Natural Law and Human Nature by The Great Courses

Natural law is the idea that there is an objective moral order, grounded in essential humanity, that holds universal and permanent implications for the ways we should conduct ourselves as free and responsible human beings.

These 24 in-depth lectures consider the arguments for natural law, the serious objections that have been raised against it, and the ways, despite all overt criticisms, it remains a vital and even pervasive force in political, moral, and social life today, even while traveling under another name.

Shaping Father Koterski’s historical treatment is an appreciation of just how much thought, effort, and brilliance went into formulating and defending the crucial insights of natural law theory. Among other things, you’ll look at: the virtual dialogue that took place between the Ionian scientists, the Sophists, and their great interlocutors, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; Thomas Aquainas’s Summa Theologica, which sets out the account of natural law as that type of law through which humans take part according to their nature as free, intelligent, and responsible beings; the ways, by the American Founders’ design, natural law thinking is poured into the foundations of our republican experiment in ordered liberty and constitutional democracy; and the criticisms leveled against natural law by Descartes, Rousseau, and Kant.

Finally, Father Koterski asks whether modern evolutionary biology can claim to have discovered truths about human nature that render natural law theory unintelligible, whether the findings of anthropological research undercut natural law, and whether accepting the idea of natural law means accepting the existence of God and vice versa.

About the Author

A member of the Society of Jesus, Father Joseph Koterski is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, where he specializes in the history of medieval philosophy and natural law ethics. Before taking his position at Fordham University, Father Koterski taught at the Center for Thomistic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. He earned his doctorate in Philosophy from St. Louis University, after receiving an H.A.B. in Classics from Xavier University. As a priest ordained in 1992, Father Koterski brings an added dimension of insight to his study of theology and biblical texts. He earned his Master of Divinity and License of Sacred Theology from the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Father Koterski is a veteran Great Courses instructor and a respected teacher and scholar. At Fordham, he has been recognized for his teaching skills and was awarded the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching and the Graduate Teacher of the Year Award. He serves as the editor-in-chief of the International Philosophical Quarterly and is coeditor of the Fordham University Press Series in Moral Philosophy and Moral Theology.

Product details

• Full Audiobook MP3 Program
• Full PDF Guidebook Included
• Listening Length: 12 hours and 24 minutes
• Author: The Great Courses, Father Joseph Koterski S.J.
• Narrator Father Joseph Koterski S.J.
• Release Date July 08, 2013
• Publisher The Great Courses
• Version Original recording
• Language English
• ASIN B00DTO54XW