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Closereads: Philosophy with Mark and Wes

Aquinas and Scotus on Law (Part One)

December 18, 202557 min · 9,462 words

Show notes

While we modern folks have a generally clear distinction between law as in descriptive laws of nature and law as in ethical or civil commandments, these Medieval philosophers saw these as very much related if not actually the same thing, given that humans can ignore the dictates of their nature, i.e. reason, whereas the rest of nature just proceeds according to natural law, which for these theologians means God's dictates.

Highlighted moments

we have two conceptions of law. One is natural law, the laws according to which objects are compelled to behave. And then one is the… Positive law. Yeah, positive law. That is a technical term, laws people pass.
it is the proper end, it is the reasonable end, it is the desire of the rock to fall.

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