Natural Law And The Possibility Of A Global Ethics

Accounts of natural law moral philosophy and theology sought principles and precepts for morality, law, and other forms of social authority, whose prescriptive force was not dependent for validity on human decision, social influence, past tradition, or cultural convention, but through natural reason itself. This volume critically explores and assesses our contemporary culture wars in terms of: the possibility of natural law moral philosophy and theology to provide a unique, content-full, canonical morality; the character and nature of moral pluralism; the limits of justifiable national and international policy seeking to produce and preserve human happiness, social justice, and the common good; the ways in which morality, moral epistemology, and social political reform must be set within the broader context of an appropriately philosophically and theologically anchored anthropology. This work will be of interest to philosophers, theologians, bioethicists, ethicists and political scientists.

In recent decades, the revival of natural law theory in modern moral philosophy has been an exciting and important development. Human Values brings together an international group of moral philosophers who in various respects share the aims and ideals of natural law ethics. In their diverse ways, these authors make distinctive and original contributions to the continuing project of developing natural law ethics as a comprehensive treatment of modern ethical theory and practice.

Do human rights apply only to a certain culture group or can they be demanded of all cultures and religions? This discussion about a common world ethos demonstrates how relevant and explosive that question is. In his study of ethical relativism and historical thinking, Eberhard Schockenhoff shows how the universal recognition of fundamental norms that guarantee the minimum conditions for human existence can be substantiated. Dealing critically with the two most important branches of research in present-day moral theology--autonomous morality and teleological ethics--the author presents a new theological-ethical theory of natural law. Integrating the theory of practical reason and Aquinas' understanding of natural inclinations, Schockenhoff compares this synthesis to the insights of present-day anthropology. This method allows him to re-establish a connection to classical natural law ethics. In so doing, he indicates how ethics can fulfill its most important duty: to arrive at the recognition of anthropologically grounded material norms without falling prey to a logical error. According to Schockenhoff, claims of natural law and of human rights formulate an indispensable minimum, while biblical ethics (the decalogue and the Sermon of the Mount) and the high ethos of the world religions point the way to an encompassing realization of the concept of the good life. Renowned moral theologian Eberhard Schockenhoff is professor at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. He is the author of numerous works and managing editor of Zeitschrift für Medizinische Ethik. Brian McNeil is a parish priest in Munich and a translator of theological literature. PRAISE FOR THE BOOK: "The book is impressive in many respects. It is thorough and precise about the specific problems associated with natural law theory, and the chapters on relativism and historicism exhibit impressive erudition and insight. Few books on natural law grapple so extensively and fairly with objectors as does this one, and its responses are admirable in their breadth and depth."- Mark Graham, Theological Studies "A masterly treatment of many of the most important issues in moral theology."--Brian V. Johnstone, Studia Moralia "This book demonstrates convincingly that natural law has not become obsolete in ethical discussions. . . ."--Peter Fonk, Theologische Revue "In regard to topics that are coined by the Roman-Catholic tradition, the author includes Protestant authors in his considerations with a naturalness that has to be seen as a fortunate sign of ecumenical openness. Schockenhoff manages to revive answers of the tradition that have sometimes been put aside, and to bring them up in the challenges of today."--Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Theologische Literaturzeitung "An exceptional discussion of the concept of natural law as it applies to a modern world of moral relativism. . . . This is a high quality work, providing both a wide overview of the concerns of natural law and offering a respectable solution worth further consideration. Schockenhoff's work is highly recommended."--Matthew Ryan McWhorter, Catholic Books Review OnLine "This book by one of the leading Catholic moral theologians in Germany, teaching at Freiburg University, presents a simple thesis in an elaborate and sophisticated fashion....Schockenhoff's highly learned and impressive account deserves attention and critical engagement." -- Bernd Wannenwetsch, Studies in Christian Ethics

As a fundamental institution of human societies, law is a deeply influential factor in individual and social activity. Yet its normative status is controversial, particularly in pluralistic, secularized societies. Is law essentially the result of legislative creation and juridical interpretation, or can and should it reflect ethical values and imperatives? If it can what are the sources of those imperatives, and how do they achieve the necessary degree of social consensus in religiously diverse societies that are increasingly globalized and globalizing as a consequence of culture, commerce, communication and immigration? The Global Ethic and Law: Intersections and Interactions contributes to the consideration of these questions. Its contributors include academics from the U.S.A. and Europe, as well Hans Kueng, the author of the 1993 "Declaration Towards a Global Ethic†? adopted by the Parliament of World Religions and Stephan Schlensog, General Secretary of the Global Ethic Foundation of Tuebingen, Germany.

This work approaches international law as more than merely information contained in international legal norms, & does not view international law as a body of objective & binding normative commands. As 'legal knowledge', international law encompasses rules, practices & the expectations actors derive through legal reasoning from conventional legal rules, customary norms, international adjudication, & international legal theory. The study is in three parts. Part I constructs a framework to analyze the effectiveness of international law to influence decision-making within conflict resolution processes. Drawing on the contending approaches of the New Haven School of International Law & its rivals & applying various devices of linkage theory, the analysis isolates variables & indicators of the impact of legal expectations on actors' decision-making style. These variables & indicators also reveal the ways international legal rules are affected by the actors' perceptions about the normative contents of such rules in a particular bargaining process. Parts II & III apply the framework of Part I to explain the role of international law in the Central American peace negotiations of the 1980s. Using the framework, Parts II & III identify sources of uncertainty & diverging expectations in the Western Hemisphere that aggravated rather than assuaged the Central American crisis. Parts II & III also explain the normative constraints that affected Central American decision-makers & provided the basis for most of the regional consensus within the Esquipulas meeting. With the help of heuristic devices from the behavioral sciences, this study of international law proposes an alternative to the traditional views of international legal effectiveness in the modern world. Joaquín Tacsan , Lic. en Der. & M.A. International Law (University of Costa Rica); L.L.M. J.S.D. (Boalt Hall, University of California, Berkeley). Mr Tacsan currently serves as Executive Advisor to former President of Costa Rica & 1987 Nobel Laureate Oscar Arias & as program Advisor of the Arias Foundation's Centre for Peace & Reconciliation. He is professor of Public International Law at the University of San Jose, Costa Rica.

The notion of “natural law” has repeatedly furnished human beings with a shared grammar in times of moral and cultural crisis. Stoic natural law, for example, emerged precisely when the Ancient World lost the Greek polis, which had been the point of reference for Plato's and Aristotle's political philosophy. In key moments such as this, natural law has enabled moral and legal dialogue between peoples and traditions holding apparently clashing world-views. This volume revisits some of these key moments in intellectual and social history, partly with an eye to extracting valuable lessons for ideological conflicts in the present and perhaps near future. The contributions to this volume discuss both historical and contemporary schools of natural law. Topics on historical schools of natural law include: how Aristotelian theory of rules paved the way for the birth of the idea of "natural law"; the idea's first mature account in Cicero's work; the tension between two rival meanings of “man’s rational nature” in Aquinas’ natural law theory; and the scope of Kant’s allusions to “natural law”. Topics on contemporary natural law schools include: John Finnis's and Germain Grisez's “new natural law theory”; natural law theories in a "broader" sense, such as Adolf Reinach’s legal phenomenology; Ortega y Gasset’s and Scheler’s “ethical perspectivism”; the natural law response to Kelsen’s conflation of democracy and moral relativism; natural law's role in 20th century international law doctrine; Ronald Dworkin’s understanding of law as “a branch of political morality”; and Alasdair Macintyre’s "virtue"-based approach to natural law.​