Chapter 3. The Teological Perpective

CHA PTER 3: THE
TELEOLOGI CA L PERSPECTIVE
ROMEO RICO CAUILAN JR

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THE TELEOLOGICAL AGENDA

• LABELS
PERSPECTIVE
• Natural Law Basis

• The Greek Concept
• The Roman Concept
• The Aquinian Concept
• The Kantian Concept
• The Utility Supplement
• The Hegelian Concept
• The Neo-Hegelian Twist
• Modem Teleological Analysis
Labels
THE TELEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Teleological is from the greek words “telos” end and “logos” study.
- The label "philosophical jurisprudence" has been used to identify the thinking and method of this juristic
school. The reason for this is that the major part of its discourse lies in the realm of metaphysics.
- This label emphasizes the fundamental point of view of this juristic school: that the law is ordained for the
achievement of the precepts of the natural law, namely, righteousness, justice, fairness, and equity in the
legal order.
- For this juristic· school, the achievement or realization of these precepts in the legal order is the telos of the
law.
- The teleological concept of law is based on the natural law philosophy. For the teleologists, natural law has a great role in
shaping the concept of law than any other idea. This is based on their view that there is a very present bond or relationship
existing between positive law and natural law. In other words, it is upon the precepts of the natural law that the completeness
of the legal order can be achieved.
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Natural Law Basis
- The teleologists consider the natural law as the most potent force in the development of
legal institutions and legal concepts. This is based on their view that there is a very
present bond or relationship existing between positive law and natural law.
- Natural Law, as defined by Plato and Aristotle, “is a discipline to which human conduct and relations must conform in order to
realize both the individual and the common good.”
- It is also defined as “the universal discipline of virtue in the exercise of their rights, in the performance of their obligations, in the
observance of rules, and the preservation of order and unity.”
- With the possible exception of some modern teleologists who advocate the concept of the
natural law with a changing content, the teleological school of jurisprudence believes that
a good legal order can be deduced from the natural law, thus making the law universally
valid for all peoples.
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The Greek Concept
- Socrates, Plato and Aristotle believed that good faith in dealing with one another is the
condition of life in society. This means that human beings have a basic idea of the
precepts of the natural law enabling them to distinguish between right and wrong and to
discern between good and bad.
- They found their unassailable starting point in the study of the nature of law in the moral
nature and good faith of human beings. On this basis, not power or might, human beings
are able to live harmoniously with one another is the condition of life in society.
 Greek Concept
 Socrates’ Absolute Justice
 Platos’ Rational Justice
 Aristotle's Particular Justice
 Law as the Product of Reason Related to Justice and Equity
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The Greek Concept
Socrates’ Absolute Justice

 No person is intentionally bad or evil because of his or her understanding of justice;
 the failure to do what is just and avoid what is unjust is really due to morbid physiological appetites, mistakes, or even bad
company.
 Socrates drew a distinction between absolute knowledge of justice (episteme) and mere opinion of justice (doxa).
 Only the temperate person knows himself or herself and thus able to bring his or her emotions under control.
 Socrates explained that in relation to the gods a temperate person will do what is virtuous and just, in relation to rights and
obligations a temperate person will do what ought and avoid what ought not, and in relation to other persons a temperate
person will act properly, patiently enduring when necessary.
 A temperate individual is a good. happy and sound person able to judge whether his or her acts and their consequences
would be just (virtuous) or unjust (vicious).
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The Greek Concept
Platos’ Rational Justice

- The reality or idea of "justice" exists in the mind even though one does not see it done or
performed in fact. Plato posited the concept of justice yielding to the rational mind.
- Human beings are capable of discerning justice from injustice even in their minds. Rational justice
is sufficient to enable human beings to attain their moral nature and good faith, keeping their self-
respect by doing good and fulfilling their proper functions in society.
- The law is an instrument of doing justice in the state, that is to say preserving peace and harmony
therein. Rational justice dictates that every individual in the state should attend to his or her own
function whether he or she is a legislator, a judge, or whatever.
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The Greek Concept
Aristotle's Particular Justice

- Aristotle denied Socrates' concept of absolute justice as too exacting for it demanded the kind of
moral excellence which is the culmination of all virtues. Aristotle did not also agree with Plato's
concept of rational justice because it was still a subjective virtue.
- Justice is sound and sensible when, in light of events and circumstances, it is fair and equal. In this
context, Aristotle insisted that a person cannot be unfairly or unequally treated even with her or his
consent. Consent cannot justify an unfair and unequal treatment. This Aristotelian insight later
became the basis of the Roman law concept of volenti non fit iniuria ("to a willing person, injury is
not done").
- Put differently, justice is a particular virtue not a universal ingredient in the application of law in
society. In the thinking of Aristotle, the rigidity of the administration of justice, which is apparent in
the jurisprudence of Socrates and Plato, should be tempered with fair equality.
- Proportional justice and numerical justice differentiated. In the former, each person receives what she
or he is entitled to on the basis of ability and achievement. In numerical justice, each person,
regardless of station in life, counts for one and only one.
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The Greek Concept
Law as the Product of Reason Related to Justice and

Equity
- Righteousness, justice, fairness, and equality are the potentialities of the law. To this end all
persons are to conform their actions because such an end is part of the natural order of things.
Aristotle, in particular, stoutly believed that the law, viewed in this light and applied to particular
situations, would provide a generally acceptable solution.
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The Greek Concept
Law as the Product of Reason Related to Justice and

Equity
- Righteousness, justice, fairness, and equality are the potentialities of the law. To this end all
persons are to conform their actions because such an end is part of the natural order of things.
Aristotle, in particular, stoutly believed that the law, viewed in this light and applied to particular
situations, would provide a generally acceptable solution.
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The Roman Concept
• The Roman jurisprudents subjected the nature of the law to technical analysis and
endorsed it with their practical genius for colonization. Roman jurisprudence
subjected it to technical analysis and endorsed it with their authority and practical
genius, unlike the Greek’s concept of nature of law, which was only a philosophical
speculation. Conception of justice began to have a definite legal content
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The Roman Concept
Cicero
• According to Cicero, since humankind "is governed naturally by utility, then, to rule the different
races and cultures under the Roman dominion effectively, the law must be based on the principle of
utility, that is to say in the interest of the ruler and not for the interest of the governed.
• He introduced compulsion as an element of the law. He posited the idea that the law cannot be an
effective means of social control on the basis of rationality alone but must also be able to compel
obedience.
• Cicero opposed prudence as a factor in determining the justice or injustice of an act or conduct. An
act may be prudent but the question remains: is it just and fair. An act may be against a legal rule
but it may still be just.
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The Roman Concept
Gaius
• Gaius advanced the view that the rules established by the citizens to govern themselves fall under
the jus civile, while the rules common to all other persons based on the natural law are classified
under the jus naturale.
• Those that are in derogation of the precepts of the natural law are not laws at all. If such laws exist
it is due to the sanctions attached to them, not because they are laws. They do not contribute to
the maintenance and preservation of lawness. On the contrary, they are conducive to lawlessness.
• Laws must be reexamined by the lawmaking body every once in a while. This process would
provide the means for legal cleansing whereby any abnormality or irregularity in the legal order
could be adjusted to comply with the end and purpose of the law.
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The Aquinian Concept
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THE AQUINIAN CONCEPT
• Thomas Aquinas thought of the law as an institution ordained by God. Here the Greco-Roman notion of
(impersonal) nature as the source of the law was substituted by the power of God who is "the
Legislator of the whole of justice and Governor of all things." The people are then bound to obey
secular rules only to the extent that the precepts of the natural law are met.
• Thomas Aquinas stated that "kings must be subject to priests, therefore, as soon as a ruler falls under
sentence of excommunication for apostasy from the faith his subjects are ipso facto absolved from his
rule and from the oath of fealty which bound them to him.
• Thomas Aquinas expressed the view that a human being has a rational soul and a will of his own. This
is ordained by God for the universal good. 38 But a human being has also a nutritive soul.
• Human reason influenced as it is by physiological sensations is not sufficient to bring human beings to
a correct understanding of what is right and just. Reasonable people have varied ideas as to what is
right and just. Human beings have biases and prejudices making it difficult to agree with them even
when they claim to be acting in a reasonable manner.
• Right reason is the governing rule of human conduct "for the common good, which is preferable to
one's proper good, because the common good of the whole is God Himself."
• Should any rule or measure of action depart from the precepts of the natural law, then it ls no longer
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valid but a perversion of the law
• Aquanian concept of natural law is base on the notion of eternal law promulgated by a creator (God). Thomas
Aquinas begins his explanation of natural law by defining the law in its generality. Law for Aquinas is a dictate of
reason from the ruler for the community he rules.
• Based on that definition of law Aquinas believed that rulers rule for the sake of the governed, for the good and
well being of those subject to the ruler. Since God rules the world with his reason, therefore, his reason is the
eternal law. The eternal law is ordained for the universal good. Based on the tenet that creator knows His creation
very well and He knows what is good for them.
• God imprinted this eternal law to the nature or essence of man. Man acts according to nature. God also endowed
man with free will and reason. The concept of proper acts and purpose of man is derived from the law that is
written into his nature. Man must exercise his natural reason to discover what is best for him in order to achieve
the end to which their nature inclines.
• Man through his reason and free will participate in the eternal law of God. He uses his knowledge of the eternal
law and his purpose based on that laws to discern what is good and evil. To do what is good and refrain what is
evil.
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Four Types of Law

Aquinas introduced the Four Types of Law, which includes:
ETERNAL: Direct Word of God, governs all creation
NATURAL: human adherence to eternal law, discovered by reason
DIVINE: the law as defined in the Scriptures
POSITIVE: made by man/ government and it relies on the
government for its power.
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Justice
• Justice as an ethical virtue - considered justice to be inherent in every person.

• Justice as a juristic norm - considered justice as "the habit whereby man renders to each one
his rights by a constant and perpetual will.
Law and Sovereignty
• Sovereignty itself is, of course, not subject to law, for it is the author and source of law, but in our
system while sovereign powers are delegated to the agencies of government, sovereignty itself
remains with the people by whom and for whom all government exists and acts. And the law is the
definition and limitation of power.
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Immutability of Law
• The doctrine that the subsequent application of first principles may be periodically expanded or
contracted in accordance with the prevailing conceptions of the times finds basis in the distinction
drawn by Thomas Aquinas as to the immutability of the law.
• Changes do occur in the subsequent applications of the law and these changes may be by
expansion or contraction in accordance with the civilization of the time and place.
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The Kantian Concept
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The Kantian Concept
By transcendental philosophy, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

means learning or understanding determined by the mind itself.
It is pure knowledge for it is not gained by or through sense
experience.
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The Kantian Concept
Human Consciousness and Conduct
• The human mind has the capacity to construct or harmonize ideas and concepts even prior to
experiencing them by the physical senses.
• The truth and certainty of ideas and concepts depended on subsequent experience or consequence,
then they would be correct only a posteriori but not a priori.
• Since the human mind is capable of forming and harmonizing ideas and concepts independently of
experience or consequence, then they would be valid for all rational individuals at all times in all
places which would make them dependable guides to human actions and conduct.
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The Kantian Concept
1. The Principle of Rightness
The precepts of the natural law are not prompted by sense-experience but by ethical altitude
to do what is right and avoid what is wrong with the application of the unique faculties of
human consciousness, namely, thinking, volition and judgment. This unique capacity for
moral choice sets human beings apart from other creatures. Kant called this the principle of
rightness.
2. The Categorical Imperative

Immanuel Kant concluded that the universal criterion of right conduct has to be categorical,
that is to say one with its own unequivocal merit, valid and good in itself, which all the people
would know at once without reference to subsequent experiences or conditions. Kant also
concluded that the universal criterion of right conduct has to be imperative, that is to say
compulsory and mandatory. Thus. Kant called his one and only universal criterion of right
conduct the "categorical imperative" and expressed it in this wise: All persons living in
society must act in such a way that the maxim or cause of their conduct and
decisions would become the maxim of a universal law.
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The Kantian Concept
The Sense of Striving for Rightness
• First, Kant reiterated Aristotle's position that the philosophy of the natural law should seek the level of
humanity.
• Second, Kant reconciled the seemingly inconsistent notions of human freedom and the demands of moral
duty, thereby giving meaning to the collective interests of the people.
Metalegal Basis of Law
• The clearest implication of this concept of the nature of the law is that an individual can act freely
when he or she strives for the ethical. For, as Immanuel Kant puts it, "if the intention is not to
teach virtue but only to teach what is lawful, then, we need and ought not to adopt the law as a
guide for our conduct." It follows that a person cannot be treated merely as a means to the telos
of the law.
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The Kantian Concept
The Utility Supplement
• The doctrine of utilitarianism is traceable to Epicurus (342-270 B.C.). Since then

teleologists with the utilitarian complexion have considered happiness as the measure of
the goodness or badness of acts and their consequences based on the hedonistic
calculus.
• The telos of the law are the pleasures that are conducive to repose of both individual and
societal needs. Repose of mind, explained Epicurus, is the situation or condition denoting
freedom from pain.
• The legal ordering of society must always be directed to the overcoming of pain. This is
based on the fact that pain appears to be the major part of human existence and
pleasure a temporary or transitory release from pain.
• To achieve this end, modern utilitarians posit a combination of the theory of the good
(happiness as the highest good) and the theory of value (the usefulness of an act or
conduct depends on its consequences). 25
• The doctrine of utilitarianism is traceable to Epicurus (342-270 B.C.). Since then

teleologists with the utilitarian complexion have considered happiness as the measure of
the goodness or badness of acts and their consequences based on the hedonistic
calculus.
• The telos of the law are the pleasures that are conducive to repose of both individual and
societal needs. Repose of mind, explained Epicurus, is the situation or condition denoting
freedom from pain.
• The legal ordering of society must always be directed to the overcoming of pain. This is
based on the fact that pain appears to be the major part of human existence and
pleasure a temporary or transitory release from pain.
• To achieve this end, modern utilitarians posit a combination of the theory of the good
(happiness as the highest good) and the theory of value (the usefulness of an act or
conduct depends on its consequences). 26
Stages of Modem Utilitarian Ethics
• There are two distinct stages in the development of the modern utilitarian supplement to the
teleological perspective of the nature of the law: Benthamite and Jherinian.
The Benthamite Concept
• Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) felt that while an individual is a part of a politically organized
society, nevertheless, there remains an element of his individuality that is not merged into
society of which he is a constituent part. It was Bentham's enduring contribution to jurisprudence
to have insisted with a reformer's zeal that the true worth of an act or conduct depends on its
consequence to the individual interest. This is the stage that started individualist utilitarianism.
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The Benthamite Concept
Nature Basis
• Bentham utilized the same considerations that Epicurus and Plato mentioned to be the foundation of an
expedient theory of the nature of the law, namely, what pleasures ought not to be sought and what pains
ought to be avoided.
• A person instinctively seeks and enjoys pleasure or happiness and shuns and loathes pain or misery.
Measure of Utility
- Bentham provided a measure of utility in terms of pleasures and pains to evaluate the effects of
acts and conduct on the greatest happiness of the greatest number of individuals in the
community.
- Pleasures of the physical senses
 of wealth, which are either of acquisitions or of possessions;

 of amity or self-recommendation which refer to the possession of the good will of a
particular person or persons 28
Measure of Utility
- Pleasures of the physical senses
 of a good name or reputation,. which refer to the possession of the goodwill of the society about him
 of power, which refer to the possession of the ability and capacity to order or direct people by means of their hopes and fears
 of piety, which refer to the possession of the good will or favor of God either in this life or in the hereafter
 of benevolence, which refer to the possession of charity or human sympathy, good nature, tolerance,
consideration, or mercy
 of malevolence, which refer to the possession of ill-will, malice. or antipathy on those who may become the
objects of malevolence
 of memory, which refer to those which one may experience at recollecting some prior pleasurable experiences
 of imagination, which refer to the contemplation or consideration of any pleasure which may be, in point of
time, present, past or future
 of expectation, which refer to the contemplation or consideration of some future kind of pleasure accompanied
by the sentiment of belief
 of the ones dependent on association resulting from or growing out of some association or connection with
certain objects or incidents which are in themselves pleasurable
 of relief, which refer to experiences which have to do with cessation of pain
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Measure of Utility
- Pains of which human beings are susceptible to:
 of privation, which refer to pains resulting from failure to possess any of the several kinds of
pleasures and include pains of unsatisfied desire and pains of regret
 of senses, which are related to disagreeable sensations
 of awkwardness. which refer to the consciousness of lack or want of skill or finesse
 of enmity, which refer to the pains which sometimes results from the non-possession of the
goodwill or the possession of the ill-will of a particular person or persons
 of bad reputation, which refer to the non-possession of the goodwill or the possession of
the ill-will of society
 of impiety which refer to the non-possession of the goodwill or favor of God
 of benevolence, resulting from the thought that someone who happens to be the object of
one's sympathy is enduring pain
 of malevolence resulting from the thought that someone who happens to be the object of
one's antipathy is enjoying pleasure 30
Measure of Utility
 of memory, which refer to those which one may experience at

recollecting some prior painful experience
 of imagination, which may be derived from the contemplation or
consideration of any such pains which may be, in point of time,
present, past or future
 of expectation, which refer to the contemplation or consideration of
some future kind of pain accompanied by the sentiment of belief
 of the ones dependent on association resulting from or growing out of
some association or connection with certain objects or incidents which
are in themselves painful
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Measure of Utility
 of memory, which refer to those which one may experience at

recollecting some prior painful experience
 of imagination, which may be derived from the contemplation or
consideration of any such pains which may be, in point of time,
present, past or future
 of expectation, which refer to the contemplation or consideration of
some future kind of pain accompanied by the sentiment of belief
 of the ones dependent on association resulting from or growing out of
some association or connection with certain objects or incidents which
are in themselves painful
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Measure of Utility
- Two ways of measuring the utility of an act and its consequences:
 The first is composed of several circumstances or factors, viz:

 Extensity, which refers to the number of person affected
 Endemic, which falls on certain individuals; it is called primitive if it is confined
to one individual, but it is called derivative if it falls on certain individuals
because of their relations with, or their interests in, the first enjoyer or
sufferer
 Epidemic, which affects a larger number of individuals in a community due to
their awareness or consciousness of the existence of the pleasure or pain; with
regard to pain, it may either be alarming or dangerous depending on the
factors characterizing it
 Pandemic, which falls on or spreads out to the entire community
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Measure of Utility
 Intensity, which refers to the degree of the pleasantness or painfulness at a given time
or over a given period of time
 Duration, which refers to the period of time the pleasure or pain lasts
 Propinquity, which refers to the influence of the more immediate rather than the remote
pleasures or pains
 Fecundity, which refers to the tendency to produce or lead to either pleasures or pains
 Purity, which refers to the tendency not to produce either pleasures or pains
 The second way of measuring the utility of an act or conduct is also composed of
several factors which have a great deal to do with personal or individual
differences as to sensibility to pleasures or pains.
 These factors are temperament, health, strength, physical defect, relationship,
education, physical condition, mental condition, sex, age, rank, occupation, trade,
profession, religion, honor, sympathies, antipathies, ethnic group, and inclination.34
Measure of Utility
 Intensity, which refers to the degree of the pleasantness or painfulness at a given time
or over a given period of time
 Duration, which refers to the period of time the pleasure or pain lasts
 Propinquity, which refers to the influence of the more immediate rather than the remote
pleasures or pains
 Fecundity, which refers to the tendency to produce or lead to either pleasures or pains
 Purity, which refers to the tendency not to produce either pleasures or pains
 The second way of measuring the utility of an act or conduct is also composed of
several factors which have a great deal to do with personal or individual
differences as to sensibility to pleasures or pains.
 These factors are temperament, health, strength, physical defect, relationship,
education, physical condition, mental condition, sex, age, rank, occupation, trade,
profession, religion, honor, sympathies, antipathies, ethnic group, and inclination.35
Application in the Legal Order
• With this Jeremy Bentham sought to test all legislation and all acts by their bearing on individual
human happiness or misery. Bentham concluded that the law is a system of social control directing
and governing persons to the maximum of happiness and to the minimum of misery.
• Thus, rules should be judged by their tendency to promote happiness and avoid pain.
• To this end, Bentham specified the ends of the law, namely, "to provide substance, to produce
abundance, to encourage equality, and to maintain peace and security."
• This can be accomplished by direct pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain.
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The Jherinian Concept
• Rudolf von Jhering (1818-1892) posited that there should be a concurrence of selfish individual
interests with the general purposes of society.
• When the interests of society are met, then, the welfare of society is served and. consequently, the
welfare of the individual members of society are met too.
• An act or conduct is good when it takes into consideration the interest of society and tends to
augment the happiness of the entire society. Thus, the Jherinians are social utilitarians
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Law of Purpose
Jhering's social utilitarianism is based on two principles:
• Principle of Purpose. Jhering stated that "purpose" is the prime mover of the law. Choices
and decisions are made for a purpose. Human actions are thus end-directed. If the
exercise of the human will is determined by some external cause, then there is no more
reason to hold a person accountable and responsible for what he or she does or does not
do. Put differently, a wrongdoer could very well plead the "because of” in order to relieve
himself or herself of responsibility for his or her conduct.
• Nature has endowed human beings with an interest in pleasures and an inclination to
shun pain. An act or conduct is subject to pleasures and pain, but individual interests can
best be realized in concurrence with the collective purposes.
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Social Mechanics
To realize the partnership or concurrence of individual and social purposes, the collective society or
the politically organized society applies its influence on the people by means of egoistic and
altruistic levers – this is social mechanics.
Egoistic levers
This type of levers refers to incentives addressed to the region of self-interest or selfish purposes.
 Egoistic non-coercive lever are the fact or event of reward and the fact or event
of association.
 lever of reward are expectations of honor, respect, or income
 lever of association are expectations of acceptance by individuals or society
providing a powerful incentive to the individuals in the community to pursue
interests where others can share or participate in 39
Egoistic levers
 Egoistic coercive lever are the mechanical and psychological means

 In the mechanical lever of coercion, society itself acts in order to master,
subdue, or break an individual's purpose. Thus, for example, the state may
send a person to prison in order to prevent him from further realizing his
criminal fecundity.
 In the psychological lever of coercion, pressure is exerted by society, just as
in the first case, but the mastering or breaking of the individual will or purpose
is done by the subject or person concerned. To pursue the example given
above, a person subdues his or her own criminal tendency when he or she
sees that those who violate the laws of society are punished for their
wrongdoings.
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Altruistic levers.
- This type of levers are directed to the benevolent or generous interests of the members
of society.
 In the feeling of duty, there are certain responsibilities and tasks enjoined on
the individual members of society so that the conditions of social living can be
realized or accomplished.
 In the lever of feeling of goodwill, the purposes of society are served by the
love of family and the love of country. Thus, solidarity and patriotism are outward
forms of the altruistic lever of feeling of goodwill.
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Value of the Utility Supplement
• The principles of utilitarian ethics are applicable to and of good use in legal theory, especially the
development and thrust of the law. Both individual interests and collective purposes should become the
end or object of the science and art of legislation.
• The science of legislation is the knowledge of the good for the community.
• The art of legislation is finding ways and means to realize or accomplish that good.
• The principle of utilitarianism has been applied in the field of human rights.
• Bentham: that equality is one of the main aspects of law and in reviving the importance not only of
the right to life, personality and dignity but also the collective purpose in the conservation of
human resources.
• Jhering's social utilitarianism sought a balance between individual interests and the purposes of
society, which Roscoe Pound later developed into a theory of social engineering of the conflicting or
overlapping interests. Jhering's classification of purposes into individual, political and social was
also Pound's basis for his theory of social interests in which he identified and labeled the generic
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interests of society.
The Hegelian Concept
• Georg Frederich Hegel (1770-1831) took a somewhat different direction in the study of the
problem of the nature of law. Hegel stated his basic premise that "the law is the product of an
evolutionary process." But unlike Savigny's concept of the volksgeist as the basis of the
evolutionary process of the law, Hegel's evolutive process appears in a dialectic pattern that has
two elements whose struggle between them is either wholly or partially settled or reconciled by the
synthesis of the contending views:
• Thesis
• Antithesis
• Principle of Identity. It states that "all that is rational is real and what is real is rational." By
this Hegel means that nothing is real or actual unless it is intelligible or rational as well. Thus,
anything which is intelligible is actual and anything that is actual is intelligible. The principle of
identity seeks the reconciliation of opposite views or ideas.
• Hegel held that all concepts are actualized by this dialectic movement, that is to say a concept
(thesis) may evoke an opposite idea (antithesis) and out of their reconciliation or identification
emerges a new concept (synthesis). The synthesis becomes the prevailing idea or view of the
times until an opposite antithesis appears and reconciliation or identification of the competing43
ideas
or views is again necessary
The Neo-Hegelian Twist
• The Neo-Hegelians skillfully used Hegel's concept as the basis of their theory of law-power in the
hands of the party-state, where there is no separation of the powers of government.
• This distorted interpretation of Hegel's philosophy of law and state made a very strong appeal to
socialists, like Karl Marx and Nicolai Lenin. Marx saw immediately the thesis and antithesis in
contemporary society, that is to say bourgeois and proletariat. Marx used Hegel's dialectic idealism
and came up with his (Marx) own philosophy of dialectic materialism, that is to say the withering
away of the bourgeois social and legal orders and the emergence of the dictatorship of the
proletariat.
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Modem Teleological Analysis
A. Juristic Approach
Modern teleological jurisprudents, notably Josef Kohler and Sidney Hook, consider a knowledge of right and wrong or good and
evil that is relative to the changing conditions of time, place, and people
B. Ethical Relativity
- Kohler: "there is no ideal absolute or absolute ideal." There is simply no absolute formula (e.g., natural law philosophy] to
determine the different aspects of the legal ordering of society. Kohler emphasized that "legal concepts, including law, have
their respective ideal tendencies not the same tendencies."
o Example: the principle that ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance therewith, particularly in crimes mala
prohibita, where intent is immaterial. Should this be tempered with "sound reason and mercy?" Are not common sense
and compassionate treatment of an offender or adversary changeable values?
 Was this, then, the reason why the principle was not applied at all in the case of People v. Navarro, involving a
thirteen year old girl who was arrested for selling a tin of cocoa for an amount eleven centavos more than the ceiling
price, while tending her sister's variety store when the latter was away at the time?
 And is this the reason, too, why it is wrong to lie but not, it seems, to deceive the enemy in times of war?
• Sidney Hook posited another direction. For Hook, the criterion of what is right really depends on what he called the “primary
desires” of the people, which, however, are constantly in flux. The problem "of what is right and what is wrong” is to be
conceived as the equilibration of interests and their adjustments to environment.
45
Modem Teleological Analysis
C. Interest of the State

• The interest in the integrity and stability of the state has been considered the supreme morality or
ultimate value of society. This is based on the theory that if the state cannot protect its own
structure, then it follows that no subordinate value can be protected.
• The interest of the state has become the cardinal standard or measure of actions in the legal order,
especially with regards to judicial interpretation and review of cases involving government and
governmental problems. At bottom, when an act or conduct and its consequence are in conformity
with the interest of the state, then they are considered as good and just.
• David Hume posited the view that "reason is and ought only to be the slave of passions."
Reason recognizes utility but passion to be sure provides the compelling force of all actions. Hume
believed that an act or an idea is either approved or disapproved on the basis of the public benefit
from it. It is obvious that justice in Hume's thinking may or may not be endowed with fair equality
i.e. that which fulfills the interest in the integrity and stability of the state is justified and will be
enforced by its coercive power, even though it may be unfair in the individual cases.
• .
46
Essential Attributes of the Law
• Greco-Roman-Aquinian viewpoint: right reason in relation to justice and equity is the essential
attribute of the law; the law is considered binding because it conforms to the precepts of the
natural law.
• Utilitarian viewpoint: the greatest happiness of the greatest number in the community, in terms
of both individual and social interests, is the important attribute of the law; the law is binding
because it is useful.
• Modem teleological analysis: the free willing individual in a changing society stands out as the
essential attribute of the law
47
48
PRESENTATION TITLE
THANK YOU
ROMEO RICO CAUILAN JR

Chapter 3. The Teological Perpective

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Chapter 3. The Teological Perpective

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CHA PTER 3: THE

ROMEO RICO CAUILAN JR

THE TELEOLOGICAL AGENDA

• Natural Law Basis

 Socrates’ Absolute Justice

 Platos’ Rational Justice

 Aristotle's Particular Justice

 Law as the Product of Reason Related to Justice and Equity

Socrates’ Absolute Justice

Platos’ Rational Justice

Aristotle's Particular Justice

Law as the Product of Reason Related to Justice and

Law as the Product of Reason Related to Justice and

The Aquinian Concept

Four Types of Law

• Justice as an ethical virtue - considered justice to be inherent in every person.

Law and Sovereignty

The Kantian Concept

By transcendental philosophy, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

Human Consciousness and Conduct

1. The Principle of Rightness

2. The Categorical Imperative

The Sense of Striving for Rightness

Metalegal Basis of Law

The Utility Supplement

• The doctrine of utilitarianism is traceable to Epicurus (342-270 B.C.). Since then

The Utility Supplement

• The doctrine of utilitarianism is traceable to Epicurus (342-270 B.C.). Since then

Stages of Modem Utilitarian Ethics

The Benthamite Concept

The Benthamite Concept

 of wealth, which are either of acquisitions or of possessions;

- Pleasures of the physical senses

- Pains of which human beings are susceptible to:

- Pains of which human beings are susceptible to:

 of memory, which refer to those which one may experience at

- Pains of which human beings are susceptible to:

 of memory, which refer to those which one may experience at

- Two ways of measuring the utility of an act and its consequences:

 The first is composed of several circumstances or factors, viz:

- Two ways of measuring the utility of an act and its consequences:

- Two ways of measuring the utility of an act and its consequences:

Application in the Legal Order

The Jherinian Concept

The Jherinian Concept

Jhering's social utilitarianism is based on two principles:

The Jherinian Concept

The Jherinian Concept

 Egoistic coercive lever are the mechanical and psychological means

The Jherinian Concept

The Jherinian Concept

Value of the Utility Supplement

C. Interest of the State

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