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:
“Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact. Every appearance in nature corresponds to some state of the mind, and that state of the mind can only be described by presenting that natural appearance as its picture.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Until the end of the Middle Ages, and in many cases afterwards too, in order to obtain initiation in a trade of any sort whatever—whether that of courtier, soldier, administrator, merchant or workman—a boy did not amass the knowledge necessary to ply that trade before entering it, but threw himself into it; he then acquired the necessary knowledge.”
—Philippe Ariés (20th century)