Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Natural Law, Reason and Religion

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Ethical Exploration in a Multifaith Society

  • 218 Accesses

Abstract

The chapter will consider in more detail some of the ethical methodology considered in the previous chapter on the history of Reason, namely ethics, natural law and virtue ethics – all of which have their purely secular as well as their theological interpretations. The role of nature in the dharmic faiths will also be considered and compared with western and Abrahamic approaches. The development of ideas about virtue ethics from natural law paradigms are assessed within both secular and theological paradigms. This assessment will also address the differences between the context and understandings of the virtues in the Athenian polis as compared to contemporary societies and communities, religious and otherwise. Virtue ethics will also provide a framework for considering arguments about relativist versus universalist ethics and relative versus absolute norms, using the work of Alistair McIntyre, Jean Porter and Phillipa Foot as starting points. The development of human rights from natural law will then be considered by reference to both theological and secular engagement with human rights instruments. This will enable exploration of whether human rights could enable a universal code of ethics that transcends differences of worldview.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    e.g. Intelligent Design – http://www.intelligentdesign.org/whatisid.php; Meyer SC. Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. HarperOne, 2010 (Meyer 2010); King MS. God v Darwin: The Logical Supremacy of Intelligent Design Creationism Over Evolution. CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2015 (King 2015) & Genetic arguments for altruism Coakley S. Sacrifice Regained: Reconsidering the Rationality of Religious Belief. Cambridge University Press, 2012 (Coakley 2012).

  2. 2.

    Al Gazali. The Incoherence of the Philosophers: A Parallel English-Arabic Text. Trans: Michael E. Marmura University of Chicago Press, 2002 (Al Gazali 2002); Griffel F. Al Gazali’s Philosophical Theology. Oxford University Press, 2010. pp. 101–103, 111–122 (Griffel 2010); Montgomery Watt W. The Faith and Practice of Al Gazali. Allen and Unwin, 1953 & ONeWorld Publications, 1995, pp. 17–26 (Montgomery Watt 1995).

  3. 3.

    Montgomery Watt, op. cit., p. 38.

  4. 4.

    Montgomery Watt, pp. 26–66.

  5. 5.

    Rationalist philosophers.

  6. 6.

    Montgomery Watt, op. cit., p. 38.

  7. 7.

    Montgomery Watt, op. cit., p. 80.

  8. 8.

    Aquinas T. Summa Theologica Prima Secunda Questions 1–5. Beloved Publishing LLC, 2014 (Aquinas 2014).

  9. 9.

    e.g. Faith is based on Paul’s definition in Hebrews 11.1 – Eberi JT. The Routledge Guidebook to Aquinas Summa Theologica. Routledge, 2015, pp. 192–202 (Eberi 2015).

  10. 10.

    Aquinas T. Light of Faith. Book of the Month Spiritual Classics. New York: Sophia Institute, 1993 (Aquinas 1993).

  11. 11.

    Aristotle. Ed. Tredennick H. Nichomachean Ethics. Penguin Classics, 2004 (Aristotle 2004).

  12. 12.

    Note however that whilst theological ethics draws on and interrogates the thinking of Aristotle, it is not co-terminous with it. Both Gazali and Aquinas interrogate, draw from and use what helps from classical philosophy but also distinguish where theology parts company. See e.g. Stump E. The non-Aristotelian Character of Aquinas Ethics: Aquinas on the Passions, pp. 91–106 of Faith, rationality & the passions. Ed. Coakley S. Blackwell, 2012 (Stump 2012).

  13. 13.

    Barth K. Freedom in Fellowship: Man & Woman, pp. 109–231, Church Dogmatics Study Edition. T&T Clark, 2010 (Barth 2010b).

  14. 14.

    Sonderegger K. Barth and Feminism, pp. 258–273 of The Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth. Ed. Webster J. Cambridge University Press, 2000 (Sonderegger 2000).

  15. 15.

    e.g. Mary in John 12: 1–9; Mary Magdalene in Luke 7: 36–50 and John 20: 11–18; the woman at the well John 4: 1–30.

  16. 16.

    Galatians 3: 28.

  17. 17.

    e.g. Phoebe the deacon, Romans 16:1.

  18. 18.

    The official position of the Roman Catholic Church and also found in Islam and Judaism.

  19. 19.

    e.g. Genesis 1 & 2 of the Bible; Sura 21, 41 & 79 of the Qu’ran; the Agannah Sutta in Buddhism and the Puranic account of creation in the Rig Veda. Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic, by WJ Wilkins 1900, pp. 343–344 (Wilkins 1900).

  20. 20.

    Examples include the story of Arjuna in the Gita being set against relatives Menski W. Hinduism In Ethical Issues in Six Religious Traditions. Edinburgh University Press, 2007, p. 26 (Menski 2007); & Jesus dividing families Matthew 10:34–39.

  21. 21.

    Lipner J. Hindue: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. London: Routledge 2010 at pp. 59–66 (Lipner 2010).

  22. 22.

    Rambachan A. A Hindu Theology of Liberation: Not Two is Not One. Albany: State of New York Press, 2015, pp. 3–4 (Rambachan 2015).

  23. 23.

    Yelle RA. ‘Hindu Law as Performance’ pp. 183–192 at p. 190. In Hinduism and Law: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press, 2010 (Yelle 2010).

  24. 24.

    e.g. Pakistan, Yemen.

  25. 25.

    Lipner J., op. cit.

  26. 26.

    Lipner J., op. cit., pp. 199–272.

  27. 27.

    Novak D. Tradition in the Public Square: A David Novak Reader. Eds. Rashkover R & Kavka M. SCM Press, 2008, pp. 113–144; 154–162; 213–230 (Novak 2008).

  28. 28.

    Finnis J. Natural Law, Natural Rights. Clarendon Law Series. Oxford, 1980, pp. 81–94 (Finnis 1980).

  29. 29.

    Lipner J. Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, 2nd edition. Routledge, 2010, p. 2 at fn 64.

  30. 30.

    Shah Prakash. ‘Judging Muslims’ In Islam and English Law: Rights, Responsibilities and the Place of Shari’a, Ed. Robin Griffiths Jones. Cambridge University Press, 2013. pp. 144–156 at p. 144 (Shah 2013); Balagangadhara SN. The Heathen in His Blindness: Asia, the West and the Dynamic of Religion. New Delhi, 2005 (Balagangadhara 2005).

  31. 31.

    Yelle RA., op. cit., pp. 191–192.

  32. 32.

    Darwin Charles. The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1896 (Darwin 1896).

  33. 33.

    Te Velde Rudi. Aquinas on God: The ‘Divine Science’ of the Summa Theologiae. Ashgate, 2006. pp. 48–54 (Te Velde 2006).

  34. 34.

    The Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church Para. 2357–2359, 2393 & 2396 all state that homosexual activity is intrinsically disordered,’ and offends against chastity. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P86.HTM.

  35. 35.

    Para. 2370 Catechism, op. cit.

  36. 36.

    Porter J. & Wolterstorff N. Natural and Divine Law: Reclaiming the Tradition for Christian Ethics. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999 (Porter and Wolterstorff 1999).

  37. 37.

    Sociologist Grace Davie argues that churches and religious groups’ conservatism about societal changes in gender roles is a proxy for unease in society at large about such changes; Davie G. Religion in Britain: A Persistent Paradox. Wiley-Blackwell, 2015. pp. 177–196 (Davie 2015).

  38. 38.

    see e.g. Ahmed L. Women and Gender in Islam. Yale University Press, 1992, pp. 144–168 (Ahmed 1992); Roald AS. Women in Islam: The Western Experience. Routledge, 2001, pp. 254–294 (Roald 2001).

  39. 39.

    1 Corinthians 11:14–15.

  40. 40.

    Following Genesis 2.

  41. 41.

    467 translations by 2016. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/Introduction.aspx.

  42. 42.

    www.unicef.com.

  43. 43.

    McIntyre A. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. Duckworths/University of Notre Dame Press, 1990/1984, pp. 68–69.

  44. 44.

    Porter J. From Natural Law to Human Rights: Or, Why Rights Talk Matters. Journal of Law and Religion 14, 1 (1999–2000), pp. 77–96 (Porter 1999–2000); Wolterstorff N. Justice Rights and Wrongs. Princeton University Press, 2009 (Wolterstorff 2010); Finnis J. Natural Law and Natural Rights. Clarendon.

  45. 45.

    Rushton R. Human Rights and the Image of God. SCM Press, 2004 (Rushton 2004).

  46. 46.

    A An Na’im. Islam and Human Rights: Selected Essays of Abdullahi An-Na’im. Ed. Mashood A. Baderin. Routledge, 2010 (An Na’im 2010); Glahn B, Emon AM & Ellis MS. Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law. Oxford University Press, 2015 (Glahn et al. 2015).

  47. 47.

    Some argue that Sikh approaches to human rights are more radical than the UDHR, see for example: http://sikhmissionarysociety.org/sms/smsarticles/advisorypanel/gurmukhsinghsewauk/sikhismandhumanrights.html.

  48. 48.

    Aristotle. Nichomachean Ethics I (ii) The Object of Life. Penguin Classics, 1976, p. 64 (Aristotle 1976).

  49. 49.

    Aristotle. Nichomachean Ethics I (v) The Object of Life. op. cit., p. 68.

  50. 50.

    Lipner J., op. cit., pp. 126–147, Caste and its realities.

  51. 51.

    http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.DST.FRST.10 NB many other indices for the UK poverty gap are not completed within the World Bank data – at 06 December 2015.

  52. 52.

    Jill Treanor (13 October 2014). Richest 1% of people own nearly half of global wealth, says report. The Guardian. At 06 December 2015 (Treanor 2014).

  53. 53.

    Oxfam 2014 and 2015 http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/our-work/inequality – at 06 December 2015; Wearden, Graeme ‘Oxfam: 85 richest people as wealthy as poorest half of the world’. The Guardian; Larry Elliott and Ed Pilkington. New Oxfam report says half of global wealth held by the 1%. The Guardian.

  54. 54.

    https://www.wider.unu.edu/article/what-inequality.

  55. 55.

    https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/sdn/2015/sdn1513.pdf.

  56. 56.

    with rare exceptions like apartheid.

  57. 57.

    Bowring B. Misunderstanding MacIntyre on Human Rights Analyse & Kritik 30/2008 (© Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart) pp. 205–214, Bill Bowring (Bowring 2008).

Bibliography

  • Ahmed, L. Women and Gender in Islam. Yale University Press, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Al Gazali. Trans: Michael E Marmura. The Incoherence of the Philosophers: A Parallel Engish-Arabic Text. University of Chicago Press, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • An Na’im, A. Islam and Human Rights: Selected Essays of Abdullahi An-Na’im, Ed. Mashood A. Baderin. Routledge, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aquinas, T. Light of Faith. Book of the Month Spiritual Classics. New York: Sophia Institute, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aquinas, T. Summa Theologica Prima Secunda Questions 1–5. Beloved Publishing LLC, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aristotle. Nichomachean Ethics I (ii) & (v) The Object of Life. Pengiun Classics, 1976.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aristotle. Ed. Hugh Tredennick. Nichomachean Ethics. Penguin Classics, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balagangadhara, SN. The Heathen in His Blindness: Asia, the West and the Dynamic of Religion. New Delhi, 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barth, K. “Freedom in Fellowship: Man & Woman.” In Church Dogmatics Study Edition, 109–231. T&T Clark, 2010b.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowring, B. “Misunderstanding MacIntyre on Human Rights.” Analyse & Kritik 30(2008) (⃝c Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart): 205–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coakley, S. Sacrifice Regained: Reconsidering the Rationality of Religious Belief. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1896.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davie, G. Religion in Britain: A Persistent Paradox. Wiley-Blackwell, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eberi, JT. The Routledge Guidebook to Aquinas Summa Theologica. Routledge, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finnis, J. Natural Law, Natural Rights. Clarendon Law Series. Oxford, 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glahn, B, AM Emon, and MS Ellis. Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law. Oxford University Press, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffel, F. Al Gazali’s Philosophical Theology. Oxford University Press, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, MS. God v Darwin: The Logical Supremacy of Intelligent Design Creationism over Evolution. CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipner, J. Hindus Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, 2nd Edition. London: Routledge, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Menski, W. Hinduism in Ethical Issues in Six Religious Traditions. Edinburgh University Press, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, SC. Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. HarperOne, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montgomery Watt, W. The Faith and Practice of Al Gazali. Allen and Unwin, 1953 & One World Publications, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Novak, D. Tradition in the Public Square: A David Novak Reader. Eds. Rashkover, R, and M Kavka. SCM Press, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, J, and N Wolterstorff. Natural and Divine Law: Reclaiming the Tradition for Christian Ethics. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, J. “From Natural Law to Human Rights: Or, Why Rights Talk Matters.” Journal of Law and Religion 14, 1 (1999–2000).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rambachan, A. A Hindu Theology of Liberation: Not Two is Not One. Albany: State of New York Press, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roald, AS. Women in Islam: The Western Experience. London: Routledge, 2001.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rushton, Roger. Human Rights and the Image of God. SCM Press, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shah, Prakash. “Judging Muslims”. In Islam and English Law: Rights, Responsibilities and the Place of Shari’a, Ed. Robin Griffiths Jones, 144–156. Cambridge University Press, 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sonderegger, K. “Barth and Feminism.” In The Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth, Ed. J Webster, 258–273. Cambrudge University Press, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stump, E. “The non-Aristotelian Character of Aquinas Ethics: Aquinas on the Passions.” In Faith, Rationality & the Passions, Eds. S Coakley, 91–106. Blackwell, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Te Velde, Rudi. Aquinas on God: The ‘Divine Science’ of the Summa Theologiae. Ashgate, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treanor, Jill (13 October 2014). Richest 1% of people own nearly half of global wealth, says report. The Guardian. At 06 December 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkins, WJ. Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic, 1900. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/hmvp/index.htm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolterstorff, N. Justice: Rights and Wrongs. Princeton University Press, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yelle, RA. “Hindu law as performance.” In Hinduism and Law: An Introduction, 183–192. Cambridge University Press, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Scholar, Croydon, United Kingdom

    Catherine Shelley

Authors
  1. Catherine Shelley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Shelley, C. (2017). Natural Law, Reason and Religion. In: Ethical Exploration in a Multifaith Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46711-5_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation