In philosophy, the natural order is the moral source from which natural law seeks to derive its authority. It encompasses the natural relations of beings to one another, in the absence of law, which natural law attempts to reinforce.
In contrast, divine law seeks authority from God, and positive law seeks authority from government.
The term is used by Hans-Hermann Hoppe in his book Democracy: The God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order to designate Anarcho-capitalism.
The term is used by Friedrich von Hayek in his writings to designate divine law.
Keywords: Cosmos
Famous quotes containing the words natural and/or order:
“All great amusements are dangerous to the Christian life; but among all those which the world has invented there is none more to be feared than the theater. It is a representation of the passions so natural and so delicate that it excites them and gives birth to them in our hearts, and, above all, to that of love.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“For it is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize.... And a man who is puzzled and wonders thinks himself ignorant ...; therefore since they philosophized in order to escape from ignorance, evidently they were pursuing science in order to know, and not for any utilitarian end.”
—Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)