"The Natural Law Tradition in Ethics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

‘Natural law theory’ is a label that has been applied to theories of ethics, theories of politics, theories of civil law, and theories of religious morality. We will be concerned only with natural law theories of ethics: while such views arguably have some interesting implications for law, politics, and religious morality, these implications will not be our focus here.

This article has two central objectives. First, it aims to identify the defining features of natural law moral theory. Second, it aims to identify some of the main theoretical options that natural law theorists face in formulating a precise view within the constraints set by these defining features and some of the difficulties for each of these options. It will not, however, attempt to recount the history of the development of natural law thought. (For a very helpful detailed history of natural law thought up to the beginning of the modern period, see Crowe 1977. For a very helpful detailed history of natural law thought in the modern period, see Haakonssen 1996. For an article-length recap of the entire history of natural law thought, see Haakonssen 1992.)

• 1. Key Features of Natural Law Theories
  • 1.1 Natural law and divine providence
  • 1.2 Natural law and practical rationality
  • 1.3 The substance of the natural law view
  • 1.4 Paradigmatic and nonparadigmatic natural law theories
• 2. Theoretical Options for Natural Law Theorists
  • 2.1 Natural goodness
  • 2.2 Knowledge of the basic goods
  • 2.3 The catalog of basic goods
  • 2.4 From the good to the right
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