Redeem the Time

This First Things book review, and this one, if read closely, will give one a good view of the debate among those who espouse natural law. Although it is a small segment of the academy—some would call it merely a parochial squabble—I honestly think this debate is likely of enormous importance for the future of western civilization. How these “abstract” truths are hashed out among those who love the Truth and fight for the Good will profoundly effect a much larger struggle. Natural law is the ground upon which the true teaching of how man ought to act needs to be defended by conservatism, orthodox religion, western tradition, and what is now the only way left for “ancient” philosophy. How we conceive of natural law (1) will ultimately shape our nation and world for better or worse.

Problem is, we are all a bit rusty in such efforts. We live in a dumb time, and the study of metaphysics (2) and natural philosophy (3) necessary for a true understanding of natural law does not exist. Hence the parochial squabble upon which much hinges. In fact, the problem comes from the collapse of natural philosophy and the confusions of modern science. The resurrection of natural philosophy would bring back a healthy metaphysics and provide the rock-ribbed foundation natural law (and, hence, ethics and politics) is searching for. A lot of this would simply be caused by the fact that by its mere existence natural philosophy would clarify metaphysics and natural law (ethics and politics) by simply taking back what belongs to it and rejecting what doesn’t. Its existence would “clean up” the clutter in the other sciences that have either tried to absorb bits of natural philosophy they shouldn’t have or given what ought to belong to them over to the tumorous imposter that has taken the place of natural philosophy.

As a side note, it is interesting to consider that all these disciplines are simply reflections of what is—ultimately they are simply what is—yet their division and existence as separate sciences is in a real way caused by the weakness and the interest or uninterest of the human mind.

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1) Natural law is both a ground for Ethics, insofar as it teaches men through reason how they ought to act, and Politics, insofar as human law is derived from natural law—see what St. Thomas says about the human law being derived from the natural law here .

1) The study of what is beyond physics, of being-in-general or being qua being, of what doesn’t change.

2) The study of physics, of things insofar as things move or change, of every physical thing in the universe.
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I’m going to post a few more resources so I don’t forget them, let me know of any others you find useful:

An apparently older but still very good page o’ Natural Law/Natural Right links.

An Acton Institute bibliography that includes a lot of the more recent writings.

The syllabus to Father Schall’s class on Natural Law; a bibliography by Schall including his own work.