The book closely integrates the philosophy of law with ethics, social theory and political philosophy. The author develops a sustained and substantive argument; it is not a review of other people's arguments but makes frequent illustrative and critical reference to classical, modern, and contemporary writers in ethics, social and political theory, and jurisprudence.

The preliminary First Part reviews a century of analytical jurisprudence to illustrate the dependence of every descriptive social science upon evaluations by the theorist. A fully critical basis for such evaluations is a theory of natural law. Standard contemporary objections to natural law theory are reviewed and shown to rest on serious misunderstandings.

The Second Part develops in ten carefully structured chapters an account of: basic human goods and basic requirements of practical reasonableness, community and 'the common good'; justice; the logical structure of rights-talk; the bases of human rights, their specification and their limits; authority, and the formation of authoritative rules by non-authoritative persons and procedures; law, the Rule of Law, and the derivation of laws from the principles of practical reasonableness; the complex relation between legal and moral obligation; and the practical and theoretical problems created by unjust laws.

A final Part develops a vigorous argument about the relation between 'natural law', 'natural theology' and 'revelation' - between moral concern and other ultimate questions.

The Unnecessary Science is a necessary contribution to the debate over natural law theory in contemporary moral, metaphysical, and legal contexts. The intellectual foundations of natural law theory were laid by Aristotle, expanded by Thomas Aquinas, and refined by modern proponents such as Edward Feser. It is with all three of these thinkers that Gunther Laird takes issue.

This book is a meticulous critique of natural law theory, as proposed by these philosophers, with Laird pointing out myriad issues with the theory as pertaining to ethics (sexual and otherwise), essences, religion, philosophy of change, and the existence of God, among many other subjects. For anyone wondering what is wrong with both modern and ancient conceptions of natural law theory, this book is an essential read. For those comfortable in their belief in natural law theory, this book is equally as essential to understanding the strongest arguments of the theory's foes. Laird's book is the perfect foil to the writing of Feser, Aquinas and other natural-law adherents past and present.

...an intellectual banquet of concepts, principles, arguments, and skeptical objections concerning religion and morality that draws upon the ideas of two of the greatest philosophers of western thought: Aristotle and Aquinas--as clarified and defended by the modern Catholic philosopher Ed Feser. Laird provides an antidote to Feser's conservative Catholic views...

- Bradley Bowen, The Secular Outpost

A timely and devastating philosophical riposte to natural law theory and the growing tendrils of influence it has on modern society.

- Jonathan MS Pearce, Not Seeing God: Atheism in the 21^st Century

Gunther Laird casts a critical eye over the books and blogs of Edward Feser... The work gives readers plenty to think about.

- Graham Oppy, Professor of Philosophy, Monash University

George Turnbull's eighteenth-century translation of A Methodical System of Universal Law was his major effort to convey continental natural law to Britain, thus making Heineccius's natural jurisprudence more accessible to English-speaking audiences. Turnbull includes extensive comments on Heineccius's text and also presents his own philosophical work, A Discourse upon the Nature and Origin of Moral and Civil Laws.

Johann Gottlieb Heineccius (1681-1741) studied theology at Leipzig and later law at the newly founded (1694) University of Halle, where he became a pupil of Christian Thomasius.

Thomas Ahnert is a Lecturer in History at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Peter Schr der is Senior Lecturer in the History Department at University College, London.

J. Budziszewski presents and defends the natural-law tradition by expounding the work of leading architects of the theory, including Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas and John Locke.

The Natural Law Reader features a selection of readings in metaphysics, jurisprudence, politics, and ethics that are all related to the classical Natural Law tradition in the modern world.

• Features a concise presentation of the natural law position that offers the reader a focal point for discussion of ancient and contemporary ideas in the natural law tradition
• Draws upon the metaphysical and ethical categories put forth and developed by Aristotle and Aquinas
• Points to the historical significance and contemporary relevance of the Natural Law tradition
• Reflects on a revival of interest in the tradition of virtue ethics and human rights

Samuel Pufendorf's The Whole Duty of Man, According to the Law of Nature suggested a purely conventional basis for natural law. Rejecting scholasticism's metaphysical theories, Pufendorf found the source of natural law in humanity's need to cultivate sociability.

Samuel Pufendorf (1632-1694) taught natural law and was court historian in both Germany and Sweden.

Ian Hunter is Australian Professorial Fellow in the Centre for the History of European Discourses, University of Queensland.

David Saunders is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Arts at Griffith University.

This book argues that classical natural law jurisprudence provides a superior answer to the questions What is law? and How should law be made? rather than those provided by legal positivism and new natural law theories.

What is law? How should law be made? Using St. Thomas Aquinas's analogy of God as an architect, Brian McCall argues that classical natural law jurisprudence provides an answer to these questions far superior to those provided by legal positivism or the new natural law theories. The Architecture of Law explores the metaphor of law as an architectural building project, with eternal law as the foundation, natural law as the frame, divine law as the guidance provided by the architect, and human law as the provider of the defining details and ornamentation. Classical jurisprudence is presented as a synthesis of the work of the greatest minds of antiquity and the medieval period, including Cicero, Aristotle, Gratian, Augustine, and Aquinas; the significant texts of each receive detailed exposition in these pages. Along with McCall's development of the architectural image, he raises a question that becomes a running theme throughout the book: To what extent does one need to know God to accept and understand natural law jurisprudence, given its foundational premise that all authority comes from God? The separation of the study of law from knowledge of theology and morality, McCall argues, only results in the impoverishment of our understanding of law. He concludes that they must be reunited in order for jurisprudence to flourish. This book will appeal to academics, students in law, philosophy, and theology, and to all those interested in legal or political philosophy.

Before the late 19th century, natural law played an important role in the American legal system. Lawyers routinely used it in their arguments and judges often relied upon it in their opinions. Today, by contrast, natural law plays virtually no role in the legal system. When natural law was part of a
lawyer's toolkit, lawyers thought of judges as finders of the law, but when natural law dropped out of the legal system, lawyers began thinking of judges as makers of the law instead.

In The Decline of Natural Law, the eminent legal historian Stuart Banner explores the causes and consequences of this change. To do this, Banner discusses the ways in which lawyers used natural law and why the concept seemed reasonable to them. He further examines several long-term trends in legal
thought that weakened the position of natural law, including the use of written constitutions, the gradual separation of the spheres of law and religion, the rapid growth of legal publishing, and the position of natural law in some of the 19th century's most contested legal issues. And finally, he
describes both the profession's rejection of natural law in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the ways in which the legal system responded to the absence of natural law.

The first book to explain how natural law once worked in the American legal system, The Decline of Natural Law offers a unique look into how and why this major shift in legal thought happened, and focuses, in particular, on the shift from the idea that law is something we find to something we make.

John Locke's untitled manuscript Questions Concerning the Law of Nature (1664) was his only work focused on the subject of natural law, a circumstance that is especially surprising since his published writings touch on the subject frequently, if inconclusively. Containing a substantial apparatus criticus, this new edition of Locke's manuscript is faithful to Locke's original intentions.

Conservatism has never been the only voice in America, but it is the most distinctively American voice, emerging from the customs, norms, and dispositions of its people and grounded in the conviction that the capacity for self-governance provides a distinctly human dignity. Emphasizing the ongoing strength and importance of the conservative tradition, the authors describe our Constitution's emphasis on maintaining order and balance and protecting the primary institutions of local life. Also important here is an understanding of changes in American demographics, economics, and politics. These changes complicated attempts to address the fundamentally antitraditional nature of slavery and Jim Crow, the destructive effects of globalism, and the increasing desire to look on the federal government as the guarantor of security and happiness.

To reclaim our home as a people, we must rebuild the natural associations and primary institutions within which we live. This means protecting the fundamental relationships that make up our way of life. From philosophy to home construction, from theology to commerce, from charity to the essentials of household management, our ongoing practices are the source of our knowledge of truth, of one another, and of how we may live well together.