Natural Law: Historical, Systematic and Juridical Approaches
Editor: Alejandro Néstor García Martínez, Mario Šilar and José M. Torralba
Date Of Publication: Aug 2008
Isbn13: 9781847186430
Isbn: 1-84718-643-2
Modern moral and political philosophy is in debt with natural law theory, both in its ancient and mediaeval elaborations. While the very notion of a natural law has proved highly controversial among 20th Century scholars, the last decades have witnessed a renewed interest in it.

Indeed, the threats and challenges as result of multiculturalism, plural societies and global changes have generated a renewed attention to natural law theory. Clearly, it offers solid basis as possible framework to a better understanding of human goods without contradictions and partial bias.

The purpose of the present volume is to provide an overview of the history of this concept (Cicero, St. Paul, Aquinas, Melanchthon, Montaigne, Descartes, Leibniz, Hume, Burke, Kant, MacIntyre, etc.) as well as a deep understanding of ongoing research, both in Europe and in America. Furthermore, the specificity of these studies will be of particular value to philosophers, law-philosophers, historians, anthropologists, sociologists and theologians, and those concerned on such issues as the relation between law and moral norm, law and practical reason, and the presence of the idea of natural law in several prominent thinkers. It includes a selected bibliography on natural law.

The book also provides an excellent introduction to several of the major topics in natural law theory making it useful both as a reference text and as a sourcebook for academics alike.

"Natural law is a rich, complex, and highly disputed term. Since its first appearances in the history of Western civilization, it has been used both to point to God as the source of the moral order and to assert that there is an objective order of justice in nature that men and their laws ought to respect. In modern times, natural law theory gave birth to what we usually call “human rights.”

Unlike the meaning of the term, the importance of an ongoing debate on natural law and on the theories related to it is undisputable. This is why I welcome today this new collection of essays edited by Alejandro Néstor García Martínez, Mario Šilar and José M. Torralba.

Natural Law: Historical, Systematic and Juridical Approaches includes a wide variety of studies, covering key authors and issues in natural law theory. Younger students will appreciate the clarity of the chapters, and more trained readers the detailed and accurate bibliographical references that each of them offers. The editors’s choice to go from a historical approach to contemporary theories, and then to theoretical and more practical issues is also commendable. Students in philosophy and in legal theory will greatly benefit from this book."

—Fulvio Di Blasi, author of God and the Natural Law: A Rereading of Thomas Aquinas

García Martínez, Alejandro Néstor

PhD. in Philosophy. Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Navarra. Visiting Scholar at University of York (2008). Research interests: social theory, sociology of culture, consumption and lifestyles. He has published several books, chapters and articles, including: La teoría de los procesos de civilización en la sociología de Norbert Elias (Civilising Process Theory in Elias’ Sociology), Eunsa, Pamplona: 2006; Distinción social y moda (Social Distinction and Fashion), Editor, Eunsa, Pamplona: 2007; “The Proliferation of Fashion and the Decline of its Code of Meanings”, in Fashion, Image, Identity, STI, New York - Barcelona: 2007.

Šilar, Mario

Research Assistant and Assistant Lecturer in Ethics in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Navarra. Visiting Scholar at the University of Reading in 2007. Research interests: moral and social philosophy, natural law in Thomas Aquinas, the philosophy of law, and the relations between culture and philosophy. Select publications include: Metodología de investigación y técnicas para la elaboración de tesis, (Hispania: 2006) and “Trascendentales, encuentro entre ética y religión” (Eunsa, Pamplona: 2007).

Torralba, José M.

PhD. in Philosophy. Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Navarra. Visiting Scholar at Oxford University (2003) and at University of Munich (2005–2006). Research interests: moral philosophy, theory of action and theory of judgment. In addition to a number of articles on modern philosophy, he has published the following books: Acción intencional y razomaniento práctico según G.E.M. Anscombe, (Eunsa, Pamplona: 2005); La facultad del juicio en la filosofía práctica de Kant, G. Olms, Hildesheim - Zürich - New York, forthcoming; and edited Two Hundred Years Later: Returns and Re-interpretations of Kant (CAF, Pamplona, 2005).

It is a a pleasure for me to endorse the publication of this collection of essays on natural law,

In the last decades we are wittnessing a renewed interest in natural law, which, of itself, is an unavoidable concept in any history of western moral and political thought. Hence, the present collection is bound to find an echo not only among schollars but also among the general learned public, interested in ethics, moral theology, political and legal philosophy.

The present collection is remarkable not only because of the relevance of issues addressed, but also because of the variety of approaches it encompasses.

While the historical covers an extensive range of authors, from Cicero and Saint Paul, through Aquinas up to Inmanuel Kant, the section devoted to the contemporary reception of natural law theory is highly original, since it is focused on the reception on natural law thinking by contemporary philosophers and methodologies.

Likewise the systematic section constitutes a valuable attempt to reflect on the objections raised against natural law theory as well as to clarify the concepts involved in the very notion of a natural law.

The inclusion of a juridical section certainly increases the value of the collection, since it shows the practical-juridical relevance of discussions around natural law. I am sure many people will benefit from the publication of this book.

Prof. Ana Marta González, University of Navarra

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