Today the idea of natural law as the basic ingredient in moral, legal, and political thought presents a challenge not faced for almost two hundred years. On the surface, there would appear to be little room in the contemporary world for a widespread belief in natural law. The basic philosophies of the opposition-the rationalism of the philosophes, the utilitarianism of Bentham, the materialism of Marx-appear to have made prior philosophies irrelevant. Yet these newer philosophies themselves have been overtaken by disillusionment born of confl icts between "might" and "right." Many thoughtful...