Aristotle and Cicero

8/6/2019 Aristotle and Cicero

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ARISTOTLE


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384 BCE

Stagirus, Chalcidice

Proxemus

PlatosAcademy (20 years)

Mysia

PhillipIIandAlexanderthe Great

Fatherof NaturalLaw

BIOGRAPHY


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Lyceum

PeripateticSchool (Greek,peripatein towalkabout)

Empiricist

Diedin 322 BCE

BIOGRAPHY


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Aristotle argued that everything has apurpose or goal to which it aimed.

The aim of life is to fulfill your essence.

He describe good at which everythingaims. Something good is somehow

perfective and completing of a being.

Happiness is the basic good, whichmakes everything else worthwhile.

LEGALPHILOSOPHYON NATURAL

LAW


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A person can enjoy the good life byfulfilling his or her essential nature,

and doing it within the society.

Man is a thinking animal.

Reason was not just the ability tothink logical thoughts, but of livingthe good life in line with the

principles of reason.


LAW


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Reason is not just aboutunderstanding, but also about how

to act: Ethics.

Aristotle regards intellectualreasoning as the highest of allhuman activities for man isessentially a thinking animal.

Morality is based on reason.


LAW


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Law is reason unaffected by desire.

Human beings are essentially

reason.


LAW


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Aristotle believed that there were

abstract truths, natural laws, in

response to which men formedpositive laws.

It is important to recognized thedistinction between natural law and

positive law


LAW


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Thomas Aquinas: Natural law andNatural right

Rhetoric

Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle saidthat all supreme good is happiness,the product of virtue. The state is aperfect organic union which has for itspurpose virtue and universal

happiness.


LAW


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Public and private laws

Aristotle distinguishes law from

constitution.

Law can only give guidelines and

cannot settle in advance future

disputes.

LEGALPHILOSOPHY


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Aristotle holds that states and

their laws vary and may depend

on the character of the people

LEGALPHILOSOPHY


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CICERO,MARCUS TULLIUS


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Born on January 3, 106 BC

Murdered on December 7, 43 BC

Arpinum to RomeLaw, Philosophy and Rhetoric

He emerged as a great author and speaker

Cicero aimed to be a defense attorney as the

best bet for success in politics

He studied philosophy with the Athenian

Antiochus, who reflected Stoic influence,

BIOGRAPHY


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Having held office made him a member of

the Roman Senate

Cicero became a consul in 63 BCECicero was exiled

On the Orator, On the Republic, and On the

Laws

Caesar became the first Roman Emperor

Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian

Marcus

BIOGRAPHY


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The Romans excelled in the codification of law

but the philosophical basis was derived from the

Greeks.

According to Cicero, law is not a product ofchoice but is given by nature.

There is eternal law which is an expression of

universal reason. Equity and natural law are

factors in an ideal law. The contribution of the Romans to jurisprudence

is the formulation of codes.

Justinian code

LEGALPHILOSOPHY


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Justinian Code

PrivateLaw:

Law for individuals

composed ofNatural Law, Law of Nations, and Civil Law

NaturalLaw

"The law of nature is that law which nature

teaches to all animals. For this law does

not belong exclusively to the human race,

but belongs to all animals, whether of the

earth, the air, or the water. Hence comes

the union of the male and female, which

we term matrimony; hence the procreation

and bringing up of children. We see,

indeed, that all the other animals besides

men are considered as having knowledge

of this law."

LawofNations

"[T]he law which natural

reason appoints for all

mankind obtains equally

among all nations,

because all nations make

use of it."

CivilLaw

"The law which a

people makes for its

own government

belongs exclusively to

that state and is called

the civil law, as being

the law of the particular

state."

PublicLaw:Law for government


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Justinian

Code

"Civil law is thus distinguished from the

law of nations. Every community governedby laws and customs uses partly its own

law, partly laws common to all mankind. . .

. The people of Rome, then, are governed

partly by their own laws, and partly by thelaws which are common to all mankind."


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Justinian

Code

Nations have established certain laws, as

occasion and the necessities of human life required.Wars arose, and in their train followed captivity and

then slavery, which is contrary to the law of nature;

for by that law all men are originally born free.

Further, by the law of nations almost all contracts

were at first introduced, as, for instance, buying and

selling, letting and hiring, partnership, deposits,

loans returnable in kind, and very many others."


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De Legibus(On the L a w s , 52 B.C.) - Cicero talked about

the supreme law which existed through the ages, before

the mention of any written law or established state. The

human mind grasps that fundamental law and derives from

it the rules of right and wrong. Thus, the effective naturallaw for human is the mind and reason of the prudent

mind.

De Republica (The Republic, 51 B.C.) - True law is right

reason in agreement with nature; it is of universalapplication, unchanging and everlasting . . . there will not

be different laws at Rome and at Athens, or different laws

now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable

law will be valid for all nations and all times, and there will

be one master and ruler, God, over us all, for he is the

author of this law, its promulgator, and its enforcing judge.

LEGALPHILOSOPHY


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Ciceros De Officiis (On Duties, 44

B.C.)M-Mthe chief purpose in the

establishment of states andconstitutional orders was that individual

property rights might be secured . . . it

is the peculiar function of state and city

to guarantee to every man the free andundisturbed control of his own property.

LEGALPHILOSOPHY


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The essential justice that binds human

society together and is maintained by one

law is right reason.

Cicero declared that government is like a

trustee, morally obliged to serve society.

The highest human achievement lies in the

effective use of knowledge for the guidance

of human affairs.

LEGALPHILOSOPHY


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For Cicero, natural law obliges us to

contribute to the general good of the

larger society.

The purpose of positive laws is to

provide for"the safety of citizens, the

preservation of states, and thetranquility and happiness of human

life."

LEGALPHILOSOPHY


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The highest human achievement lies in

the effective use of knowledge for the

guidance of human affairs.

Cicero associates this idea to free

society-

that is, a constitutional republicin which persuasion rather than

violence is the instrument of political

power

LEGALPHILOSOPHY


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Cicero argues that natural world exhibits a

divinely ordained and rationally intelligible

order that can be codified in legislation andprovides the ultimate tribunal for all positive

laws.

Mankind perfects their own nature byfollowing Gods and Mans law, and when

these principles are not respected, human

nature is degraded.

LEGALPHILOSOPHY


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Cicero defended a universal human

community beyond ethnic differences and a

natural that is the same everywhere and

immutably binds every human and everynation.

Cicero said, there is only one principle by

which men may live with one another, and

that this is the same for all and possessed

equally by all.

LEGALPHILOSOPHY


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To Cicero, equality is moral obligation, every

human must be conceded some dignity and

respect since we are all part of the

humankind.

Cicero does not accept that the principles of

justice are founded on the rules of thelegislator, the dictates of people or the

decisions of judges.

LEGALPHILOSOPHY


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The principles of natural law are the basic

pillars that inspire the laws and norms by

which a nation is governed, and in so doing

avoid the failure of the legal system.

Ciceros life has illuminated two thousand

years of fight for what is ethical, what is justand what is good for humanity.

LEGALPHILOSOPHY

Aristotle and Cicero

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Transcript of Aristotle and Cicero