Natural law

Topic One In the Concept of Law, Hart attempts to depict one of the differing viewpoints to his own beliefs of positivism; this one being Austen’s of which he calls the theory of coercive orders. Essentially, the theory of coercive orders is when a political superior commands a political inferior with the backing of a threat. In what Hart details as a valid legal system, the criminal statute may be construed as a threat, however, the important difference between that and coercive orders is that…

creating of the United States Constitution in 1789. As time has unfolded and our nation has grown, the legal theory has changed from a natural law ideology to a sociological law ideology. This is partially in part to the change of society from a religious based morality to a more atheistic view or morality-less approach. The Constitution is the foundation of the law in the United States. It was designed to be a malleable document that has been amended twenty-seven times. At the time of its…

Society has adopted their own version of protection against evil by creating laws and regulations for their citizens to live in, with the goal of a perfect community. Philosophically, evil falls under the idea of a necessary step in the march of history and the moral categorization of the natural world. The general morale of what we decided is evil can be traced back to the Bible, whose standard of ethics has contributed to law system of the government. In her book “Evil in modern thought”,…

The silent majority, as King refers to them, were people who may or may not have thought they were making a morally right decision by not fully supporting the civil rights movement. This paper will go into depth about how divine command theory, natural law theory, and utilitarianism would justify or not justify how the silent majority acted during the civil war. Plato and Jowett (1946) explain the divine command theory as a theory that people make the right decision based on what God says to be…

Rousseau was of the opinion that it was society that had the potential to corrupt a man’s morals, and that man in his natural state lives in harmony with nature (Rousseau, p. 72). Rousseau built on the idea that men are born as blank slates, and that it is the environment and society that influences our moral actions. This is clearly contradictory to Hobbes narrative that humans in their natural state experience a state of war. I feel that while Rousseau raises valid criticisms of Hobbes’ work,…

The balance between the law of the state and natural, or divine law is a topic that has been scrutinized for thousands of years. Antigone by Sophocles and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. share similar standpoints on the controversial matter that has baffled philosophers. Sophocles uses Antigone to assert his opinion, as she disobeys Creon’s law and buries her brother, Polyneices. Similarly, King structures his plan of nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience…

condition by portraying them as monsters from different cultural eras and places. The monster is multidimensional, different, and constantly evolving (Cohen 5). Michael Pollan’s article, “Why Natural Doesn’t Exist Anymore” explains the impact of the terms “nature” and “natural” on our society, and questions if the laws of nature dictate our ethics. In the perspective of nature, the monster is the enemy. It is created from ideas and attitudes that did not previously exist, it arises from…

(para. 16). If the right of autonomy was recognized and followed by the law then in theory, Pretty would be able to practice euthanasia as the choice was made autonomously. One cannot be selective in deciding which individuals could exercise their rights while restricting that of another. The inequality of allowing autonomy and impeding choice proved to be unjust in the case of Pretty and euthanasia. 4.3 Paternalism The laws and regulations that made euthanasia illegal within the United Kingdom…

over natural resources is a firmly established standard of international law that authorizes states to exercise exclusive jurisdiction over natural resources and all components of the natural environment within their national boundaries. Ever since its introduction into international law in the late 1950s, this standard has been widely accepted by states and indigenous groups as an economic corollary of the fundamental right to self-determination. However, permanent sovereignty over natural…

accordingly with proper law. As a natural law theorist, Fuller is a firm believer in the practices of implementing morality when creating law. To put any philosopher, who epitomizes their beliefs, under a true test of fidelity to law must make a decision what they ought to do when presented with a grudge informer case while Fuller would believe in what you should do. What law ought to be and what law should be differentiates morality in law from the separation of morality and law. The cases of…