Natural Law and Expediency in Medieval Political Theory

Ethics ◽  
1940 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewart Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Medieval Political Theory

The Law of Nature in Philo and Cicero

1978 ◽  
Vol 71 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 35-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Horsley
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Law Of Nature ◽  
The Law ◽  
Medieval Political Theory

“Christian Natural Law is the acceptance and reinterpretation according to Christian and ecclesiastical principles of Stoic Natural Law. …” Thus runs Troeltsch's classic and influential formulation of the view that Stoicism forms the “preparation of the gospel” with regard to the law of nature in Christian theology and ethics. Historians of political theory similarly assume that it was the Stoic doctrine of natural law that decisively influenced both the rationalization and universalization of Roman law and medieval political theory.

Restoring Catharine Macaulay’s Enlightenment Republicanism?

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-57
Author(s):  
Karen Green ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Tragedy Of The Commons ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Moral Law ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Commons

Can Catharine Macaulay’s enlightenment democratic republicanism be justified from the point of view of contemporary naturalism? Naturalist accounts of political authority tend to be realist and pessimistic, foreclosing the possibility of enlightenment. Macaulay’s utopian political philosophy relies on belief in a good God, whose existence underpins the possibility of moral and political progress. This paper attempts a restoration of her optimistic utopianism in a reconciliation, grounded in a revision of natural law, of naturalist and utopian attitudes to political theory. It is proposed that the coevolution of language, moral law, and conscience (the disposition to judge one’s own actions in the light of moral principles) can be explained as solutions to the kinds of tragedy of the commons situations facing our ancestors. Moral dispositions evolved, but, in the light of its function, law is subject to rational critique. Liberal democracy plausibly offers the best prospect for developing rationally justifiable law.

Medieval Political Theory c.1000–1500

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Civil Science ◽  
Medieval Political Theory ◽  
Selection Of

This article focuses on a selection of Christian political theorists who have been considered by scholars over many generations, indeed centuries, to have contributed to a variety of distinctive discourses about the relationships between individuals and authority. There is a sense in which what political theorizing “is” during the Middle Ages is a set of positions and justificatory explanations about “sovereign power.” The attempt to fix the boundary between sacred and temporal authority during the eleventh-century pontificate of Gregory VII is normally seen to have spawned the major and long-enduring debates in medieval political theory (and beyond) over the relation between temporal and spiritual powers. This article highlights the emergence of legal experts in canon law and civil law, to whom the name “political theorists” should not seem anachronistic. It also considers how political theory was generated as a “civil science.” Finally, it looks at some themes at the heart of medieval political theory, particularly property and poverty, the Dominican political theory of Thomas Aquinas, and Franciscans' political theory.

On Hobbesian Resistance Theory

1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
Resistance Theory

As many have observed, Hobbes's political theory contained elements of an inchoate resistance theory. The present article identifies those elements, and considers their significance for the general interpretation of Hobbes's thought. It is suggested that Hobbes's resistance theory provides evidence of his belief that the artificial commonwealth was built upon foundations of natural morality. If the sovereign ruler of any commonwealth infringed natural morality then she might well face the natural punishment of rebellion, even though in the artificial realm of civil law this rebellion could never be justified. In the light of these remarks, the interpretation of Hobbes given by Howard Warrender is re-examined. Although Warrender's conclusion that Hobbes grounded natural morality in the command of God cannot be sustained, it is shown that much else in Warrender's work remains valid. In particular, his contention that Hobbes was a genuine natural law thinker seems more defensible when Hobbesian resistance theory is properly understood.

Deliberation and Deconstruction: Two Views on the Space of a Post-National Democracy

2001 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 763-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Morris
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Space ◽  
Political Sphere ◽  
Democratic Experience ◽  
Promising Development ◽  
Theory Of Democracy

Theorists of deliberation and deconstruction each claim commitments to a more open and legitimate democracy than existing liberal democracy. Eschewing traditional foundations such as natural law, historical inheritance, or the constitutive formation of the nation, they seek to develop a theory of democracy that is more inclusive in conditions of social diversity and complexity. This article investigates the meaning of the open political space that fosters the democratic experience under such conditions. First, a sociologically informed political theory, such as Jürgen Habermas' powerful if flawed attempt, is required to conceive participation in the democratic political sphere. Drawing on Jacques Derrida and others, the author then argues that deconstructive insights that introduce an openness to the non-identical contribute to a more complete democratic theory, offering a crucial mode of democratic inclusion of the other and an acknowledgment of difference that might assist in reforming current institutions. Thus a blend of Habermasian orientation toward deliberation and deconstruction's ethical sensibilities presents a promising development of democratic possibilities.

scholarly journals Natural Equality and Natural Law in Locke’s Two Treatises

2019 ◽  
pp. 127-146
Author(s):  
Kari Saastamoinen
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Successful Attempt ◽  
Democratic Societies

This chapter discusses John Locke’s account of natural equality as presented in his Two Treatises of Government. Together with its sister concept natural liberty, natural equality is often associated with the idea of Locke as an early representative of liberal political thought. Locke’s notions of natural liberty and equality are seen as sings of his commitment to the values of individual autonomy and political equality held central in liberal-democratic societies of today, and his political theory is read as a more or less successful attempt to articulate those values. The chapter argues that such approach to Locke’s remarks on natural equality is historically misleading, and they are best understood when we take seriously the fact that he developed his political theory within the parameters of seventeenth-century natural law.

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