LAW 210: Law, Culture and Community Powerpoint Week 4: Antigone ---Natural Law and Positive Law Lecture notes Slide 2 *Sophocles was an enormously popular and successful Athenian poet and play write in his own lifetime - his entire life took place in the century of Athens greatness as an imperial democracy and the leading city-state of the Hellenic world. He composed 120 dramas, but only 7 tragedies survive. His plays - Oedipus the King, Antigone - were thought highly of by Plato and Aristotle. *We're reading and listening to the words of Antigone because of the important themes of the relationship between positive law, natural law, and political obligation in order for us to think more about what are the grounds for the legitimate exercise of political authority over us. So we don't need to get bogged down in understanding Sophocles particular motivations for writing this play in his own political times. But, it does help to think about his motivations a little. Sophocles was particularly interested in presenting the contrast between what he saw as timeless, immortal truths of the nature of being (blending of the natural physical world and the immortal truths derived from the heavans) that we must accept as part of our reality AND the mortal world constructed by the positive laws of the political process. This is a fundamental theme in Greek tradegy - and it always ends up the same: Nothing good comes from people not accepting the divine will and teachings of the immortal heavenly truths (Antigone's position). The lesson here: Divine Will is always eventually done. *Continuously performed for over 2000 years, however since World War II there's been a significant upsurge in the number of revivals world-wide. The play is interpreted now as a meditation on the dangers of the abuse of political authority when it is exercised by a strong centralized state - just after WWII the play was first performed as a statement of the abuse of power by the Nazi leadership and the rise of fascism as a form of government. *A recent adaptation of Antigone at the National Theater in London made an effort to level the playing field between Creon - the voice of positive law and the will of the State -- and Antigone - the voice of the grounding force of natural law and moral principles. Creon was portrayed as a strong leader in a very difficult spot in his efforts to establish order and stability at the tail end of a bloody civil war. Antigone's appeal to the need to heed the precepts of natural law in creating a positive legal structure still had force, but Creon definitely was given a more serious treatment than in the early post WWII adaptations. In fact, the play opened with Creon and his advisors sitting around a TV screen - in modern western executive dress - looking very much like the scene from the security room where the Obama Administration was huddled while watching the secret mission of the Navy Seals when the raid on Osama bin Laden took place in Spring 2011. Slide 3 The backstory for Antigone is this: The play opens at the end of a civil war in Thebes. Antigone has one sister, Ismene, and two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices. Antigone's father was Oedipus, King of Thebes. Now, Oedipus fathered Antigone and her siblings with his own mother, Jocasta. A twisted family tree, to say the least. (Although, to be fair, at the time Oedipus married his mother he didn't know who she was - and when he did find out, he blinded himself and left Thebes to wander alone. Poor Jocasta, his wife/mother, upon discovering the news that she had married her son and borne his children, hung herself) And, there was already enough family cursed heartache to go around. But, a civil war broke out among Antigone's brothers after King Oedipus left Thebes. In the decisive last battle between the brothers, Polynices - the challenger - kills Eteocles - the brother who has the backing of his powerful uncle, Creon. And, in the battle Polynices also dies. Creon immediately assumes the Thebian throne as the only rightful heir and issues a decree (POSTIVE LAW) that only Eteocles shall receive an honorable burial, while Creon's law requires that Polynices is to receive no burial rights at all. Antigone is incensed by Creon's decree. She takes it upon herself to break Creon's law and she begins to administer burial rites according to her belief that Natural Law (of the Gods) requires that she do so. She believes Creon's decree violates Natural Law and that the Natural Law is superior to Creon's Positive Law edict. Creon does not stand for Antigone's disobedience against his law - as he says the law of the State is necessary to be followed to insure proper order and stability among the people. And, Creon believes that his edict is compatible with the Natural Law governing the situation because Polynices turned against his own family (Antigone doesn't see it this way). Creon further states that he has been given the Natural Law authority to rule through the \"Divine Right of Kings\" - so anything he decrees should be obeyed by the populace. Slides 4-5 Our first discussion of the \"Sources of Law\" - related questions include \"What is Law?\" \"What is the 'Nature' of Law? How do you \"find the law\"? These are perennial questions asked by legal philosophers and political philosophers. And, perhaps, it seems a bit esoteric at first, and not all that useful or practical for us. Of course, we know what law is - we see it everywhere, and perhaps sometimes we have unpleasant encounters with \"the force of the Law\" Traffic signals and rules (and parking tickets) Rules and regulations about underage drinking Rules about who can vote Rules about what you can smoke, and where you can smoke Rules about seatbelts Rules about lightbulbs Rules about the kinds of businesses you can start, and how you operate your business So, just like Rousseau said - Man is free but everywhere he is in chains But this \"What is Law?\" question actually has practical consequences, even for us, even if it's not readily apparent in our legally oriented, rule-laden society. Because the question is really a shorthand way of getting us to think about the legitimacy of the laws we are subject to. Remember, law has \"force\" over us - through the various social institutions that support the enforcement of the law. So, it does matter, and we should always think about, what is the source of the law's authority over us. The first great divide in thought about this are the two fundamental historical traditions that remain the starting place for thinking about law in just about every legal system that I can think of - Natural Law - value laden Broadly stated, Natural Law Theory seeks to explain law as a phenomenon which is based on some higher law contained in certain principles of morality. These principles find their source in either Theological sources, i.e. religious texts, traditions, and concepts OR in Secular sources, based in moral thought derived from human reasoning stemming from Enlightenment precepts (I think therefore I am ...) So, here Moral Principles, whether derived from Theological sources or Secular sources,are understood as External, Universal and Immutable. To emphasize - these imputable, universal, knowable Moral Principles are derived from one of two branches: 1) either God, from where we get scriptural revelation which tells us what the \"law is\ Surname 1 Sources of Law I think both Antigone and Creone created a compelling argument about the true source of law's authority by individually appealing to the legitimacy of each law. The source of law here implies what gives a law the authority by which to direct men so that those who violate it may be punished. Antigone seems to be an adherent of natural law whereas Creone is an astute adherent of human law (Kratochwil, 2013). Antigone wishes to honor natural law by pleasing the gods by burying her brother, but the law of Creon decrees that Antigone cannot do that since her brother is technically a traitor to the state. The case thus provides insight about the source of law as being drawn from religious law or the law of higher God who orders the universe and that the power to direct people can as well stem from the people themselves (positive human law) to bring about the desired order which are essentially social rules that have the capacity to be enforced by public agency such as the police and courts-the reason why Antigone seeks to challenge the Creone degree (Van Klink &Taekema, 2011). In the current world, for example the United States, the source of law is the constitution, common law, case law and administrative law. The constitution forms the supreme law for it expresses the will of the power just as was the case with Creon. However, just as Antigone's behavior points to the fact that natural law can also be a source of law. The US constitution for example obtained its legitimacy through a declaration that recognized God and the laws of nature. The Declaration thus believed in, and, based the nation's independence on, the Natural Law making it a law source amongst the American people. I do not believe that positive law is \"value neutral\" as suggested by the notes. The notes explain that positive Law often involves social rules that can be \"morally good\" or \"morally bad\". Pursuing positive law thus means that social structures have to determine which social rules count as \"law\" according to an agreed process of lawmaking. In my opinion, since human Surname 2 beings are rarely perfect, it means that the laws that will be made by the very people are more likely to be imperfect and hence transfer the imperfection into society. Lack of objectivity amongst people can lead to an unprecedented bias in positive law. This therefore means that most of the things (including laws) created by humans are rarely objective or neutral. Such lack of objectivity thus makes the relationship between law and morality to be a very distinct one in the sense that whereas morality describes societal definitions of what is right or wrong and hence can vary amongst societies, laws stipulates standardized and acceptable norms for human conduct. To emphasize this lack of objectivity, the story shows depicts how erratic human laws can be. For instance, Both Creon and Antigone are behaving in the way they are convicted (by their own ideals) as being right. Creon, full of pride goes ahead to establish himself and honor the laws of the city and in so doing he neglects some of the gods' burial laws that characterize natural law. His human limitations makes him adamant and feels threatened by anyone who disobeys because he does not want the people to find fault in his decree. This further explains the limitations of human laws since they are subject to manipulation and interpretation to suit individual gains. References Kratochwil, F. (2013). Politics, law, and the sacred: a conceptual analysis. Journal of International Relations and Development, 16(1), 1-24. Van Klink, B., &Taekema, S. (2011). Law and Method. Interdisciplinary Research into Lam, Mohr Siebeck. Surname 1 Sources of Law I think both Antigone and Creone created a compelling argument about the true source of law's authority by individually appealing to the legitimacy of each law. The source of law here implies what gives a law the authority by which to direct men so that those who violate it may be punished. Antigone seems to be an adherent of natural law whereas Creone is an astute adherent of human law (Kratochwil, 2013). Antigone wishes to honor natural law by pleasing the gods by burying her brother, but the law of Creon decrees that Antigone cannot do that since her brother is technically a traitor to the state. The case thus provides insight about the source of law as being drawn from religious law or the law of higher God who orders the universe and that the power to direct people can as well stem from the people themselves (positive human law) to bring about the desired order which are essentially social rules that have the capacity to be enforced by public agency such as the police and courts-the reason why Antigone seeks to challenge the Creone degree (Van Klink &Taekema, 2011). In the current world, for example the United States, the source of law is the constitution, common law, case law and administrative law. The constitution forms the supreme law for it expresses the will of the power just as was the case with Creon. However, just as Antigone's behavior points to the fact that natural law can also be a source of law. The US constitution for example obtained its legitimacy through a declaration that recognized God and the laws of nature. The Declaration thus believed in, and, based the nation's independence on, the Natural Law making it a law source amongst the American people. I do not believe that positive law is \"value neutral\" as suggested by the notes. The notes explain that positive Law often involves social rules that can be \"morally good\" or \"morally bad\". Pursuing positive law thus means that social structures have to determine which social rules count as \"law\" according to an agreed process of lawmaking. In my opinion, since human Surname 2 beings are rarely perfect, it means that the laws that will be made by the very people are more likely to be imperfect and hence transfer the imperfection into society. Lack of objectivity amongst people can lead to an unprecedented bias in positive law. This therefore means that most of the things (including laws) created by humans are rarely objective or neutral. Such lack of objectivity thus makes the relationship between law and morality to be a very distinct one in the sense that whereas morality describes societal definitions of what is right or wrong and hence can vary amongst societies, laws stipulates standardized and acceptable norms for human conduct. To emphasize this lack of objectivity, the story shows depicts how erratic human laws can be. For instance, Both Creon and Antigone are behaving in the way they are convicted (by their own ideals) as being right. Creon, full of pride goes ahead to establish himself and honor the laws of the city and in so doing he neglects some of the gods' burial laws that characterize natural law. His human limitations makes him adamant and feels threatened by anyone who disobeys because he does not want the people to find fault in his decree. This further explains the limitations of human laws since they are subject to manipulation and interpretation to suit individual gains. References Kratochwil, F. (2013). Politics, law, and the sacred: a conceptual analysis. Journal of International Relations and Development, 16(1), 1-24. Van Klink, B., &Taekema, S. (2011). Law and Method. Interdisciplinary Research into Lam, Mohr Siebeck