Natural Law concepts – Nursing Writings
Natural Law concepts – Nursing Writings
Gerald McCabe
Aug 26, 2021 11:11 AM
Natural law concepts are present in the writings of Plato and Aristotle even though they were written centuries beforehand. We know that Thomas Aquinas incorporated Aristotelian concepts into his Christian worldview. (Hill, 2006,58). We can detect the precursors of natural law concepts in the work of Plato and Aristotle through their search for the purpose of man, and the presence of good and evil in individuals and the larger world. They came very close to ascribing divine intervention as an explanation for purpose.
In After the Natural Law, Hill makes a fundamental point about our modern world. Scientific progress has made tremendous leaps in explaining how things function in our world, but the explanations about the why are less satisfying. (Hill, 2006, 34.) Hill recounts that the decline of natural law thought resulted in the loss of God. (Hill, 2006, 14). We are then left with a materialistic view of the world stripped of a moral compass.
In the Dialogues of Plato, there is a sense that the world is ordered. In reviewing Hill’s After the Natural Law, Mangino describes how Hill argued for a return to a worldview that sees the world as an ordered, and intelligible place, rather than the accidental by-product of a materialist-deterministic environment. (Mangino, 2019). This would be a recognition that things exist for a purpose and that final causes dictate the final form they take. (Hill, 2006, 43.)
In our technological, secular world, society as a collective has found the solution to many problems, but answering why we exist and for what purpose is a much more complex problem. Natural law has offered a response to this question for centuries. The difficulty is the acceptance of the precepts of natural law in our contemporary society.
Individuals who believe in God can freely accept that human beings have a purpose. This teleological concept of purpose was explored by Aristotle in his scientific search for the purpose of mankind. (Hill, 2006, 45.) For Christians, both human nature and reason are created by God, and the moral goodness of choices is illuminated by this fact. (Lee, 2019, 279).
Tham examined how the natural law concepts went into decline with contemporary debates over the biological nature of mankind. (Tham,2014). This resulted in arguments being put forth about human evolution, and changing accepted societal standards. This discussion is outside of the purpose of this examination of natural law. We are concerned here with questions of ethics: the choices between right and wrong and what motivates people to act as they do. These are the questions that preoccupied Socrates and Plato in the readings.
These ethical choices are re- examined in what has come to be known as new natural law theory (NNLT). (Lee, 2019) NNLT focuses on the acts of will and the fulfillment of humans. This is closer to the questions that were discussed by Socrates and Plato.
Deinhammer wrote that natural law is embedded in Catholic tradition and is based on the idea that as human beings, we all have an intuitive understanding of the way we should behave. (Deinhammer, 2021, p.511). Brugger examined the moral precepts found in natural law. In essence, they were moral principles characterized by goodness, and the opposite which defines wickedness. (Brugger, 2019, 187).
It fell to Aquinas, after a long line of Christian thinkers who preceded him to describe the concepts of law. Essentially, he posited that the eternal law is what determines order in the world, and that natural law is the participation of humans in God’s world. (Hill, 2006, 69.) Moreover, humans innately know what is right or wrong and follow natural law in order to comply with God’s will.
These ideas inevitably lead to a discussion about what is just in a good society. When examining the ancient writings of Plato and Aristotle, one is struck by how relevant the discussions are to our contemporary times. Our society still struggles with questions such as what a just society is, and what defines a true statesman.
In his introduction to the Dialogues of Plato, Jowett highlights the fact that Plato proceeded by examining justice in the society as a whole before he would proceed to the individual. (Jowett, 1892, 39). For the individual, Plato identifies justice as being a part of the soul. (Jowett,1892,15). However, it is also in line with the Aristotelean concept that man is a political animal and is necessarily a part of society.
Socrates asks for the meaning of the word justice in his discussion with his friends at the house of Cephalus. (Jowett, 1892, 25). In response, Cephalus articulated a profound idea of what justice is to a man who is in his advanced years. He explains that when the end of life is approaching, some comfort can be found in never having done an injustice to other people because of poverty, and to be content in the knowledge that you have never deceived anyone. (Jowett, 1892,25).
It seems evident that in order to achieve such a state, a society must be structured so that it is truly fair and equitable. In such a society, no person will be motivated to do wrong to their fellow man because of the destitute state that they find themselves in. The same goes for the necessity to deceive others in order to get ahead in life.
It is this utopian society that John Rawls envisioned when he wrote that justice is the first virtue of social institutions. Rawls believed that if we believe in a just collective life, we can achieve it even though it may appear to be utopian in nature. (Rawls, 2007, 27).
In the Dialogues of Plato, there is a sense that the world is ordered. In reviewing Hill’s After the Natural Law, Mangingo describes how Hill argued for a return to a worldview that sees the world as an ordered, and intelligible place, rather than the accidental by-product of a materialist-deterministic environment. It is a recognition that things exist for a purpose and that final causes dictate the final form they take. (Hill, 2006, 43.)
The discussion in the dialogue between Socrates and his colleagues, touches on the nature of good and evil which resides within an individual. They examine whether a poor good man or a bad rich man will see more success in their endeavors, even in the realm of politics.
Further on in Book II, a rather dim view of the need for justice is expressed. The thought is that all men believe that injustice is more profitable than justice, and that they act in a just manner out of necessity. The colleagues of Socrates ask him to prove that justice is better than injustice and what effect they have on the individual who is governed by these tendencies. (Jewett, 1892, 277)
In selecting who should rule a society, Socrates posits that only the best and wisest should rule or act as guardians of the State, and they must be monitored the whole time they discharge their function of protecting the State against enemies and preserving peace at home. (Jowett, 1892, 341.) The Greeks believed that the end goal of politics was to produce just and virtuous citizens. (Presentation, Ancient Precursors of Natural Law: Plato and Aristotle).
If we accept this worldview, then justice can be applied in cases where an individual has purposefully transgressed against the rest of society. Certainly, ethics is more than a stark choice between right and wrong and is more akin to a continuum. This is what the Greeks alluded to when examining the difference between a theoretical discussion of ethics and a real-world application scenario.
Application of the law then becomes a method for dealing with the ethical questions that were discussed in Plato’s Dialogues. Both individuals in a society and the rulers or statesmen in that society can be held to account for their actions and are not above the law.
This is essential because Aristotle considered man to be a political animal by nature. This he attributed to man’s ability to converse and exchange ideas, unlike animals. (Jowett, 1885, 151). He went further to say that in general, man cannot survive on his own outside of society. (Jowett, 1885, 154). Indeed, he held that man striving for a perfect form is the best of animals but without law and justice he is the worst. (Jowett, 1885, 155).
In his introduction to the Statesman, Jowett notes that Plato sees the identification of a true stateman as a selection process in which contenders are divided and sub-divided. (Jowett, 1871, 436). For Socrates, it is not power but knowledge that distinguishes a true king or statesman. (Jowett, 1871, 435). Socrates considered the science of government to be the greatest of all sciences, and that not all individuals can master the art of political science. (Jowett, 1871, 517). A stateman should rule on the basis of scientific principles. (Jowett, 1871, 518).
Finally, a statesman who acts with wisdom and the application of justice, and in the interests of security and improvement of their city is a true statesman. As such, a true statesman does not allow the state to be influence by a combination of good and bad men. (Jowett, 1871, 536).
References
1. Budziszewski, J. (2009) The Line Through the Heart: Natural Law as Fact, Theory and Sign of Contradiction, ISI Books, Wilmington, Delaware.
2. Brugger, E. C. (2019). “St. Thomas’s Natural Law Theory”. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly., 19(2), 181–202. https://doi.org/10.5840/ncbq201919215
3. Chng, K. (2018). “An Analysis of St. Thomas Aquinas’s Position on the Relationship Between Justice and Legality”. Journal Jurisprudence, 37, 196–219.
4. Deinhammer, Robert (2021) “Can Natural Law Ethics be Tenable Today? Towards a Critical Natural Law Theory”. The Heythrop Journal, HeyJ LXII, p 511-534.
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10. Jowett, B. (1885). The Politics of Aristotle, Oxford University Press, London.
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13. Pogue, T. (2007) John Rawls: His Life and Theory of Justice. Oxford university Press. London.
14. Tham, J. (2014). “The Decline of Natural Law Reasoning”. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, 14(2), 245–255.
15. Udoudom, M. D., & Bassey, S. A. (2018). “Plato and John Rawls on Social Justice”. Researchers World, 9(3), 110- 114.http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.18843/rwjasc/v9i3/13
16. Van Broekhoven, H. R. A. (2017). “Morality And Law In a Global Society: A Place For Natural Law Theory?” Frontiers of Law in China, 12(4), 626-672. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.3868/s050-006-017-0032-0
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