Natural Law Theory

Is ethics grounded in human nature? Yes, claims our oldest ethical theory, to which this is a lively, innovative guide.

Tom Angier (Author)

9781108706391, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 16 September 2021

75 pages
23.4 x 15.6 x 2.4 cm, 0.114 kg

'This work, while admirably concise, is extremely rich. It is both cautious and bold – cautious in its rigor and attention to careful argument, and bold in its claims. Its overall aim is to rehabilitate traditional natural law theory, especially in ethics, by countering the main challenges and alternatives to it. Angier wants to overcome the 'metaphysicophobia' of Anglophone ethics and point a way forward to reclaiming a tradition committed to essences, teleology, natural normativity, and human flourishing based on human ends. His arguments are sure to be controversial and will provoke strong reactions in his readers. But he succeeds in persuading them to take a fresh look at an ancient tradition.' Alan Mittleman, Professor of Jewish Philosophy, The Jewish Theological Seminary

In Section 1, I outline the history of natural law theory, covering Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and Aquinas. In Section 2, I explore two alternative traditions of natural law, and explain why these constitute rivals to the Aristotelian tradition. In Section 3, I go on to elaborate a via negativa along which natural law norms can be discovered. On this basis, I unpack what I call three 'experiments in being', each of which illustrates the cogency of this method. In Section 4, I investigate and rebut two seminal challenges to natural law methodology, namely, the fact/value distinction in metaethics and Darwinian evolutionary biology. In Section 5, I then outline and criticise the 'new' natural law theory, which is an attempt to revise natural law thought in light of the two challenges above. I conclude, in Section 6, with a summary and some reflections on the prospects for natural law theory.

1. Historical Introduction
2. 'Natural Law' – Other Idioms
3. Some Experiments in Being
4. Two Core Challenges
5. 'New' Natural Law
6. Prospective Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Social & political philosophy [HPS], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], Philosophy [HP]