Which belief holds that laws should reflect inherent moral principles found in nature and reason?

• A. Natural Law
• B. Virtue Ethics
• C. Justice
• D. Teleological Ethics

Answer: (A)

The belief that laws should reflect inherent moral principles found in nature and reason is natural law. This view holds that there are objective moral standards embedded in the world and discoverable through human reason and observation of nature. For a law to be legitimate, it must conform to these principles; laws that violate basic moral rights or universal norms aren’t truly valid laws, even if enacted by a government.

Virtue ethics, by contrast, centers on developing virtuous character rather than defining law’s authority from nature and reason. Teleological ethics evaluates actions by their ends or purposes rather than by adherence to objective moral norms. Justice is concerned with fairness and the proper administration of law, but it isn’t itself the theory that law should be grounded in inherent moral principles discovered through reason and nature.