A Study of Three Perspectives on the Natural Law

One of the fundamental questions in the philosophy of science is the question of the identity of natural laws. Realists - unlike instrumentalists - believe in the real existence of laws in the natural world. However, they are not of the same view on the identity of these laws. They have proposed three different theories: regulation theory, universalism, and essentialism. These theories are not free from being exposed to objections, though the types of objections are not the same. The main question of this research follows as: what part of truth may be found in each of the three theories? This research has been performed by descriptive, analytical and critical methods. The conclusion is that essentialism, which is closer to the truth than the other two, can be extended as a superior theory in this field with reliance to the teachings of Islamic philosophy.