Book Launch: Joseph Milne's 'Natural Law and the Just Society'

The natural law tradition is rooted in the understanding that society has a place within the universe as a whole. Just as the universe has a natural order that is balanced and just, so does human society. The ancient study of law-making was grounded in this correlation between the universal order and the order of society. When a society conforms to its own real nature, it will flourish and be just and attain its proper end. This view of a natural social order was central to ancient political and economic theory, ranging from Hesiod, Greek philosophy, Roman jurisprudence and medieval theology. In philosophical reflection on jurisprudence natural law has always held a special place and informed the Western understanding of justice and the good society. Society had been seen analogously to a single body with its different functions which should work harmoniously together. Law-making sought to ground itself in this natural harmony. The present study seeks to trace the history of natural law within this wider social framework. In particular it seeks to show that insights from the natural law tradition have practical application in our own times, especially in the search for social and economic justice.

DR JOSEPH MILNE is an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Kent where he taught on the MA course in Mysticism and Religious Experience until his retirement in 2013. His interests range from Hinduism, Platonism, Patristics, classical natural law, medieval mysticism and theology.

Dr Milne is Editor of Land & Liberty, the journal of the Henry George Foundation. He is the author of the Temenos Academy Papers The Ground of Being: Foundations of Christian Mysticism (2004), Metaphysics and the Cosmic Order (2008) The Mystical Cosmos (2013) and The Lost Vision of Nature (2018). He is contributor of chapters to Friend to Mankind: Marsilio Ficino (Shepheard-Walwyn, 1999) Peacefulness: Being Peace and Making Peace edited by D. Cadman and S. Gill, (Spirit of Humanity Press, 2017) to The Harmony Debates: Exploring a practical philosophy for a sustainable future edited by Nicholas Campion, (University of Wales Trinity Saint David, 2020) and to Subtle Agroecologies: Farming With the Hidden Half of Nature edited by Julia Wright, (Routledge, 2021). He is editor of The Annotated Works of Henry George Volume VI (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2023) His forthcoming book is Natural Law and the Just Society. He is a Trustee of The Eckhart Society and a Fellow of the Temenos Academy.