Fed with the same food, hurt with the

NATURAL LAW,
same weapons, subject to the same
diseases, healed by
the same means, warmed and cooled by
the same winter and summer?

INTERNATIONAL If you prick us, do we not bleed?

If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die?

LAW, AND THE

And if you wrong us, shall we not
revenge?
— William Shakespeare, The Merchant of

CLASSIC
Venice, Act 3, Scene 1

PHILOSOPHERS
I. THE NATURE OF MANKIND
All men have a common
nature that separates us
from other species —
our ability to reason
Psychoanalysts like Carl Jung, the founder of
analytical psychology said that rationality is not
the only thing humans share in common.
We also have a “collective unconscious” in our dream
state and altered states, based on quantum
entanglement and non-biological forces of physics,
which explain the similarity of cultural archetypes
and psychic phenomena.
Human beings

We want order in our

society,
and thus we need the rule
of laws.
“Law is a product of
social life, and is a
creation of human
nature,”
- Tolentino in his Commentaries and
Jurisprudence on the Civil Code of the
Philippines I.
 Phases of Natural Law Theory
Classical Phase by
Enlightenment or
Ancient Greek and Scholastic Phase International Law Phase
Modern Phase
Roman Philosophers
• Human reason is • Natural law is man’s • Used natural law as a • in reference to general
common among men participation with basis for natural rights principles of law and
and along with this, the eternal law. It was and duties international rights, a
common precepts of called “Thomism” in • Immanuel Kant common law for all
right law and equity reference to the reformulated the nations of men.
• Plato and Aristotle’s philosophy of St. Golden Rule into the • reformulating natural
work on virtue ethics Thomas Aquinas, as “categorical law as the law of all
called “virtue adopted by the Catholic imperative” of men. Notably,
jurisprudence” Church always acting the way Article 38 of the Statute
• Antigone by one would like his act of the International
Sophocles to be the universal Court of Justice
rule, also called as includes “general
“deontology.” principles of law
recognized by civilized
nations” among the
five sources of
international law.
II. WRESTLING FOR IDEAL LAW
 Plato
“All philosophy is a footnote to Plato.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

His original name was “Aristocles”

For his broad shoulder plates, he was renamed

“Plato(n)” by his wrestling coach Ariston of
Argos.

It was in his time that Athens, the first democracy, achieved its golden age and flourished in all fields of
learning.

But Plato also witnessed Athens’ transition to oligarchy, and was disillusioned with its
politics after it sentenced his teacher, Socrates.
 Ath
e ns’
gol
den
Age •A
th
all ens fl
Ath lear fields ourish
nin of ed
olig ens’ g in
arc
hy •H
is
was teach
sen er, S
ten ocra
ced tes

Tra The
vele
d &w Rep
to S ent ub
Pla icily •b lic
to i efri
in l ende
Two phases in Plato’s legal philosophy

Dio nflue the aw of d Dio

city Dion n (s
o
his n to a nced ’s d
ide dap icta ysius I n
al g
o t tor ,
)
The v’t
exp
erim
e
fail nt
ed •t
he
bec two r
• E ame elati
ven e ve
kille tuall nemie s
d y, D s
ion
wa
Both works, however, have compelling propositions carried into modern-day governments.

The
Law
s
The Republic and Philosopher-Kings

The Republic envisions a Statist type of regime ruled by a

benevolent dictator — an educated philosopher-king.

A contemporary example would be the successful

city-state of Singapore, which rose to prosperity
through the stern reforms of its feared but beloved
dictator, Lee Kwan Yew
Natural law, for Plato, is not the law of the
common man, but the law of the ideal man

We craft marriage laws because we want an

ideal family, not just any family

Our political Constitution is meant to build

an ideal government.
Plato approved of stratifying
society into classes.

Basis: education on justice, goodness,

and virtue.
 noble ruler
The State is
hierarchically
warriors
composed of
The best state is run by the wisest. “The noble
should rule over the ignoble” and one’s level of
education is supposed to determine one’s social
class.
workers
Laws and Preambles

The Laws stresses the rule of law as a substitute

to the rule of the philosopher

Reasoned thought must be embodied in

laws.

Laws must have a preface so each citizen

can understand the reason behind the
law
The need for preambles and explanatory notes, as found in
proposed bills and constitutions, goes back to Plato.
conceived a more diplomatic state, whose laws appeal to
people’s reason and rational discourse.

Punishment is not necessary, provided that through successful

education and socialization, the people have been predisposed
to observe what the State contemplates as right via rational
persuasion.
Those who are resistant will have to undergo both
“instruction” and “constraint.”

Only at this time will correction happen, not

only through education but through coercion.

Capital punishment may be imposed to protect the State from its

vicious members. (As much as a diseased part of a body will
need to be mutilated lest it infects the whole.)

First, as a warning against injustice.

And second, to free the State from scoundrels.
 ON THE HISTORY OF NATURAL LAW AND NATURAL
RIGHTS
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES v.
SANDIGANBAYAN, ET AL.
(G.R. No. 104768, July 21, 2003)
PUNO, J., separate opinion:

In the medieval times, shortly after 1139, Gratian published the Decretum Gratiani, a
collection and reconciliation of the canon laws in force, which distinguished between divine or
natural law and human law. Similar to the writings of the earliest Church Fathers, he related this
natural law to the Decalogue and to Christ’s commandment of love of one’s neighbor. “The law
of nature is that which is contained in the Law and the Gospel, by which everyone is commanded
to do unto others as he would wish to be done unto him, and is prohibited from doing unto others
that which he would be unwilling to be done unto himself.” This natural law precedes in time
and rank all things, such that statutes whether ecclesiastical or secular, if contrary to law, were to
be held null and void.
 St. Thomas Aquinas
created a comprehensive and
organized synthesis of the natural law theory

His version of
the natural law theory rests on his vision of the universe as
governed by a single, self-consistent
and overarching system of law under the direction and
authority of God as the supreme lawgiver
and judge.

Aquinas defined law as “an ordinance of reason for the common

good, made by him
who has care of the community, and promulgated.
There are four kinds of laws in his natural
law theory: eternal, natural, human, and divine.
Eternal Law

a law is a dictate of practical reason (which provides practical

directions on how one ought to act as opposed to “speculative
reason” which provides
propositional knowledge of the way things are) emanating from
the ruler who governs a perfect
community.
In other words, eternal law is that law which
is a “dictate” of God’s reason. It is the external aspect of God’s
perfect wisdom, or His wisdom
applied to His creation.
natural law This consists of principles of eternal law which are specific to
human
beings as rational creatures.

law, as a rule and measure, can be in a person

in two ways: in one way, it can be in him that rules and
measures; and in another way, in that
which is ruled and measured since a thing is ruled and measured
in so far as it partakes of the
rule or measure.
This participation of the rational creature in the eternal law is
called natural law.

In
a few words, the “natural law is a rule of reason, promulgated
by God in man’s nature, whereby
man can discern how he should act.”
Through natural reason, we are able to distinguish between right
and wrong; through free will,
we are able to choose what is right. When we do so, we
participate more fully in the eternal law
rather than being merely led blindly to our proper end.