Psychology and the Natural Law of Reparation

Are there universal values of right and wrong, good and bad, shared by virtually every human? The tradition of natural law argues that there is. Drawing on the work of psychoanalyst Melanie Klein, whose analyses have touched upon issues related to original sin, trespass, guilt, and salvation through reparation, C. Fred Alford adds an extra dimension to this argument: we know natural law to be true because we have hated before we have loved and have wished to destroy before we have wanted to create. Natural law is built upon the desire to make reparation for the goodness we have destroyed, or have longed to destroy. Through reparation, we earn salvation from the most hateful part of ourselves, that which would destroy what we know to be good.

• Draws upon psychoanalytic theorist Melanie Klein, while showing deep familiarity with and respect for the tradition of the natural law • Makes human destructiveness the motive power for reparation, and reparation the basis of the natural law • Argues that Klein’s concept of reparation is amoral and needs the guidance of traditional natural law and new theories of object relations

Preface; 1. Antigone and the natural law; 2. Younger people, relativism, and the natural law; 3. Natural law and natural evil; 4. Making reparation moral.