The Natural Law Reader

This volume is a fine addition to an increasing number of books on the subject. Its conception reflects the renewal of interest in the natural law tradition over the past half-century or so. In popularising and making readily accessible a vast canon of essays for the benefit of the seasoned academic as much as the newcomer in the fields of jurisprudence, ethics, and political philosophy, the editors have produced an anthology which, I am confident, will serve as an invaluable contribution to that renewal. (New Blackfriars, 9 April 2015)

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.

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