Course: Business Ethics

Instructor: Dr. Abdul Rahim

Date: 15th April, 2017

GROTIUS’ NATURAL LAW THEORY

PRESENTED BY:
Baber Ahmed Abbasi
 1
HUGO GROTIUS (1583 AD –
1645 AD)
 He was a French philosopher, who born in 1583 AD and died in 1645 AD.

 He belonged to the Modern Era (1500 AD – 2000 AD)

 He worked on Natural Law in response to the religious war.

 He wrote a book named De jure belli ac pacis or On the Law of War

and Peace. This book is in Latin which was published in Paris, on the
legal status of war.

 He is know as father of Modern Natural Law.

 Grotius’ Natural Law Theory as 2
Theory of Human Rights
 Hugo Grotius belonged to Modern Era when there was a religious war going on in
Europe between two Christian groups; i.e. Catholic & Protestant. Both groups
thought that they are true believers and the other group is not.

 He worked on the Natural Law to create some principles on which both groups
could agree.

 He wrote the book On the Law of War and Peace to eliminate the differences and
conflicts between both groups and to convince them to be with him to resolve the
problems.

 This theory is named as the Theory of Human Rights because he worked and wrote
about the rights of human being.
 Man as a Creature of GOD 3

 He stated that men were created by God so all people must follow HIS principles.

 He said that we all are divine creatures.

 He declares that “What God has shown to be His Will, that is law. This axiom points
directly to the cause of law, and is rightly laid down as the primary principle”.

 Here Grotius announces that God determines the full and exact content of all
normative categories—justice, goodness and so forth.

 He said that whatever the God will is, that is law or primary principle.
 GOD does not Intervene in Human Affairs 4

 In his later work, he departs from the previous thoughts (What God has shown to
be His Will, that is law.)

 He said that God doesn’t intervene in human affairs.

 He declares that “the affairs of men are of no concern to him (God).”

 He said to European countries (where religious war was going on) that God will not
come down to remove the differences between you. He will not come in between
you. Every person may make his own decisions and will to do whatever he wants.
He asked both groups to work and remove the differences between you.

 Whatever you do, only you are responsible for that action, not God, and that is
what Secularism is.
 Moral Act as a Right 5

 In previous theories, human being was bound to choose the moral acts or moral
decisions.

 In this theory, Grotius said to the people that it is your right to choose what you
want to do.

 He said that God has created you, that’s all, now you have all the rights to do any
action.

 He added that it is not your duty but your right, means doing any moral act will be
your right that how you perform it and it is not your duty to perform it or you are
not bound to do it.
 A Priori and A Posteriori Methods 6

A Priori:
 It’s a method in which a speculation is created without knowing, seeing or learning
about people then it is known as “A Priori Method”.

 For e.g.: I am standing here and I speculate that all Americans are rude and racists,
however, I didn’t observe them personally.

A Posteriori:
 It’s a method in which you observe people that what they are doing, how they lead
the life and you learn about them and after that learning you say something or you
conclude, this method is known as “A Posteriori Method”.

 For e.g.: I have been studying in IoBM, I have been learning about the culture,
environment and all the details and now I can conclude about it in front of anyone.
THANK YOU !!