ABSTRACT
The psychologic, is based on the assumption that all theories of natural law must be intellectualistic and individualistic. The essence of all doctrines of natural law is the appeal from positive law to justice, from the law that is to the law which ought to be. The metaphysical objection to the possibility of a theory of natural law or justice runs thus—“Questions of justice are relative to time and place. No doctrine of natural law can claim a greater degree of certainty and completeness than attaches to the basic ethical principles which it presupposes. The greater simplicity of their subject-matter, the more definitely elaborated technique, and a certain amount of ethical neutrality as to their result, enable the natural sciences to depart from popular opinion to a far greater extent than is possible in the social sciences. To defend a doctrine of natural rights, requires either insensibility to the world’s progress or else considerable courage in the face of it.
