Natural Law and Just Society: Perspectives from the Chinese Tradition

Proponents of Natural Law theory posits that Reason, unaided by Revelation, can determine objective standards and make truth claims that transcend cultural and temporal boundaries. Per Cicero, “There will not be one law at Rome, one at Athens, or one now, and one later, but all Nations will be subject all the time to this one changeless and everlasting law.” A similar notion can be found in classical Confucian thought in China, with its concept of a “law above the law,” or tao (道), providing a standard against which conduct can be measured, while utilizing a virtue-based ethical framework similar to that of Aristotle. Piero Tozzi will address how Confucian Natural Law concepts play an ongoing role in questions of ordering a just society and regime legitimacy, calling attention in particular to parallels in the thought of the great Confucian theoretician Mencius and St Thomas Aquinas.

Bio

Piero Tozzi is the Staff Director of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. His previous positions include Republican Staff Director of the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and Staff Director and Counsel for the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations. He has also served as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor and Counsel to Representative Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ). Mr. Tozzi received his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and his B.A. from Columbia University. Mr. Tozzi speaks Mandarin Chinese, and is the author of several works on international law and comparative constitutional law, including .

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