Natural Law Versus Iustice

Abstract

In the introduction we emphasize the current importance of the problems discussed in the paper, i.e. natural law, as provided by the original interpreter of St. Thomas Aquinas' thought, Josef Pieper. The German thinker did not consider this matter in a separate tract, but within the frameworks of his analyses on the virtue of justice.

Nevertheless they sound innovative in the context of the contemporary discussion on the attitude of justice and human rights. The modern thought saw a characteristic change in the understanding of the above problem. It is otherwise than in classical tradition. Here justice is determined in the first place not by the domain of duties and the rights of other people, but by the demand of rights to which we are entitled.

In his independent interpretation of classical thought, especially that of St. Thomas Aquinas, Pieper reminds the contemporary philosophers of law that the problems of justice and human rights may be thoroughly depicted only by way of their reference to the principles of natural law. Thereby in our argumentation we must refer ourselves to reality that is in the centre of natural law, i.e. the human person, understood as a created being. Only in this way can we indicate the ultimate foundation of why and in what sense we may speak about the laws and rights of man.

The final aspect deals with the fruits of justice in social life because their ultimate source is in natural law.