A summary of Mark Murphy, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2002

“To summarize: the paradigmatic natural law view holds that (1) the natural law is given by God; (2) it is naturally authoritative over all human beings; and (3) it is naturally knowable by all human beings. Further, it holds that (4) the good is prior to the right, that (5) right action is action that responds nondefectively to the good, that (6) there are a variety of ways in which action can be defective with respect to the good, and that (7) some of these ways can be captured and formulated as general rules.”

1. the natural law is given by God [in laws of nature together with human reason]
2. is naturally authoritative over all human beings [is necessarily binding on everyone, not subject to individual choice: to reject it is to be evil]
3. is naturally knowable by all human beings [those with defective reasoning must defer to those with better reasoning]
4. the good [consisting of our natural, common ends] is prior to the right
5. right action is action that responds nondefectively to the good [Right action aims appropriately at our natural, common ends]
6. there are a variety of ways in which action can be defective with respect to the good [and a variety of ways to reach our natural, common ends]
7. some of these ways can be captured and formulated as general rules [and some allow for a range of interpretations]

8. When there is more than one way to reach our natural, common ends, human law is rightfully introduced to supplement natural law.

9. A human law is morally binding if it meets five validity conditions:

• It must be reasonable [which includes recognition of all of our basic human interests].
• It must be made by someone with appropriate authority in that community.
• It must be directed toward the common good.
• It must be promulgated.
• It must be just.