Natural Law and the Roman Catholic Tradition: The Importance of Philosophical Realism

The intellectual tradition of Roman Catholicism considers natural-law theory as providing the philosophical machinery for articulating concepts central to thinking about moral theory, legal theory, and the social order. The thrust of this essay is to explicate the positions rooted in the writings of Aquinas on natural-law theory, a theory with which a Georgist might find some stimulating similarities. Conditions necessary for natural-law moral and legal theory are considered through an analysis of the central metaphysical concepts together with their historical development and contemporary significance.