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Natural Law Theories
Author(s) -
Crowe Jonathan
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
philosophy compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.973
H-Index - 25
ISSN - 1747-9991
DOI - 10.1111/phc3.12315
Subject(s) - natural law , natural order , natural (archaeology) , law , argument (complex analysis) , positive law , norm (philosophy) , law and economics , philosophy of law , epistemology , private law , comparative law , philosophy , political science , sociology , black letter law , geography , biochemistry , chemistry , archaeology
This article considers natural law perspectives on the nature of law. Natural law theories are united by what Mark Murphy calls the natural law thesis : law is necessarily a rational standard for conduct. The natural law position comes in strong and weak versions: the strong view holds that a rational defect in a norm renders it legally invalid, while the weak view holds that a rational defect in a legal norm renders it legally defective. The article explores the motivations for the natural law position, before considering three lines of natural law argument found in the literature. I conclude by examining the arguments offered by John Finnis and Murphy in support of the weak natural law view. I suggest that these arguments fail to impugn the strong natural law thesis. Indeed, the functional argument outlined by Murphy provides a plausible route to a hybrid natural law view that incorporates both weak and strong claims.