Historical Philosophy of Natural and Positive Law

Law, by itself, is a complex term. It has various meanings and many different qualities. Law affects us in a way or another. If we would take some time to think of our everyday lives, we can see the impact that law has on our lives. However, where did the law originate? It came from many different sources, but one of the very influential sources were the philosophers of the past, who gave law many different meanings, and illustrated many different ways to perceive the system of law. In this report, I have decided to introduce three philosophers who each provided their view of looking at laws, specifically two different types of laws. These two laws are Natural law and Positive Law.

Plato – Natural Law

Plato, a great supporter natural law, believed the idea that law should attempt to reflect certain general and everlasting truths or qualities. He believed that law should be a way of providing inner harmony and justice in every individual’s mind. The purpose of law, for Plato, was to act as a guide for society and a way of ensuring fairness. This could only have been done.

Natural law is sometimes considered to be a list of certain virtues, but according to Plato, it included other qualities, such as being respectful and being truthful. But, Plato did not promote following these characteristics in every situation. Since natural law is also a way of judging right from wrong, Plato believed that the circumstances of following natural law should be based on the situation, he wrote in his famous work, the republic,

But as concerning justice, what is it? – To speak the truth and to pay your debts? – No more than this? And even for this are there no exceptions? Suppose that a friend when in his right mind has deposited arms with me and he asks for them when he is not in his right mind, ought I give it to him? No one would say I ought or that I should be right in doing so, any more than they would say that I ought to always speak the truth to one who is in his condition. You are quite right, he replied. But then, I said, speaking the truth and paying your debts is not a correct definition of justice. (Understanding Law, Page 12)[1]

This quotation illustrates how Plato, while in a conversation with Celphalus, reveals that justice is not only about being truthful, and paying back one’s debts. It is also about being able to make the most reasonable and peacekeeping decision at times it is required. Hence for Plato, justice represented an ideal-natural, moral order that human laws should attempt to achieve as far as possible.