The Journal of Human Rights

The Journal of Human Rights

Critical Study of Western Natural Law Theories in the Second Stage of Its Revival in Postmodern Period

Document Type : Research Article

Author
Mohammad Hossein Talebi
Associate Professor, Depatment of Law and Social, Research Institue of Hawze and University, Qom, Iran.
10.22096/hr.2023.549229.1447
Abstract
Natural law is the main reason of natural human rights. According to its most famous conception, natural law is the commands of practical reason about free human behaviours to arrive at eternal happiness. Western natural law discussions started from the sixth century BC. During this long history, natural law was under different conceptions. In the 19th century, natural law discussions subsided altogether because of the domination of positivism on the philosophers' thoughts and they were revived in three stages in the postmodern period of the 20th century. This paper analyses natural law theories in the second stage of the revival. These theories are classified into two groups: Catholic and Protestant views. The Catholics thought that paying attention to natural law teachings is necessary to make positive laws ethical in societies. Protestants were prudent in relation to natural law as the real (not intrinsic) secular morality. In addition to the particular deficiencies of each theory, the common problem of both two groups of theories is that they are not natural law in the same name. That is why dividing them under one word (of natural law) is not a correct logical division. The research method in this paper is a synthetic one, which is traditional – intellectual – critical.
Keywords
"natural law"
"the second stage of revival"
"postmodern"
"Catholic"
"Protestant"

Subjects

Bibliography
 
 
Ashworth, E.J. “Renaissance Philosophy.” in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by E. Craig, 264-267. London: Routledge, 1998.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Ethik. Munich: Kaiser, 1949.
Burke, Peter. The Renaissance. Second Edition. London: Macmillan Press, 1997.
Finnis, John. Natural Law and Natural Rights. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980.
Foriers, Paul and Perelman, Chaim. “Law, Natural Law and Natural Rights.” in Dictionary of the History of Ideas,Vol. 3. ed. W. Philip 13-27. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1973.
Griffin, John. On Human Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Grotius, Hugo. Prolegomena to the Law of War and Peace, translated by Francis Kelsey. New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1957.
Jones, Peter. Rights. Houndmills and New York: Palgrave, 1994.
Kalinowski, Georges. "Notions de Nature: Sur la Muabilite du Concept de Nature et L'immuabilite de la loi Naturelle." in Das Naturrechtsdenken Heute und Morgen. edited by D. Mayer-Maly, and P. M. Simons, 45-55. Berlin: Duncker and Humblot, 1983.
Kalinowski, Georges. Le Probleme de la Verite en Morale et en Droit. Lyon: Emmanuel Vitte, 1967.
Künneth, Walter. Politik Zwischen Damon und Gott: Eine Christliche Ethik des Politischen. Berlin: Lutherisches Verlagshaus, 1954.
Locke, John. Two Treatises of Government [1690], edited by Peter Laslett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960.
Maritain, Jacques. Man and the State. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1951.
Monfasani, John. “Humanism Renaissance.” in Routledge Encyclopedia of PhilosophyVol. 4, edited by E. Craig, 533-541. London: Routledge, 1998.
Pattaro, Enrico. A Treatise of Legal Philosophy and General Jurisprudence, The Law and the Right, Vol. 1. Dordrecht: Springer, 2005.
Rommen, Heinrich. The Natural Law. translated by T. Hanley. New York: Vail-Ballou Press, 1947.
Simon, Yves. The Tradition of Natural Law: A Philosopher's Reflections. edited by V. Kuic. New York: Fordham University Press, 1992.
Staley, Kevin. “New Natural Law, Old Natural Law or The Same Natural Law?.” American Journal of Jurisprudence 38, (1993): 109-131.
Talebi, Mohammad Hossein. "Tafasire Mutanawe az A'mouzaye Ghanoon-e Tabiei", Aein-e Hekmat18, (2013): 149-175. [In Persian]
Viola, Francesco. "Natural Law Theories in the 20th Century." in A Treatise of Legal Philosophy and General Jurisprudence, Vol. 12. Legal Philosophy in the Twentieth Century: The Civil Law World, Tom 2:Main Orientations and Topics, edited by E. Pattaro. Netherland: Springer, 2016.
Vitoria, Francisco De. Political Writings. edited by A. Pagden, and J. Lawence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Vlastos, Gregory. "Justice and Equality." in Human Rights, edited by A. L. Melden, 76-95. Belmont: Wadsworth, 1970.
Wasserstrom, Richard. "Rights, Human Rights and Racial Discrimination." in Human Rights, edited by A. L. Melden, 96-110. Belmont: Wadsworth, 1970.
Wolf, Erik. Das Problem der Naturrechtslehre: Versuch einer Orientierung. Karlsruhe: Muller, 1955.
Send comment about this article
Enter Name.
Enter a valid email address.
Enter a vaid affiliation.
Enter comments (At leaset 10 words)
CAPTCHA Image
Enter Security Code Correctly.
The Journal of Human Rights
Volume 18, Issue 1 - Serial Number 35
Spring and Summer 2023, Issue 35
June 2023
Pages 223-240