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A Universal Ethic for All Mankind: A Detailed Review and Synopsis of The Ethics of Liberty
by Murray N. Rothbard
Chapter 2: Natural Law as “Science”
Compiled and Edited
by
Dr. Jimmy T. (Gunny) LaBaume
It is hard to understand why modern philosophers scoff at the term “nature” as being an injection of mysticism and/or the super-natural. If an apple falls from the tree, it will drop to the ground. Further, if two atoms of hydrogen combined with one of oxygen, one molecule of water is the result. This is behavior that is uniquely in the nature of hydrogen and oxygen. The world is made up of a myriad of observable things and entities. Each possesses different attributes and natures. When these various things interact, a specific and definable result occurs. In other words, causes have effects. It is the law of the nature of these things that governs their observable behavior. The complex set of these laws composes the structure of natural law .
If apples and stones and roses have specific natures that are open to rational observation, why can't man have one too? W ho is to establish the truth about man? The question is not who but what. The answer is man's reason, which is objective.
The natural law ethic holds that “goodness” for all living things is the fulfillment of what is best for that particular creature. In other words, “goodness” is relative to the nature of the creature concerned.
In the case of man, goodness (or badness) is determined by what fulfills or thwarts that which is best for the nature of man. So, in a way, natural law provides us with a “science of happiness.” In contrast, praxeology or economics treat “happiness” as the fulfillment of ends which people place high on their scales of value. Satisfaction of those ends yields “utility” or value. Thus, value is purely subjective and determined by each individual. However, in natural-law ethics, value is objective. That is, it is determined by the natural law of man's being.
Ethics, for man (as for any other entity), are determined by investigating the tendencies of the entity. How does human nature become incorporated into a person's subjective value scale? Because it is common to all men—the values founded on that nature are universal.
As we saw earlier, the doctrine of natural law (the idea that an objective ethic can be established through reason) has faced two enemies in the modern world: the fideists (who believe that ethics come from supernatural revelation) and the skeptics (who believe that man takes ethics from arbitrary whim or emotion)—a strange alliance indeed. Yet, the dominating tradition in North America has been a Protestantism, which has been transformed by pragmatic technology and liberal aspirations.
Continue to the next chapter...
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