Abstract

This book was edited from a set of tapes taken at a course in natural law which the late professor Simon gave at the University of Chicago in 1958. The subject is one Simon had long reflected upon and frequently dealt with in other works; and there is nothing of a substantive nature that is new with this volume. The combination of Simon's noted pedagogical talent and a skillful job of editing conspire, however, to provide a succinct and helpful review of the past, present, and future place of natural law in ethical jurisprudence. The stress, if any, is that natural law was never meant to be a "pure theory" of law following a rigid deductive model, and is, in fact, the philosophical perspective most congenial to the combination of theoretical and practical reasoning that is necessary for a pertinent jurisprudence.—E. A. R.