James Luther Adams

The Law of Nature in Greco-Roman Thought

REASON and its ideas do not occupy a pedestal wholly above and exempt from the influence of the forces of history. The history of philosophy bears an existential relation to the rest of history. It is itself a part of history, and it exhibits the influence of different religious, cultural, and political outlooks. Because of this fact, no account of the history of the idea of natural law may properly be a mere catalogue of the different ideas that have been set forth. These ideas must be examined in the context of the contingent historical situations out of which they have risen and for which they have claimed to serve as a critical norm. Specifically, this means that for the Greco-Roman period the his-

The Law of Nature: Some General Considerations

I E concept of the Law of Nature involves essentially a consideraL tion of the perennial problem of the One and the Many. This is the problem of discovering something that abides in the midst of change and serves to measure it, the problem of establishing * This essay and the one following belong to a series prepared by members of the Chicago Ecumenical Group, an organization of theologians from various Protestant denominations which for the last six years has been engaged in a number of scholarly projects. The chairman of the group has been Professor Edwin E. Aubrey until recently, when Professor Wilhelm Pauck succeeded him as chairman. For the last two and a half years the group has been engaged in a historical and constructive study of the concept of the Law of Nature. During this period the group has had the advantage of the cooperation of a number of jurists. These essays form part of the historical studies prepared for the