Catholic Natural Law

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course will examine the theory of Catholic natural law and its practical applications to questions about the moral order of society – such as the best form of government, the best economic system, the right ordering of family life and marriage, the issues of just war and international law. We will begin with the sources of natural law in the Bible and classical philosophy, and then study major figures in the development of Catholic natural law – including Thomas Aquinas, Suarez and Vitoria, Pope Leo XIII and John Paul II, Jacques Maritain, Heinrich Rommen, and John Finnis.