More about Natural Law

OK, you’ve had a week to think about the quote from the Rev. Elisha Williams. Now let’s think more deeply about some of the basic points of that statement.

(By the way, that quote from the Rev. Williams is clearly based on similar writing by the English philosopher, John Locke, who is widely considered the father of classical Liberalism (now often called Libertarianism)

First, I want to make a distinction between Natural Law and laws imposed by governments. In my way of thinking, for something to be a “Law”, it must be “Universal” and “Immutable”. An obvious example would be the Law of Gravity. It is in effect everywhere in the Universe and even God cannot change it.

Laws imposed by governments are neither universal nor unchangeable; I prefer to refer to them as “legislation” and not law. For example, some states require motorcyclists to wear a helmet, others do not. It might be a good idea, but it’s not a universal requirement, and any government could change its mind. The media often call our elected representatives “lawmakers”. Better they should call them “legislators”…all the time.

All beings…inanimate, non-human animate, and human…have their nature. It is what they are and what they do. An oak tree is an oak tree by its very nature; an acorn planted in the soil grows to be another oak tree and not a giraffe. Some caterpillars become butterflies and not rose bushes. The fertilized human egg becomes a live human being, and not some other animal.

Each species has its own particular nature.  Granite is different from sandstone.  Dogs do what dogs do, and not what esgles do.  Even though each individual being is uniquely different, all share certain characteristics that we can call the nature of the thing.  Thus we commonly speak about “human nature” as being certain characteristics common to all human beings. 

A vital difference between inanimate or even non-human living creatures, and man himself is that the former are compelled to proceed in accordance with the ends dictated by their natures, whereas man, “the rational animal,” possesses reason to discover such ends and the free will to choose (1). All humans possess this ability to reason. Some use this ability to a greater extent than others, but all have the ability.

For a scholarly and thorough discussion of Natural Law I refer you to “The Ethics of Liberty – Part I” by Murray N. Rothbard, available on-line at The Ludwig von Mises Institute. It’s worth your time to read this. In future posts I’ll be discussing how Natural Law leads to Natural Rights and ethical considerations.

(1) Rothbard, Murray N., The Ethics of Liberty, p7