Laws beyond Relativity. Command or Fairness?

Abstract

For most of us today a law means a rule that is enacted by some legislature. If the law proves to be a flaw, then a new law would replace it. Earlier a law was a command which could not have been replaced by another law at will. In this we can detect the difference between the ancient and the modern understanding of law and law-making. The explanation must be sought by pointing out the relativity of law in our modern conception of law compared to ancient perception of how a law must be treated once framed – it has the force of a command. In what follows the three aspects of law – the divine, natural and positive laws – will be discussed with the assumption that the dominant idea of law today is based on the conception of the relativity of law which fits most the newly emerging third concept of nature that tends to suit modern man’s need to oust both religion and philosophy. This third meaning of nature is best expressed by the concept of virtual reality. It is a covering term for all the arts of modern man that he has been creating by modern sciences and technological developments. Thus the state of religion (divine law) and the state of nature (natural law) are to be understood by exploring the state of modern politics which provides the actual conditions of modern virtual reality, and presupposes the dominance of the relativity of laws.