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From is to ought: Natural Law in Buddhadasa Bhikkhu and Phra Prayudh Payutto
Author(s) -
King Sallie B.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of religious ethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.306
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 1467-9795
pISSN - 0384-9694
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9795.00107
Subject(s) - natural law , injustice , karma , buddhism , harmony (color) , conditionality , natural (archaeology) , epistemology , foundation (evidence) , interdependence , value (mathematics) , sociology , law , environmental ethics , philosophy , political science , social science , geography , art , theology , archaeology , machine learning , politics , computer science , visual arts
The contemporary Thai Theravada Buddhist monks Buddhadasa Bhikkhu and Phra Prayyudh Payutto espouse a version of natural law thinking in which the norms of good behavior derive from the nature of the world, specifically its features of conditionality, causality, karma and interdependence. An ethic which stresses non‐egoic harmony is the result. This paper (1) develops the notion of natural law in their thinking and (2) critically evaluates these ideas as a foundation for ethical thought, specifically asking whether such ideas recognize something of value in the individual per se and in individual freedom and, in an interdependent world, how one can challenge injustice or a brutal government.