Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Ethics
- Other Volumes in the Series of Cambridge Companions
- The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Ethics
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I The History of Natural Law Ethics
- Part II The Revival of Natural Law Ethics
- Part III Natural Law Ethics and Religion
- Part IV Applied Natural Law Ethics
- 10 Bioethics and Natural Law
- 11 Economics and Natural Law
- 12 Political Theory and Natural Law
- Part V Natural Law Ethics
- References
- Index
- Other Volumes in the Series of Cambridge Companions (continued from page ii)
12 - Political Theory and Natural Law
from Part IV - Applied Natural Law Ethics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2019
- The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Ethics
- Other Volumes in the Series of Cambridge Companions
- The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Ethics
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I The History of Natural Law Ethics
- Part II The Revival of Natural Law Ethics
- Part III Natural Law Ethics and Religion
- Part IV Applied Natural Law Ethics
- 10 Bioethics and Natural Law
- 11 Economics and Natural Law
- 12 Political Theory and Natural Law
- Part V Natural Law Ethics
- References
- Index
- Other Volumes in the Series of Cambridge Companions (continued from page ii)
Summary
Natural law is part of an ethical theory, guiding our moral actions. The question I would like to discuss in this chapter is the implications of natural law theory for the political order. If someone were to take natural law ethics as a starting point, what principles of political life would flow from it?
This chapter will begin with a description of the fundamental principles of natural law ethics (in its classic form, in Thomas Aquinas), noting the importance of its integral connection with a virtue ethics and a philosophical anthropology. From there, I will try to unfold the moral principles that guide political and social life, drawing the connections between them and general natural law principles.
A brief preliminary point: the classical exposition of natural law in Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae occurs in a theological context, and philosophical and theological arguments overlap a good deal.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Ethics , pp. 235 - 254Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019