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:
“The great man knew not that he was great. It took a century or two for that fact to appear. What he did, he did because he must; it was the most natural thing in the world, and grew out of the circumstances of the moment. But now, every thing he did, even to the lifting of his finger or the eating of bread, looks large, all-related, and is called an institution.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“People press toward the light not in order to see better but in order to shine better.—We are happy to regard the one before whom we shine as light.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)