Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-xtvcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-18T09:23:40.451Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

14 - Natural Law Ethics and the Revival of Aristotelian Metaphysics

from Part V - Natural Law Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2019

By
Edward Feser
Edited by
Tom Angier
Tom Angier
Affiliation:
University of Cape Town
Get access

Summary

The natural law conception of ethics is more closely associated with Thomas Aquinas than with any other thinker, and Aquinas’ position is famously grounded in a metaphysics of Aristotelian essentialism and teleology. It is often claimed that this metaphysics was decisively undermined by the scientific revolution. Hence it might appear that modern science has refuted what has been, historically, the main approach to understanding natural law.

Alternative versions of natural law may seem to sidestep this difficulty by looking for foundations in something other than an essentialist and teleological conception of nature. For example, Locke’s theory of natural law is grounded in the thesis of divine ownership of human beings. Violating the rights to life, liberty and property that we have under natural law is, for Locke, essentially a matter of damaging God’s property.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Ethics , pp. 276 - 296
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×