SOSC 2350 Lecture Notes - Chenes, John Stuart Mill, H. L. A. Hart
23 Oct 2012
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Positivism: a law is a type of social technology: to control, guide and manage society and individuals: keep law and morality separate to avoid confusion. Natural law is: not made by human beings: Divinely ordained, law of the universe: universal and eternally true. The same for all human beings at all times. An unchanging rule or pattern that it is our task to discover: a means by which human beings can rationally guide themselves to realize their potential. Greek and roman thinkers plato, aristotle and cicero. They wanted a new system, where people obeyed the law out of respect/recognition that it was morally correct, and our moral duty to obey. Answered: one is obligated to obey the law only if the content of the law itself is moral. Nature has a fixed set of ends or purposes (essence) for human beings. Moral duty consisted in acting in accord with these purpose.
