"Natural Law in Our Lives, in Our Courts"

A two-part interview of Prof. J. Budziszewski at Zenit. First, On the 4 Ways of Knowing It, Apr. 1:

.... Q: Your many books and articles in publications such as First Things have expressed the importance of recovering the moral truths of natural law. Briefly, how have you developed this thought over your academic career?

Budziszewski: At the beginning of my academic career I would have agreed with George Gaylord Simpson that man is the result of a meaningless and purposeless process that did not have us in mind.

When I acknowledged God, I was forced to acknowledge that the process has been neither meaningless nor purposeless; natural law expresses both "nature," the human design, and "law," the Designer's command.

In order to think clearly about these things one must unlearn a variety of errors and intellectual vices, and sometimes it seems this is all I do. On the other hand, the culture as a whole has to do the same thing, so perhaps it is not such a bad thing for some of its intellectuals to carry on their unlearning in public....

Second, On Latency, Denial and Rationalization, Apr. 2:

Q: What is the moral significance of natural law and how can it most effectively shape the laws enacted by governments?

Budziszewski: The natural law simply is the moral law. We may think of it this way. Everything God made has a nature. However, not everything he made is subject to him in the special way called natural law.

Natural law is a privilege of created rational beings — that includes us — because it is a finite reflection of his infinite wisdom in their finite minds. This is what Thomas Aquinas means when he defines natural law as "the participation of the rational creature in the eternal law."

In view of the fact that the natural law specifies the universal requirements for the common good of human beings, it is the basis for the human laws enacted by governments.

Ordinary human laws may be connected with the natural law in either of two ways. These used to be called the way of "conclusions" and the way of "determinations," but today it might be clearer to call them "inference from general principles" and "filling in the blanks."

An example of the first kind of connection is that since it is wrong to harm one's neighbor, the human law should forbid poisoning.

An example of the second is that since we ought to have regard for the safety of our neighbors, the human legislator must pin down such matters as whether automobiles are to drive on the right or the left. Sometimes the "pinning down" is by unwritten rather than written law; this is one of the ways in which culture is built up....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 04/21/04 06:38:56 PM
Categorized as Religious & Social/Cultural.