Strong Reading of the Religious Theory of Natural Law: Epistemological Challenges and Their Solutions

Afzali, Ayuob; Fanaei, Abolghasem

doi:10.22096/ek.2021.138284.1271

Strong Reading of the Religious Theory of Natural Law: Epistemological Challenges and Their Solutions

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Ayuob Afzali ¹

Abolghasem Fanaei ²

¹ Master of Philosophy of Religion, Qom University, Qom, Iran.

² Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Mofid University, Qom, Iran.

10.22096/ek.2021.138284.1271

Abstract

Strog reading of the religious theory of natural law is a view that makes it possible to explain and discover the moral advice of religion without referring to the scriptures. This reading is based on the following two principles: (1) the application of natural law as an explanatory framework for the moral advice of religion; And (2) emphasis on the ability of natural reason to fully understand natural law. One of the most controversial aspects of this theory is its epistemological background and the role of natural reason in understanding natural law. The claim that all of God's moral advice can be understood in the light of natural reason faces challenges that we will examine in this article. The four essential components of this reading to solve epistemological challenges are: (1) the theological validity of natural law; (2) religious significance independent of the sacred text; (3) comprehensiveness and inclusion in the field of normative ethics and practical ethics; And (4) the precedence of its rank and position over the sacred text. In this article, we discuss the epistemological challenges that the strong reading of natural law faces and along with the explanation of the four mentioned components, try to show a framework within which natural wisdom can know all the moral advice of God.

Keywords

Ethical Theory of Natural Law and Theology

Theory of Natural Law

Challenges of strong Reading

Representation of Natural Law from Religious Ethics

Natural Law and Natural reason

A) Books and Articles

Afzali, Ayub and Abolghasem Fanaei (2018). “Revision of the Principles of Religious Ethics and its Content from the Perspective of Allameh Taleghani”, Bi-Quarterly Journal of Knowledge and Exictenc, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 1-26. [In Persian]

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B) Websites

Spade, Paul Vincent and Panaccio, Claude, "William of Ockham", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/ockham/>.

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