History of Natural Law

What is the moral foundation of human rights, justice, and the rule of law? In a time of deep cultural and political division, this volume charts the rich history of one of the most enduring ideas in Western thought: that moral and legal norms are rooted in human nature and accessible to reason. Spanning ancient, medieval, early modern, and contemporary traditions-including Islamic and African-American perspectives-the volume shows how Natural Law has evolved and how it continues to shape debates in ethics, politics, and jurisprudence. With chapters on Aristotle, Aquinas, Grotius, Locke, and the American Founders, as well as modern voices like Jacques Maritain and Martin Luther King, it offers both historical depth and philosophical clarity. Essential reading for students and scholars in philosophy, law, theology, and political theory, it invites readers to rediscover a tradition that speaks urgently to the moral challenges of our time.

William M. R. Simpson is an Associate Professor at Ohio State University and a Research Fellow of the University of Oxford. He is the author of Hylomorphism (Cambridge, 2023) and co-editor of Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science (2017). Justin Buckley Dyer is Dean of the School of Civic Leadership at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics (2022); C.S. Lewis on Politics and the Natural Law (2016); Slavery, Abortion, and the Politics of Constitutional Meaning (2013); and Natural Law and the Antislavery Constitutional Tradition (2012).