Reasons for Revival of Natural Law theory in 20th Century [notes]

Today I’m going to talk about the revival of natural law theory in the 20th Century.

Here I will cover

• what is natural law and natural law theory
• The theory of Natural Law  in the 20th Century
• the reasons for the revival of natural law theory in the 20th century
• etc.

What is Natural Law?

Natural law is the body of moral principles which are naturally developed by human reason alone.

Natural law is not a man-made law based on the structure of reality itself; is the same for all human beings and at all times is an unchanging rule or pattern which is there for human beings to discover;

It is the naturally knowable moral law and is a means by which human beings can rationally guide themselves to their good.

Positive Law is the formal legal enactment of a particular society.

Black’s Law Dictionary defines natural law as a philosophical system of legal and moral principles purportedly deriving from a universalized conception of human nature or divine justice rather than from legislative or judicial action; moral law embodied in principles of right and wrong many ethical teachings are based on natural law Also termed the law of nature; natural justice; lex aeterna; eternal law; lex naturae; lex naturalae; divine law; jus divinum; jus naturale; jus naturae; normative jurisprudence; jure nature.

Natural Law Theory was highly attacked around the 17th Century and finally was rejected.

The rejection of Natural Law Theory was first accompanied by utilitarianism and later by positivism.

After the rejection of natural law, Command Theory was relied upon, however, command theory could not be relied upon anywhere subsequent to its disaster aftermath, this led to the revival of Natural Law Theory in the 20th Century.

During the 20th Century, Natural Law received new attention, partly in reaction to the rise of totalitarianism and an increased interest in human rights throughout the world.

The revival of natural law theory was not an overnight process; rather it was a result of various reasons which will be the gist of this post.

The Theory of Natural Law  in the 20th Century

Natural law after the Second World War is referred to as Neo-Kantian because the revival of natural law relied heavily on Kant’s theory of knowledge by the majority of philosophers.

The new philosophy accepted and adopted Kant’s rejection of a pre-existing discoverable and universally valid natural law.

They accepted what Kant was saying. Kant says that Natural Law is changing.

It adopted Kant’s basic conception of ethics which is considered the importance of ethics in natural law.

The revival of natural law in the 20th Century invites slogans like liberty, equality rights, human rights, justice, and public policy.

Rudolf Stamler and Gustav Radbruch are the main exponents of the revived Natural Law.

Reasons for the Revival of Natural Law Theory in the 20th Century

The reasons for the revival of natural law theory in the 20th century are; the rise of monopoly capitalism, the impact of positivism, dissatisfaction with the command theory, and the role played by prominent writers like Gustav Radbruch and Rudolf Stamler

Rise of monopoly capitalism

The rise of monopoly capitalism brought a lot of impacts which led to the revival of natural law, on one hand, with the rise of monopoly capitalism, capitalist countries scrambled for colonies to obtain their demands such as cheap labor and free markets.

This led to the first division of the world among capitalist powers.

Dissatisfaction among some colonial powers led to the outbreak of the First World War (WWI) (1914-1918).

Also, it is important to note that, the arms race and military escalation made war inevitable.

After WWI there was a second division of the world whereby Italy and Germans were dissatisfied and they had no alternative but to wage war which is the Second World War (WWII) (1939-1945).
WWII brought intolerable impacts to people and participant countries.

Therefore WWII and its effects led to the revival of Natural Law theory since there was disorder and social unrest in the state, the capitalists turned back to Natural Law to control the state.

Natural Law invited slogans like liberty, human rights, and equality thus community harmonized, and social progress was sustained.

On the other hand, monopoly capitalism makes the basis of capitalism that is freedom of contract becomes redundant.

The growth of capitalism led to the formulation of classes of rich persons and poor persons in a capitalist society.

The richest class got much interest in politics, and they wanted to control of the state while the lower class got no such opportunities and suffered the consequences of the system.

This state of things was facilitated by the existence of the positive law which favored the ruling class and the rich.

This led to many devastating impacts that necessitated the revival of natural law. Natural law was necessary because it gave room for social values and morality for all.

Impact of Positivism

After the rejection of Natural Law Theory, capitalists went on positivism, with positivism the law was regarded as a command (Command Theory), and the law was followed as it is.

Therefore when the state authority makes the law, it must be obeyed as it is and no one could question its validity to the state subjects no matter how unjust it could be.

With command theory, positivism witnessed the rise of Nazism and Fascism which was termed to be the palpable reason for the outbreak of WWII.