Aristotle's Virtue Ethics & Natural Law Theory: Contextualizing Passages from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics Cited as Support for Natural Law Theory

Abstract

Since Aquinas' writings in the 13th century, natural law theorists have attributed natural law theory to Aristotle to varying degrees, citing specific passages in his Nicomachean Ethics. This thesis highlights the flaws and misinterpretations present in the natural law theorists' reading of Aristotle and concludes by rejecting the claim that Aristotle's ethical system - known as virtue ethics - supports natural law theory, though the two are not necessarily incompatible.