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14 Vand. L. Rev. 23 (1960-1961)
Plato and the Doctrine of Natural Law

handle is hein.journals/vanlr14 and id is 39 raw text is: PLATO AND THE DOCTRINE OF NATURAL LAW* HANS KELSEN** I. IDEALISTIC AND REALISTIC DOCTRINE OF LAW II. THE SO-CALLED DYNAmIC DOCTRINE OF NATURAL LAW III. THE DYNAMIC NATURE OF EMPIRICAL REALITY AS THE BASIS OF A PLATONIC DOCTRINE OF NATURAL LAW IV. PLATO'S DOCTRINE O GOOD ,AND EVIL IN THE NATURE OF EIMPIRICAL REALITY V. PLATO'S DOCTRINE OF GOOD AND EvLm IN THE NATURE OF MAN VI. THE NATURAL SANCTIONS VII. THE NATURAL ORDER OF LAw IN PLATO's PHILOSOPHY I. IDEALISTIC AND REALISTIC DOCTRINE OF LAw As a result of the shocks which the existing social orders have experienced through two World Wars and the Russian Revolution, an intellectual movement is becoming increasingly evident in the Western World-one which, in sharp reaction to a scientific-positivistic and relativistic philosophy, aims at a return to metaphysics and theology, and-closely connected with this-to a renewal of the doctrine of natural law. The proponents of this trend believe they find valuable support in the philosophy of Plato, whose authority until recently was virtually uncontested-and in this they are justified. Plato's doctrine of Ideas is the boldest of metaphysical speculations, for it transcends empirical reality farthest; and the intellectual sys- tem which he erected is in its total character more nearly theology than scientific philosophy. Less successful is the appeal to Plato's authority in an effort to revive the theory of natural law, an attempt which has been made recently by two American authors, Joseph P. Maguire' and John Wild.2 Wild goes so far as to assert that Plato is the founder of the * Translated by Mr. Richard N. Porter of the Vanderbilt Faculty. The article appeared in the original German in 8 OESTERREICHISCHE FEiTscHRIFT FUER OEFFENTLICHES REcHT No. 1 (Springer-Verlag, Vienna 1957) and is used here with permission. All rights in the translation are reserved by the Vanderbilt University Press. * * Professor Emeritus, -University of California, Berkeley. 1. MAGUIRE, PLATO'S THEORY OF NATURAL LAW 151-78 (Bellinger ed. 1947). This book is the tenth volume of the Yale Classical Studies. In text, it is cited: (Maguire). 2. WILD, PLATO'S MODERN ENEMIES AND THE THEORY OF NATURAL LAW (1953). Citations in the text will be in the form: (Wild 162). See also SOLMSEN, PLATO's THEOLOGY 157, 184 (1942); STRAUSS, NATURAL RIGHT AND HISTORY 84-85, 135 (1953). The English translation of Plato used here has been PLATO, DIALOGUES (Jowett transl. 1875).

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