We use the terms Law, Philosophy, and Religion within the frame of european conceptual tradition. However, we use law(dispute resolution, command), philosophy(choice), and religion(mindfulness) for different purposes, and it is those purposes that civilizations share. What constitututes law, philosophy, and religion varies (enormously) across civilizations. Of these religion varies least, philosophy next, and law the most. It is perhaps useful to understand that the middle east conflated everything into monopoly religion, the Chinese conflated everything into family-state, and the Europeans separated everything into different ‘classes’ with competing elites. (European “Tri-Functionalism”)

SCIENTIFIC LAW (by discovery)
Anglos still practice Common Law: The Natural Law of Reciprocity (Tort) by test of demonstrated interest (expenditure). This law is 5000 years old. The use of list law as a mediation between equal professional warriors, in a fully militarized society, is the origin of european civilization’s uniqueness: realism, naturalism, operatinalism, self determination, sovereignty, reciprocity, and testimonial truth. The law is sovereign (the ultimate authority). Men are sovereign under it. “Anything that is not prohibited is permitted, and disputes will be resolved empirically.”

RATIONAL (FORMAL) LEGISLATION (by legislators)
Continental Europeans presently practice Napoleonic law, which is not empirical (Napoleon couldn’t trust the judges) limits what you may do, as well as what you may not do. (this is why the British inclusion in the European project was a failure). “Anything that is not permitted is prohibited”. The state is sovereign, not the law, and not men.

‘REASONABLE’ (INFORMAL) COMMAND (by state)
The Chinese and never developed law, just imperial command. But they never developed formal religion to frame their law either. Instead Confucian tradition in government, and sun tzu tradition in state is the basis for the law.

RELIGIOUS (SUPERNATURAL) COMMAND (by Priests)
The Semites evolved religion, then religious law. This is the reason they have been resistant to adaptation and fallen behind.

TRADITIONAL (PRACTICAL) RULES (by Traditions, headmen)
The Africans (and everyone else) developed a tradition of the resolution of disputes. This is equated to the function of law.

WISDOM LITERATURE
European Anglo Aristotelian: SCIENTIFIC “PHILOSOPHY”
European Continental Platonic: RATIONALIST “PHILOSOPHY”
Chinese Confucian: REASONABLE (ADVISORY) “PHILOSOPHY
Semitic Abrahamic: AUTHORITARIAN “THEOLOGY”
Indian Hindu: ADVISORY “MYTHOLOGY”

Why does it matter? Because I work in the discipline you would call law (Decidability), and in particular, truth (testimony), and specifically in the differences in cultural uses of persuasion and deception. The failure to understand differences (or ‘failure to define your terms by disambiguation them down into first principles(first causes)’) is how all lies of intent, lies of imitation, and lies of involuntary transmission are produced, distributed, normalized, and institutionalized.

There is a very high cost to european civilization and all other civilization avoided those costs, and in doing so avoided (or failed) to drag mankind kicking and screaming out of ignorance, superstition, hard labor, poverty, starvation, disease, and suffering. The worse view is that during the ‘age of transformation’ all other civilizations failed. And that had europeans failed as well, we might have never passed the great filter. And it is still possible we might not. Why?

The secret of east and west is soft eugenics. And while the pre-war europeans understood this, the war era’s counter-revolution against it has brought us to the brink of another dark age.

Because that one issue is the origin of all our political lies.

The evasion of the physical, natural, and evolutionary laws of the universe. 😉