http://www.newadvent.org/summa/
- Ross, David. 2008. The Nichomanchian Ethics of Aristotle. Pomona Press.
- Saint Augustine. 1981. “The City of God.” In The Great Political Theories. Vol. 1, ed. Michael Curtis. New York: Avon Books.
- Stone, Julius. 1965. Human Law and Human Justice. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 1948.
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