 Natural law is multiply ambiguous. It can be descriptive, in that it is sometimes supposed to describe a certain set of facts which obtain because of some natural features. At the same time, it can also be prescriptive, in that it is sometimes supposed to prescribe certain forms of behavior as acceptable and proscribe others as unacceptable. On another level, its scope or range of application is unfixed. Some natural law theories pertain to political entities (typically states and relations among states); others, to civil laws; yet others, to moral agents. On still another level, the ambiguities can be seen as stemming from the very notions of “natural” and “law”. “Natural” can refer to human nature, or to the nature of the universe in general, or both. One’s sense of the validity and force of a natural law theory will vary enormously depending on which reference is employed. “Law” was similarly contested. One extreme interpreted it literally, so that a natural law is a rule implemented by some agent (typically God) which compels obedience on pain of some penalty. The other extreme took “law” completely metaphorically, picking out some standard or norm perceivable in natural phenomena which governs behavior through entirely impersonal means.