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Title
Nature's own voice: reason, nature, and the birth of natural law
Description
In this dissertation, I argue that the original development of Natural Law Theory (NLT) by the Stoics of the second and first centuries B.C. was not merely an outpouring or natural byproduct of an earlier philosophic achievement in Plato and Aristotle, but a reaction to it, specifically, an effort to correct certain problems that had surfaced as a result of discussion within and challenges to the broader eudaimonistic tradition. Prior to Cicero's writings in particular, the term "natural law" appears only occasionally in the philosophic texts, and never as a term signifying a coherent and developed moral theory. A central part of my argument will be to demonstrate the negative thesis that neither Plato nor Aristotle defended a version of NLT - a claim that current scholarship does not universally accept. The primary reason for my claim, I argue, is that neither Plato nor Aristotle accepted a conception of nature (physis) that contained a normative element that could be understood in terms of law (nomos) and its accompanying notions of command and obligation. This negative thesis is important because it clarifies the central modification the Stoics make on the eudaimonistic tradition, namely, the advancement of a distinct theory of nature, one in which they identify physis with "Divine Reason." The "theological conception" of physis, as I shall call it, entails a breakdown of the nomos-physis dichotomy that had been central to Greek thought for centuries prior and thereby makes possible the birth of NLT.
Date Created
2014
Contributors
- Vierra, Thomas (Author)
- White, Michael J. (Thesis advisor)
- Humphrey, Ted (Committee member)
- Dagger, Richard (Committee member)
- Arizona State University (Publisher)
Topical Subject
Resource Type
Extent
v, 132 p
Language
Copyright Statement
In Copyright
Primary Member of
Peer-reviewed
No
Open Access
No
Handle
https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.25962
Statement of Responsibility
by Thomas Vierra
Description Source
Viewed on February 20, 2015
Level of coding
full
Note
Partial requirement for: Ph. D., Arizona State University, 2014
Note type
thesis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 130-132)
Note type
bibliography
Field of study: Philosophy
System Created
- 2014-10-01 08:04:12
System Modified
- 2021-08-30 01:32:35
- 2 years 8 months ago
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