Karol Wojtyła and Mieczysław A. Krąpiec on Natural Law

Karol Wojtyła’s and Mieczysław Albert Krąpiec’s reflections on natural law are part of the anthropological, philosophical-legal and ethical tradition of the Lublin School of Philosophy. Wojtyła’s and Krąpiec’s reflections complement each other in terms of their metaphysical, anthropological, philosophical-legal and ethical aspects. Krapiec’s concept is based on the theory of being and philosophical anthropology. Highlighting the specificity of the practical domain, he emphasizes objective reasons and subjective reasons. Wojtyła, in turn, seeks to reveal the specificity of human morality, showing the tension in the will and the emergence of moral duty, hence proposing to complement the classical concept of natural law based on the principle of synderesis (good should be done, evil avoided) with a reflection on what is morally good and what is morally evil, and by pointing to the personalistic norm of morality, which is the dignity of the human person. In the interpretations of Wojtyła and Krąpiec, we find a common belief that there is a supra-positive law, that this law is present in the nature of human existence and in the world. In the nature of acting beings, in the rationality and purposefulness of action, we find a natural objective order and measure. Interpersonal relationships result in a duty to act or not to act for the good of the person. We read the categories of this good from the order of nature subordinated to development and from the order of objective natural inclinations, affirming the value of human personal being and, ultimately, affirming the transcendent God-Lawgiver.