Flourishing Lives
Exploring Natural Law Liberalism

17th Oct 2024 by UName-456522

IDEAL FOR THE ASPIRING JURISPRUDENT: NATURAL LAW THEORY REVISITED FOR A NEW AUDIENCE IN 21st CENTURY An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator The word “liberal” has several meanings today both in Britain and in America. Gary Chartier opens his short work with these words: “I explore, illustrate, and seek to illuminate a radical version of liberalism articulated and defended using natural theory”. We get to Kelsen quite quickly although the introduction has a very detailed series of footnotes which it is best to ignore to get an early picture of what Chartier is postulated. He goes on to “elaborate, illuminate, and illustrate a confident and attractive account of social and political liberalism considering a rich understanding of flourishing and fulfilment rooted in a version of natural law theory.” It is a good idea to look at his conclusions from page 279 on “Radicals” where he writes that “a version of radical liberalism articulated and defended using natural law theory can foster flourishing and fulfillment”. From these words you get a general idea of the expansive language Chartier uses throughout! It does keep the attention, though. We found the examination of issues across jurisprudence including ethics, law, and politics of great help when understanding theories of law. In fact, all the things which many students find both difficult and sometimes not to their academic tastes are here. However, the author does include more interesting aspects of study reviewing consumer responsibility, the assignment of grades by teachers, deception by lawyers, war and empire, and the use of victim-impact statements in parole decisions to name but a few! Chartier main purpose, we believe, is with his submissions on how natural law theory can “effectively support pluralism, diversity, social equality, integrity, peace, and freedom”. It’s quite a wide area although any student of legal theory will know how complex the subject matter can be in the modern age. The author also covers these areas of study including a highlighting of natural law theory's “contemporary relevance” – a relief to many, we assure you. Chartier gives us a modern understanding of natural law theory supportive of pluralism and diversity today so if you want a “first” get this book. There is also a useful series of illustrations of how natural law theory by applying it in discussions of contemporary philosophical issues and social and political concerns which will have some use for the general reader embarking on a study of philosophy. The hardback book was first published on 19th June 2019. It is also available as an ebook.

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