Pamfil Yurkevych on the natural law as a regulator of just social relations (Review Article)

In the context of the modern traditionalist intellectual movement, the idea of organic society is considered. It is a combination of law and morality at the community level. Yurkevych regarded the basis of such a society to be the idea of justice and natural law associated with it, as evidenced by the legacy of Hugo Grotius. Natural law as interpreted by Yurkevych is the content of positive legislation in a just society. Natural law as a regulator of just society, as Yurkevych saw it, is still relevant in the context of a new modern cultural trend. The aim of this paper is to outline Yurkevych's understanding of natural law as a regulator of a just “organic” society. Yurkevych particularly appreciated Ancient philosophy’s contribution to the development of problems of legal system as a regulator of social relations. According to the Professor, it was this philosopher who drew attention to the family as the initial form of social life, because the family is based on the laws of nature and the rules of morality. The concept of natural law is closely linked with his "philosophy of heart”, which serves as the methodological foundation for the moral justification of law, on which an organic society is based. Thus, Yurkevych was one of the first Ukrainian philosophers who attempted to understand the concept of organic society, which is associated with a just social system based on the idea of natural law.