文档介绍：
NATURAL LAW AND
NATURAL RIGHTS
I. DEFINITIONS
THE
EXPRESSION
“natural
law”
includes
the
ideas
of
nature
and
law,
two
nouns
which
do
not
lend
them
selves
to
univocal
objective
definition
or
even
at
least
to
general
monly
accepted
usage.
One
recent
Page 14, Volume 3
author
Erik
Wolf
( Das Problem ...,
Ch.
I,
Part
III)
enumerates
twelve
meanings
of
“nature”
and
ten
meanings
of
“law,”
which
yield
120
bina
tions
and
almost
as
many
definitions
of
the
expression
“natural
law.”
We
may
add
that
if
it
is
theoretically
possible
to
think
of
supporting
a
specific
agreement
as
to
the
present
meaning
of
“nature”—again
in
this
case
not
overlooking
all
the
other
historically
accepted
meanings—on
the
other
hand,
it
is
certain
that
there
is
no
hope
of
finding
a
similar
agreement
about
the
idea
of
“law”:
the
definition
of
law
entails
reference
to
philosophical
presuppositions
and
consequently
is
not
susceptible
to
supporting
an
indispensable
general
consensus.
The
definition
of
law
is
indeed
the
rock
of
Sisyphus.
To
define
natural
law
in
an
objective
manner
by
disengaging
it
from
its
environment,
from
the
schools
which
employ
the
expression,
or
from
the
political
and
ans
which
make
use
of
it,
is
therefore
an
undertaking
doomed
to
failure
from
the
start.
Hence
it
is
necessary,
if
we
wish
to
avoid
confusion,
always
to
qualify
the
expression:
for
example,
classical
natural
law
(to
make
the
Aristotelian
or
Thomist
conception
precise);
Stoic
natural
law;
Protestant
natural
law;
positive
natural
law
characteristic
of
one
of
the
forms
of
contemporary
natural
law
(the
legal
sense
of
natural
law);
and
so
forth.
Furthermore,
certain
essential
features
of
natural
law
can
be
formulated
by
specifying
it
in
contrast
with
conventional
law:
nature
opposed
to
convention,
jus
tice