We Need an Updated Version of "Natural Law"



A recent article I found fascinating was about ancient Norway. As snow has melted in mountain passes artifacts have been found dating to around 100 CE. These mountain passes were trade routes to other parts of what is now Norway and maybe to other areas. The raiding parties by those we call Vikings came hundreds of or a thousand years later.

The find illustrates the human passion to conduct trading. The cost of carrying a tiny bit of merchandise over a mountain, pelts or hand-made items, was astronomical as well as dangerous. When President Trump tried to block trade he was tinkering with a desire as old as humans. An updated version of "Natural Law" would include the desire to trade and to restrict that would go against "Natural Law."

Also related to these mountain passes is speculation about the spiritual beliefs of those Scandinavians. Prior to around 1,000 CE they were thought to be some brand, or many brands, of Pagans. Today in those countries there is a tiny return to Paganism. From what we know about pre history, people worshiped many gods. To worship only one god is not natural for humans. Many gods is human nature or "Natural Law."

Apparently, about 1000 years after trade through the mountain passes Christianity was wealthy and could fund expeditions into northern Europe. About 500 years after that Martin Luther split from the Catholics and religion changed again.

It baffles me why parts of the faith have such reverence for what is referred to as "Natural Law" when some of what it preaches is not natural to humans. And it leaves out "natural" behaviors that have been present for as long as there have been humans.

Comments

  1. JinxApril 16, 2020 at 4:20 PM

    I have some Norwegian blood.....about 7% and my ancestors trace back to areas in southern Norway mentioned in this article. They were lutherans and probably wouldn't like the fact that they descended from pagans.... Anyway, my sister in a schismatic catholic cult always brought up natural law and using natural substances foe health and treatment and she did not like it when I told her arsenic, lead and mercury were natural elements and maybe she should take them to.

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    1. little helperApril 17, 2020 at 2:01 PM

      first they were pagans, then Catholics, then piestic Lutherans, now not so much.

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  2. Ardy BApril 17, 2020 at 9:34 AM

    Jon,
    I read that Natural Law is typically divided into Divine Natural Law (revealed or inspired by God), Secular Natural Law (perceived by the human intellect and elaborated through reason), and Historical Natural Law (evolved custom, tradition, and experience). Trade might be listed under Historical Natural Law under this scheme. “Interacting with things and understanding things cannot be separated. “The units of understanding are not propositions but acts.”, Arne Naess, Norwegian ecophilosopher. Scientific observation I can understand, fire that doesn’t burn and a god sharing divinity piecemeal to a few humans over millennia is another matter.
    https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/natural+law

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    1. Jon LindgrenApril 17, 2020 at 10:32 AM

      Thanks for that, Ardy B. There must be a small army of people who make their living talking and writing about natural law. I would guess that in the end few find natural law contradicts what they want it to mean. I could look it up but I wonder what is said about artificial birth control. Humans have used it for hundreds of years, including almost all Catholics. So would that be natural law in the Secular or Historical category--but overruled by that "revealed"?

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    2. Ardy BApril 17, 2020 at 1:38 PM

      Jon Lindgren April 17, 2020 at 10:32 AM
      “[artificial birth control] So would that be natural law in the Secular or Historical category--but overruled by that "revealed"?” Good question. From the legal dictionary link: “secular natural law elevates the capacity of the human intellect over the spiritual authority of religion.” while divine natural law asserts “Human laws that are inconsistent with divine principles of morality are invalid and should neither be enforced nor obeyed.” To your question, my guess is artificial birth control was discovered by reason and human intellect i.e. became understood by human action; from placing stones in the vagina, to a host of herbal spermicides, to todays many refined methods. That also admits of a historical dimension to Secular Natural Law. If scriptural events like Moses’ report of hearing someone else’s voice on a mountain, seeing a non-destructive burning bush, and finding stone tablets engraved by a divine finger or the numerous large scale “sacrificial” slaughters of people initiated by God could withstand close scrutiny by human intellect and reason then the divine moral principles they help support could claim a legitimate place in Secular Natural Law. As it stands those divine moral principles have repeatedly found expression in our secular laws to the point that we need to rename Secular Natural Law to Secular Supernatural Law. The onslaught continues unabated. So yes to your “overruled by the revealed”. I still think “the revealed” is simply a momentary non-theistic human neurochemical aberration and its recitation just bad grammar. Jon, that’s all I can muster on a Friday afternoon. A peaceful and healthy weekend to you and yours.

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  3. little helperApril 17, 2020 at 7:36 PM

    re. stones in the hoo ha, Camel drivers inserted stones in the camel's UTERUS when they took off on a long caravan, thus preventing camel babies. The first and original inter uterine device. Maybe that's where the term; "Got their rocks off" came from, when they arrived back home, or decided to start a family.

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  4. little helperApril 17, 2020 at 7:51 PM

    re. natural law; And here I thought natural law was the ten c's minus the first three or four, depending on which version, (The god parts). And remove the "thou shalt not", and replace it with; "Y'all shouldn't.

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