natural law
Reason-discoverable ethics
Natural law is the philosophical idea that certain moral principles are inherent in nature or human reason, discoverable without reference to human-made laws or divine revelation.
In this view, some rights and wrongs exist objectively: Natural law theorists argue that murder is wrong regardless of what any statute says.
The concept has been invoked to justify both conservative and progressive positions—from opposing abortion to defending civil disobedience against unjust laws.
In science, natural law refers instead to observed regularities in the physical world: the laws of thermodynamics, gravity, motion.
Right and wrong principles
- justiceFair treatment under law
- virtueMoral goodness or merit
- righteousnessMoral correctness or virtue
- dutyRequired moral task
conscience · equity · fairness · integrity · honesty · rectitude · goodness · wisdom
Applying to all cases
- reasonBasis or justification
- AristotleGreek founder of formal logic
- AquinasScholastic philosopher-theologian surname
- StoicismVirtue-centered ancient philosophy
teleology · cosmology · innate · inherent · doctrine · Enlightenment · foundational · determinism
morality
Right and wrong principles
- justiceFair treatment under law
- virtueMoral goodness or merit
- righteousnessMoral correctness or virtue
duty · conscience · equity · fairness · integrity · honesty · rectitude · goodness · wisdom · truth
universality
Applying to all cases
- reasonBasis or justification
- AristotleGreek founder of formal logic
- AquinasScholastic philosopher-theologian surname
Stoicism · teleology · cosmology · innate · inherent · doctrine · Enlightenment · foundational · determinism · metaphysics
- Renaissance Lawcodification, legal scholars, legal education, Inns of Court, legal texts
- CatholicismVatican, cardinals, pope, Holy Communion, popes
- lawattorney, attorneys, court, courts, judge
- moral sayingsdo unto others, golden rule, do the right thing, honesty is the best policy, treat others fairly
- normsnorm, norms, standard, social norms, rule
- principlesprinciple, ethics, tenet, morals, axiom
natural lawstatutory law
Legislature-made legal rules
human law · civil law · constitutional law · common law · case law
natural lawpositivism
Philosophy demanding verifiable evidence
moral relativism · conventionalism · nihilism · cultural relativism · relativism
law, natural, nature, lawyer, naturally, lawful, lawless, lawsuit, unnatural