The Natural Law Theory has been used dating back to the ancient Greeks. It has played a vital role in governing and controlling societies for thousands of years. In the nineteenth century, philosophers came up with a new approach and introduced positivism. However, many realized that natural law was needed in creating a moral set of rules and laws to govern our society. That is when philosophers in the 20th century reintroduced a more modern natural law theory.
Morality is a critical part of the law and without it; our society would stand no chance of prospering. Without taking morality into consideration when creating laws, citizens would not have a basis for how to live their lives. According to Brian Bix in his article “Natural Law Theory”, he quotes Aquinas “A just law is one which is consistent with the requirements of natural law – that is, it is ‘ordered to the common good’” (Bix 225). I believe all laws should be made for the common good and this is where morality plays a critical role.
The main conflict in tying morality and law together is deciding what is moral and what is not. In ancient times, law makers looked at a “higher” power when deciding morality. However, in today’s society, there is no one universal “higher” power so a collection of elected officials in the government meet to decide what is right and wrong. So even though not everyone agrees on what is moral and what is not, there still needs to be morality in law-making because without it, our society would deteriorate from the inside out.
I agree morality should play a part in making laws. But the part I feel strongly about is that morality should not play a part in how the law is implemented. Whatever the law is decided to be in legislation that is how it should be used in everyday life. There should not be any exceptions made until another law is made that would address these exceptions.
ReplyDeleteWhile I also agree that morality should be part of making laws, I have to disagree with Chris because I believe the same morality that went into the creation of the law should directly impact its implementation and use by those is society.
ReplyDeleteI agree that morality is a crucial part of law. However, I'm confused about the idea that all laws should be created for the "common good." Who decides what is "good" for everyone?
ReplyDeleteMaybe that goes along with the idea of anti-trust laws: laws that prevent one firm from becoming too powerful. These rules, I guess, benefit the "common good."
I think those types of laws are important for media outlets, for example. One person shouldn't own every media outlet because then the news would be skewed. But making rules that limit competition in the market can be detrimental to society.