[niko-time]

One question which I was meant to be doing has stumped me. It is "Can the basis of natural law be located other than in social convention?". I have written "Aquinas believed the basis of natural law to be located in God’s will and the fundamental nature of humans not being corrupted." so far but I don't really understand it?

Does anyone have any input on this problem? Cheers

 

[Dzjudz]

I guess you could start here and go from there to the cited references. It's an interesting subject, but not really my cup of tea. I took a course in Jurisprudence last year, didn't do a follow up course. The most interesting thing I thought was the Fuller - Hart debate. (Natural Law vs Positivism)

 

[Quaddy]

there are patterns that occur naturally in nature, very precise patterns, which do not tie in or require societal existence or interjection.

we are merely there to be able to observe and record such patterns

 

[AlanY]

This issue is as old as time. If you'd like an accessible introduction to the various perspectives, take a look at Lon Fuller's "The Case of the Speluncean Explorers":
http://www.nullapoena.de/stud/explorers.html
It's an exploration of some of the philosophical positions in story form, inspired by an actual British Navy case long ago. Many introductory Jurisprudence or foundational courses in law schools have this on their reading list.

The Hart-Fuller debates are also good, along with some of the followups. I would stay away from reading some of the writings of philosophers (Dworkin, etc.) as primary sources, since many philosophers have a very ponderous, poor style of writing. You can get the main ideas from secondary sources.