Contemporary Challenges to Natural Law Theories

J. Budziszewski has been a leading advocate for natural law theory over the past twenty years. His numerous works focus on articulating a conception of natural law rooted in the obviousness of some moral principles: “What we can’t not know” as he memorably titles one of his books. This essay points out how Catholic philosophers and theologians have questioned whether faith and reason can be properly balanced in modern thought. It suggests that a Catholic natural law theory must also seek to balance faith and reason, but this poses a challenge to the obviousness of the moral principles that approaches like Budziszewski’s seek.