Summa Theologiae
Thomas Aquinas · 1274 CE
Excerpt
“Laws which are contrary to justice are not laws at all. (I-II, q. 95, art. 3)”
Why the atlas keeps it
A systematic theology in three parts, of which the second — law, justice, and the common good — is the part that enters every later argument about legitimate authority. Its claim that an unjust law is not a law at all makes legitimacy a property of the rule's structure rather than of the body that enacted it.
Terms this text reaches for
Ranked by the codex search index against the summary above, not hand-picked.
Legitimacy
philosophyThe right to be obeyed, held by a rule or authority rather than by its author.
Care versus justice
philosophyThe standing debate over whether obligation is built from relationships or from impartial rules.
Golden rule
philosophyDo to others only what you would have done to yourself.
Goodhart's law
alignmentWhen a measure becomes a target, it stops being a good measure.
Scaling law
technicalPredictable power-law relationships between model size, compute and loss.
International law
governanceRules binding on states rather than on systems, with no forum above them.