Written on the Heart: The Case for Natural Law

While Budziszewski offers a well-written CliffsNotes-styled survey of natural law thinkers, it is important to note that he avoids allowing his Christian worldview or Weltanschauung to interfere with the discussion - it is only in the concluding third of the text where Budziszewski relates natural law theory of the past and present to the Christian belief system. The text covers natural law thinkers Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and John Locke, as well as one of the great modern opponents of natural law, John Stuart Mill. Following these four units, the author offers a critique of these thinkers. This critique is very well done, and is a bit terse - only 9 pages long - but the following chapter on recent natural law thinkers is roughly twice the length and offers an excellent survey-within-a-survey that includes sections on Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and secular reconsidersations of natural law (Budziszewski argues that the philosophy of natural law is experiencing a renaissance, and he illuminates some of the current directions that these varied perspectives are taking). Of particular note, the author writes that "...the secular way of thinking is just as full of theological commitments as the other three - just as full of faith, but of a different sort...". Some readers may be interested in the fact that Written on the Heart includes an appendix on elementary reasoning.

Although this book is written as sort of a college textbook/primer on natural law, it is a very readable summary of the main theories of natural law, as well as an evaluation of each. Budziszewski also provides a short, but well written apologetic of the Christian view of natural law at the end. That section, as well as the first section on Aristotle, I found to be the most interesting and useful. He shows how important natural law is in politics (very broadly defined as the partnership in a good life). In an pluralistic era such as we are in, with prevailing theories of post-modernism and humanism, there often seems to be little or no recognized common basis for truth. Many do not even believe in ultimate truth, which presents a sure formula for chaos. As truth continues to be eroded, what common basis for maintaining "the good" in society remains? If ultimate truth is not recognized, then how can morality be determined? Here is where Budziszewski's book steps into the gap to show, through logical consideration and the common intuition of mankind, that there are in fact moral standards that humanity as a whole recognizes. There is an inherent knowledge of good and evil, written on our heart, as Romans 2:15 says. He also has excellent discussions on how is is possible for humans to obscure or distort this law written on their heart so that they ignore it or twist it to the detriment of themselves and their fellow members of society. Coming to a common recognition of natural law principles is an important part of governing a pluralistic society where not everyone accepts the authority and inspiration of the Christian Bible and the Law contained therein. But God in His providence has written the essential content of the Law on the hearts of all mankind. Budziszewski does a fine job of showing this to be true, and his argument would even be persuasive to non-Christians. He also clearly delineates between natural revelation and "special revelation", and how natural revelation does not lead one to a saving knowledge of God in Christ Jesus (whereas "special revelation"--i.e. the Bible/Word of God--does). Budziszewski also does a fine job of answering critics of natural law theory, both from Christian and non-Christian contenders.

"Quarry the granite rock with razors, or moor the vessel with a thread of silk, then may you hope with such keen and delicate instruments as human knowledge and human reason to contend against those giants, the passion and the pride of man." -John Henry Newman Everyday we make decisions about the paths we will take in life. At times we find ourselves conflicted beyond the normal level of simple decisions making. What we often desire is obviously in direct conflict with our inner knowledge of right and wrong and no matter how we try to rationalize our decisions, taking the wrong path brings us immense internal conflict and emotional pain. We lose our sense of peace and become filled with chaotic desires. Frustrated with our decisions we try to find self-satisfying justifications for our unethical behavior. Breaking a general precept of the natural law carries the penalty of guilt. As human beings, we find this to be a constant struggle between what we want and need, what we should do and should not do. When our conscience accuses us of these facts, we either change the path we are on or smother the knowledge written on our hearts and keep right on walking, rationalizing to ourselves that the pleasure we will gain from this path is greater than the pain of the thorns of conscience we keep stepping on repeatedly. "The good of a human soul lies in the activity of using and following reason, and its highest good lies in the activity of using it and following it excellently." Sometimes the only way off a path we have chosen is a decision to just do the right thing. The conflict that leads up to that decision can at times make us set up road blocks on paths we don't ever want to take again. Even J. Budziszewski lived through this process and if he could hear God's voice through the cacophony of voices in the modern world calling us in so many directions, anyone can find their way back to the inner knowledge of ancient truths. J. Budziszewski became a Christian at the early age of ten. He the fell away from his faith after becoming caught up in radical politics. He tried to find ways to believe that God didn't exist. While earning his Ph.D. at Yale, he was convinced he had found plenty of reasons for atheism and moral relativism. He came to believe that humans were not responsible for what they did and yet he came to feel a greater and greater horror about himself and an overpowering sense that his condition was terribly wrong. Finally his self-deception collapsed. He is now a defender of the natural-law tradition. He believes there are universal moral principles that are knowable to everyone and if they are followed, they bring good into the world instead of evil. This belief has roots all the way back to the rabbinical tradition of the Noachian commandments forbidding sexual immorality, idolatry, blasphemy, bloodshed and theft. In this "textbook-like" discussion, he presents an intellectual evolution of thoughts from the beginning of t

Since the great works of classic Greek philosophy are seldom taught either at the high school or college level, the author gives a brief but convincing grounding in Aristotle. Proceeding through other great thinkers like Thomas Aquinas, he relentlessly shows the universal applicability of moral principles. The book is a very effective foil for those post-modern thinkers who believe (without proof) that mankind has moved beyond the natural law, or that there is no such thing. The book is written at a very readable level.

Professor Budziszewski's defense of natural law is that, in spades, but is more. It gave me the sort of clear understanding of the basics of political philosophy that I should have received along with my B.A. in Political Science.Written on the Heart is a must-read for anyone who "knows" that there must be universal truth, and absolute standards of right and wrong, but just can't articluate the reason for that conviction.