--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Whether arrived at through reason or…" description: "\"Whether arrived at through reason or revelation, natural law is the highest law known to man. It is anchored in the very existential nature of man and ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/714/ilana-mercer-6995_existential_whether-arrived-at-through-reason-or-rev_849541.jpg" --- # Whether arrived at through reason or revelation, natural… ![“Whether arrived at through reason or revelation, natural law is the highest law known to man. It is anchored in the very existential nature of man and is therefore a priori just.” quote by Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/714/ilana-mercer-6995_existential_whether-arrived-at-through-reason-or-rev_849541.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/714/ilana-mercer-6995_existential_whether-arrived-at-through-reason-or-rev_849541.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/714/ilana-mercer-6995_existential_whether-arrived-at-through-reason-or-rev_849541.jpg) > “Whether arrived at through reason or revelation, natural law is the highest law known to man. It is anchored in the very existential nature of man and is therefore a priori just.” [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Natural law, derived from human nature, is presented as the supreme, a priori moral standard. **In simple terms:** Natural law as highest law. Key Takeaway Follow inherent justice. Themes ethics law philosophy Mood serious inquisitive Type philosophical academic When to use this quote - legal theory - moral education - policy making Key Concepts natural law theory metaphysics Questions to Reflect On - Is natural law universal? - How does it guide modern law? A Different Perspective May conflict with cultural relativism. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Existential](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existential/) [Highest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/highest/) [Highest Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/highest-law-524327/) [Known](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/known/) [Known To Man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/known-to-man/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Law Highest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law-highest-735030/) [Law Known](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law-known-735031/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Natural](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural/) [Natural law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural-law/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Revelation Natural](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revelation-natural-735032/) [Revelations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revelations/) ## Related quotes > [Reason is natural revelation, whereby the eternal father of light, and fountain of all knowledge, communicates to mankind that portion of truth which he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-locke/reason-is-natural-revelation-whereby-the-eternal-father-of-light-and/) [John Locke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-locke/) > [Self-sacrifice, not self-assertion, is the law of the highest universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/self-sacrifice-not-self-assertion-is-the-law-of-the-highest-universe/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [The negative principle that no law is free law, is not much known except among lawyers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/the-negative-principle-that-no-law-is-free-law-is-not-much-known/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [Law is the highest reason implanted in Nature, which commands what ought to be done and forbids the opposite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-tullius-cicero/law-is-the-highest-reason-implanted-in-nature-which-commands-what/) [Marcus Tullius Cicero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-tullius-cicero/) > [The law is not known, since there is nothing in it to know. We come across it only through its action, and it acts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilles-deleuze/the-law-is-not-known-since-there-is-nothing-in-it-to-know-we-come/) [Gilles Deleuze](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilles-deleuze/) > [Charged with faithfully executing the laws, the president is, in effect, the nation's highest law enforcement officer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-t-conway-iii/charged-with-faithfully-executing-the-laws-the-president-is-in-effect/) [George T. Conway III](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-t-conway-iii/) > [One day the Constitution of Colorado is the highest law of the state. The next day it’s waste paper.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-f-williams/one-day-the-constitution-of-colorado-is-the-highest-law-of-the-state/) [Robert F. Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-f-williams/) > [“The people have realized that Martial Law is not law. A regime not established by law is devoid of the attribute to dispense law.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zulfikar-ali-bhutto/the-people-have-realized-that-martial-law-is-not-law-a-regime-not/) [Zulfikar Ali Bhutto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zulfikar-ali-bhutto/) > [The highest law gives a thing to him who can use it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/the-highest-law-gives-a-thing-to-him-who-can-use-it/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [The safety of the people shall be the highest law.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-tullius-cicero/the-safety-of-the-people-shall-be-the-highest-law/) [Marcus Tullius Cicero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-tullius-cicero/) > [“The welfare of the people is the highest law”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cicero/the-welfare-of-the-people-is-the-highest-law/) [Cicero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cicero/) > [A regime which puts in a bunker the highest law in the land does not have the moral authority to say that nobody is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zulfikar-ali-bhutto/a-regime-which-puts-in-a-bunker-the-highest-law-in-the-land-does-not/) [Zulfikar Ali Bhutto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zulfikar-ali-bhutto/) > [Do not talk to me of goodness, of abstract justice, of nature law. Necessity is the highest law, public welfare is the highest justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/do-not-talk-to-me-of-goodness-of-abstract-justice-of-nature-law/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [Comprehensibility is the highest law of all. Unity must be there. There must be means of ensuring it. All the things familiar to us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-webern/comprehensibility-is-the-highest-law-of-all-unity-must-be-there-there/) [Anton Webern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-webern/) > [“Don't shrink from nature's brutal perfection. Take joy in it. Embrace it. Understand it and revel in it. Respect its strength, its wisdom, its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boyd-rice/don-t-shrink-from-nature-s-brutal-perfection-take-joy-in-it-embrace/) [Boyd Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boyd-rice/) ## More by Ilana Mercer > [Socialism is humanity's second nature. All politicians do is turn human vice into votes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/socialism-is-humanity-s-second-nature-all-politicians-do-is-turn/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [If women with the same skills as men were getting only 78 cents for every dollar a man earns, men would have long-since priced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/if-women-with-the-same-skills-as-men-were-getting-only-78-cents-for/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [Liberals can always be trusted to see God in Mumia Abu-Jamal and the devil in the Pope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/liberals-can-always-be-trusted-to-see-god-in-mumia-abu-jamal-and-the/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [In the bureaucracy, incentives will forever be inverted. Failure results in success: in more funds, more training, more time off.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/in-the-bureaucracy-incentives-will-forever-be-inverted-failure/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [Christianity in our country is a lot like what the Ducksters profess. No longer doctrinaire or demanding, the mishmash of pop-religion practiced in churches…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/christianity-in-our-country-is-a-lot-like-what-the-ducksters-profess/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [Like or dislike her, the British Queen is harmless. Her role is purely ceremonial. Conversely, life and death are in the hands of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/like-or-dislike-her-the-british-queen-is-harmless-her-role-is-purely/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [Breaking into a country signals quite reliably a willingness to break yet more of the invaded country's laws.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/breaking-into-a-country-signals-quite-reliably-a-willingness-to-break/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket of Africa, is now its dust bowl.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/zimbabwe-once-the-breadbasket-of-africa-is-now-its-dust-bowl/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [The end result of positively reinforcing bad behavior is that you get more of it. The culmination of a failure to punish predators is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/the-end-result-of-positively-reinforcing-bad-behavior-is-that-you-get/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [Demonstrators for a government takeover of medicine have a right to discuss their demands, but no right to enact these demands.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/demonstrators-for-a-government-takeover-of-medicine-have-a-right-to/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [The Big-Media collective, however, is slow, stupid and shackled by ideology. Reality must bite them before they’ll recognize it, much less report it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/the-big-media-collective-however-is-slow-stupid-and-shackled-by/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [The only time Republicans will shake fists and point fingers is over a war delayed, one that isn't led by the US, or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/the-only-time-republicans-will-shake-fists-and-point-fingers-is-over/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [There are just too many Americans grubbing for free stuff and a preponderance of Republicans eager to parcel it out in exchange for power.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/there-are-just-too-many-americans-grubbing-for-free-stuff-and-a/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [free market is a market in which groups and individuals are differently represented. Parity in prosperity and performance between differently able individuals and groups…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/free-market-is-a-market-in-which-groups-and-individuals-are/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) > [Big media are all about the angle, the spin. Look to the overarching theme that runs through each and every news story. Be hip…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilana-mercer/big-media-are-all-about-the-angle-the-spin-look-to-the-overarching/) [Ilana Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) [Explore all 96 Ilana Mercer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilana-mercer/) ## More Existential quotes > [When we watch a play under the standard circumstances, we've lost volition and time is passing. A still play feels like an existential threat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-greenberg/when-we-watch-a-play-under-the-standard-circumstances-we-ve-lost/) [Richard Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-greenberg/) > [Sometimes it has to do with other longings that are much more existential. Sometimes you go elsewhere not because you are not liking the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/sometimes-it-has-to-do-with-other-longings-that-are-much-more/) [Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/) > [No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/no-shepherd-and-one-herd-everybody-wants-the-same-everybody-is-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elon-musk/i-think-we-should-be-very-careful-about-artificial-intelligence-if-i/) [Elon Musk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elon-musk/) > [The argument that won the Brexit campaign is the one that said take back control... which is another way of saying we want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frans-timmermans/the-argument-that-won-the-brexit-campaign-is-the-one-that-said-take/) [Frans Timmermans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frans-timmermans/) > [“When it has finished saying it, it no longer is. The longer it is in saying it, the more it can say it at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-ponge/when-it-has-finished-saying-it-it-no-longer-is-the-longer-it-is-in/) [Francis Ponge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-ponge/) > [We have an existential crisis, which is the climate crisis. Canada is one of the laggards in the industrialized world. Our record is terrible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-may/we-have-an-existential-crisis-which-is-the-climate-crisis-canada-is/) [Elizabeth May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-may/) > [Did television execs have souls? Now, that was an existential question and a half.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-ward/did-television-execs-have-souls-now-that-was-an-existential-question/) [J.R. Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-ward/) > [“So am I dead? How many kinds of living and dead and living dead and dead living had I been in just these few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-frances-turner/so-am-i-dead-how-many-kinds-of-living-and-dead-and-living-dead-and/) [Joan Frances Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-frances-turner/) > [I can negate everything of that part of me that lives on vague nostalgias, except this desire for unity, this longing to solve, this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/i-can-negate-everything-of-that-part-of-me-that-lives-on-vague/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [I write very rarely. Only, in fact, when the sheet of paper suffers an existential crisis and threatens, if I don't surrender to it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiki-dimoula/i-write-very-rarely-only-in-fact-when-the-sheet-of-paper-suffers-an/) [Kiki Dimoula](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiki-dimoula/) > [Michael Jackson is an extremely productive ethnographer, a serious reader of phenomenological and existential philosophy, and a remarkable writer at a level that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-kleinman/michael-jackson-is-an-extremely-productive-ethnographer-a-serious/) [Arthur Kleinman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-kleinman/) > [If I had to choose between the two ways of approaching the deity, I should prefer the existential relational way, to the abstract philosophical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-moore-cross/if-i-had-to-choose-between-the-two-ways-of-approaching-the-deity-i/) [Frank Moore Cross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-moore-cross/) > [Huge public spending and borrowing in the face of an existential crisis is clearly the right thing to do, as is putting people's health…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-lucas/huge-public-spending-and-borrowing-in-the-face-of-an-existential/) [Caroline Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-lucas/) > [The ability to forget the past enables people to free themselves gradually from the pain they once suffered; but it also often makes them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lu-xun/the-ability-to-forget-the-past-enables-people-to-free-themselves/) [Lu Xun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lu-xun/) [Browse all 616 Existential quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existential/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Whether arrived at through reason or revelation, natural law is the highest law known to man. 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