John Finnis

Last updated

John Finnis
AC CBE KC (Hon) FBA
John Finnis on After Dark 26th June 1987 (3x4 cropped).jpg
Finnis on After Dark , 1987
Born
John Mitchell Finnis

(1940-07-28) 28 July 1940 (age 84)
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Education University of Adelaide (LLB)
University College, Oxford (DPhil)
Notable work Natural Law and Natural Rights (1980, 2011)
Era Contemporary philosophy
Region Western philosophy
School Thomism
Natural law theory
Institutions University of Oxford
Thesis The Idea of Judicial Power, with Special Reference to Australian Law  (1965)
Doctoral advisor H. L. A. Hart
Doctoral students Neil Gorsuch [1]
Robert P. George
Main interests
 Philosophy of law
Political theory
Philosophy of religion
Notable ideas
Criticism of legal positivism

John Mitchell Finnis AC CBE KC (Hon) FBA (born 28 July 1940) is an Australian legal philosopher and jurist specializing in jurisprudence and the philosophy of law. He is an original interpreter of Aristotle and Aquinas, and counts Germain Grisez as a major influence and collaborator. [2] He has made contributions to epistemology, metaphysics, and moral philosophy.

Contents

Finnis was Professor of Law and Legal Philosophy at the University of Oxford from 1989 to 2010, where he is now Professor of Law and Legal Philosophy Emeritus. He is also the Biolchini Family Professor of Law, emeritus, [3] at Notre Dame Law School and a permanent senior distinguished research fellow at Notre Dame's de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. [4] He acted as adviser to several Australian State governments, especially Queensland and Western Australia, mostly on the States' relations with the federal Government and with the United Kingdom.

His practice at the English Bar saw him in cases in the High Court and in the Court of Appeal. He is a member of Gray's Inn. He was appointed an honorary Queen's Counsel in 2017. [5] In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours for Australia, Finnis was appointed a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia, the country's highest civilian honour, for his eminent service as a jurist and legal scholar. [6] He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to legal scholarship. [7]

He has supervised several doctoral students including Neil Gorsuch, Justice Susan Kenny of the Federal Court of Australia, Robert P. George of Princeton University, and John Keown of Georgetown University. In 2013 George and Keown summarised some of Finnis's media work as "He has, for example, debated embryo research with Mary Warnock on BBC's Newsnight and with Jonathan Glover in the Channel 4 Debate; discussed euthanasia with a leading Dutch euthanasiast on the same channel's After Dark , and written on eugenic abortion in The Sunday Telegraph ".[ citation needed ]

Early life and education

Finnis was educated at St. Peter's College, Adelaide, and the University of Adelaide, where he was a member of St. Mark's College. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree there, winning a Rhodes scholarship to University College, Oxford, in 1962, where he obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree with a thesis on the concept of judicial power, with reference to Australian federal constitutional law. [8] [9] Also in 1962, Finnis converted to Roman Catholicism. [10]

Finnis is a friend of Aung San Suu Kyi, also an Oxford graduate, and, in 1989, nominated her for the Nobel Peace Prize. Aung San Suu Kyi won the prize but did not receive it until June 2012, when she recalled how her late husband, Michael Aris, had visited her under house arrest and brought her the news "that a friend, John Finnis" had nominated her for the prize. [11]

Publications

Finnis is an author of several philosophical works. His best known work is Natural Law and Natural Rights (1980, 2011), a seminal contribution to the philosophy of law and a restatement of natural law doctrine. For Finnis there are eight basic goods; life, knowledge, play, aesthetic experience, sociability of friendship, practical reasonableness, religion and marriage. His Fundamentals of Ethics collect six Carroll Lectures Finnis delivered at Georgetown University in 1982. He has published five collections of essays: Reason in Action, [12] Intention and Identity, [13] Human Rights and Common Good, [14] Philosophy of Law, [15] Religion and Public Reasons. [16] Below is a complete list of his publications.

Selected contributions

Introduction

A unifying theme running through Finnis' writings is the importance he attributes to human freedom, as the ability to make decisions about the kind of life one wants to live. Such decisions involve choices among incommensurable basic goods, which practical reason must order to achieve desired ends. A mature exercise of freedom would avoid intentionally infringing any of the basic goods, and would in different ways and to different extents, foster their realization. At the collective level, we find a similar logic guiding the making of Laws (Natural Law and Natural Rights) and political decisions. In view of this, the discussion has been largely structured around notions of intentionality, prudence, moral choices, and notions of fairness. The discussion on Religion appeals to wider considerations. This is followed by a brief discussion of Finnis's Philosophy of Law. The last section summarises the epistemological and ontological underpinnings of Finnis' philosophy, as captured in his Fundamentals of Ethics.

Morality

On the basis of experience of facts, possibilities and outcomes, one easily understands basic forms of human good as good for oneself and other human beings, and one's will is fundamentally one's response to this understanding.  "Ought" does not follow from "is", since the first principles of practical reasoning are not deduced logically but are understood immediately by the intellect. Morality is a consequence of reflecting on the basic goods as a whole and their implications for human flourishing. [17] Finnis dismisses David Hume's identification of morality as a sentiment of sympathy leading to approbation or disapprobation, by noting that Hume also expected such sentiments to be recognised and agreed to by others. Thus, Hume's morality is based on reasonableness rather than sympathy, notwithstanding "Hume's formal and vigorous protestations to the contrary". [18] Finnis identifies reasonableness with the disinterested and impartial perspective which seeks to understand what is best for everyone at a certain point in time. According to Finnis, Ludwig Wittgenstein "wavers on one of the central matters in issue in his meditations", since propositions of empirical fact are not necessarily true. [19] Yet, Finnis defends the self-evidence of truth using formal logic by appealing to "retorsive arguments". [20]

Intention

Finnis' writings evidence a keen concern to protect the individual from abuse by the institution, by highlighting the preeminence of the individual's subjectivity. [21] Thus, using Plato's dialogue of the Gorgias, Finnis argues (against Jürgen Habermas' discourse ethics) that silence is ethical and meaningful since it is a locus of reflection and inner deliberation. [22] He further argues (against extant UK Law) that the courts must distinguish direct intention from unintended side-effects, and cannot impute an intention based simply on foreseeability. [23] "Of course, causing death as an unintended side effect is often an injustice, but that wrong is relative to the circumstances whereas the commandment protecting at least innocent human beings is not" [24] The person who blows up a plane to receive the insurance money thereby killing the pilot, may not have intended to kill the pilot even if the pilot's death was foreseeable. On the other hand, Finnis charges with moral and legal responsibility anyone who consents to doing something conditionally on something else happening (preparatory intention) - as in the UK policy on nuclear deterrence, which includes the possibility of targeting civil populations in the event of a nuclear attack on UK cities. [25] Finnis argues that Veritatis Splendor requires the adoption by the moralist of the perspective of the acting person. The implication is that no act in intrinsically sinful, rather its sinfulness is a function of the acting person's intention, will or purpose [26] (in line with Aquinas' distinction between in genere naturae vs in genere moris). The traditional notion that means are intended in view of the end is thus rejected in favour of the distinction between intended ends (direct effect) and unintended side-effects (indirect effects). This explains, for example, why shooting out of a desire to kill the enemy is wrong whilst simply shooting to defend oneself is not. [26] He further distinguishes between formal (intended) and material cooperation (side effects) in evil; voting for an amendment permitting abortion that has the effect of reducing the availability of abortion is not formal cooperation in the procurement of abortion, but may be material cooperation involving, for example, scandal to third parties. [27] Finnis departs in several ways from Anscombe's understanding of intention. [28]

Prudence

Finnis notes that Aristotle's discussion of prudence (Phronesis) fails to offer ethical guidance because it is concerned with the selection of means and fails to specify what the ends are; [29] yet, Aquinas' solution of this problem has often been misinterpreted. Ends are the basic goods and prudence is concerned with deliberation both about them and about the means of achieving them, in both cases guided by practical reasoning. [30] Virtue is not simply the outcome of synderesis but it also requires an attraction towards the end and the selection of means. The choice of some basic goods may result in the detriment or even the suppression of others, provided that the latter is not intended. [31] Contraception, abortion and euthanasia are wrong insofar as they involve direct choices against the basic good of life, which they ordinarily do. [32] Against Leo Strauss and others, Finnis argues that it is wrongful to intentionally take innocent life even in extreme situations in which the very existence of society is at stake. [33] Following Aristotle, Finnis gives great importance to the basic good of friendship in his own deliberation because it involves disinterested love, which goes beyond a mere sense of obligation towards others, and is thus an ideal foundation for morality (contra Philippa Foot); however, this ideal remains imperfect unless it extends to friendship with God as a universalising principle. [34] Finnis argues that eudamonia in Aquinas is the outcome of the harmonious development of all basic goods but that it cannot be achieved in this life (imperfect beautitude). [35]

Moral choices

By choosing not to become a murderer, Socrates shaped the World in the way he thought best - that it is better to suffer wrong than do it. Any attempt to justify Socrates's choice through looking at foreseeable consequences (consequentialism), or by commensurating good with bad (utilitarianism), or by comparing values with 'disvalues' (proportionalism), fail, as they would all conclude that two murders is worse than one. [36] Kantian arguments also fail because they are concerned with the avoidance of internal contradiction through universalization. But logic cannot explain moral choices, which concern who one wants to be or become. Neither can Kant's claim that 'nature's end' should be respected, since by nature he meant the natural sciences. [36] Finnis notes that Aquinas never sought to resolve moral problems on proportionalist arguments such as the notion of "choosing the lesser evil"; [37] yet, Kant in his 'casuistical questions' falls into both intuitinism and consequentialism "like nothing so much as late twentieth-century academic ethics". [36] Finnis claims that utilitarianism appeals to sub-rational desires (happiness, desire, sensible impulse, sensous motives...). Moreover, utilitarianism is not undermined by pluralism, since pluralism is neither concerned with truth or attention to evidence or insight, but rather with opinions - thereby resorting to lust, terror, self-preference or inertia as the basis for decision-making. [36]

Fairness

Moral decision-making involves seeking integral human fulfilment by responding to "the reasons for action, the practical reasons, that each basic good provides". [36] From this it follows that one must not intentionally do harm to others, or intend evil to achieve good; on the contrary, one must act fairly towards others. [38]  Fairness does not involve rational commensuration of goods vs bads; rather it is guided by the Golden Rule through commensuration of alternative options based on "one's own differentiated feelings toward various goods and bads as concretely remembered, experienced, or imagined" in view of integral human fulfilment (cf, the Aristotelian mature person of reasonable character). [36] Analoguously, decisions about what speed to drive on a private road, or whether to have the institution of trusts in English Law, are made by communities not based on rational judgement but on decisions reached as aforesaid. [36] Rival interpretations of the Law can be compared on two dimensions: the fit with the legal materials (e.g., precedent) and moral soundness. Hard cases occur when the best interpretation on fit is different from he best interpretation on moral soundness. Since fit and moral soundness are incommensurable, there cannot be a uniquely right interpretation of the hard case, and the solution must be achieved on the basis of fairness. [36]

Religion

Religion is a free act to collaborate with God's expectations of our human flourishing.  Friedrich Nietzsche's rejection of truth ‘by way of experiment’ speaks against the seriousness of his tenets, whilst Karl Marx's refusal to countenance questions about ultimate origins led to “the fantasy of self-creation”. [39] Faith follows from the "rational necessity of adhering to those norms of rational inquiry and judgment needed... to overcome ignorance, illusion and error"; [40] science seeks causes and treats chance as residuum of coincidence. [39]   An argument for necessity or causeless-ness of the Universe is not reasonable, since neither is discoverable in any of the Universe's component entities or states of affairs. [39]  Finnis rejects Richard Dawkins’ appeal to ever increasing complexity in The God Delusion and quotes Charles Darwin's 'conviction of the existence of God', which “follows from the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with this capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity…I deserve to be called a Theist”. [41]   Divine revelation enhances and corrects the understanding of natural reason, [42] so that there is epistemic interdependence, a reflective equilibrium, between the two. In ideal epistemic conditions (absent self-interest and passions), there would be broad consensus on matters of right and wrong, which supports the appeal to a higher ordering principle (God). [42]   The belief in God has implications for how we act in the World. John Dewey's conflation of knowledge with practical control undermines “human rights which had to be insisted on in the aftermath of Nazism and the like”. [39] Since religious argument appeals to reasons, it is a valid exercise in public reason, and neither atheism nor agnosticism must be treated as the default position in public reason, deliberation, and decisions. [42] Religion deserves constitutional protection and should be critically analysed by the courts for its soundness with general principles of natural reason. [42]  Rawls’ thesis could not stand against certain versions of Islam that would remove religious freedom (NB in n. 21 Finnis argues that Aquinas’ support for coercion against heretics was inherently unsound). [42] Contra Augustine, Finnis argues that eternal life is not a beatific vision detached from our human experience but is the perfection of our morally significant choices [43]

Philosophy of law

Finnis's concept of law is elaborated in Natural Law and Natural Rights. This section summarises some of his contributions in Parts one and two of his Philosophy of Law. [15] In Part Three of his Philosophy of Law [15] Finnis offers a critical account of legal reasoning (incl. notions of rights and analogical reasoning), and in Part Four he addresses the legal challenges posed by revolutions and the possibility of voting for unjust laws.

Positive laws do not acquire their authority from conceptual coherence (in fact, contradictory laws can coexist) or derivation from an established process. [44] Instead, their authority derives from morality; Law "occupies the same place in the world as morality: […] what I should do and what type of person I should be". [45]  This is the central (or most meaningful) feature of the Law, against which the improvement of any legal system is predicated. [46] Individuals will only obey specific laws that work against their interests or are unjust, if they consider the overall system of Law to be fair (the Golden rule) because it supports shared interests grounded on the promotion of basic goods. [47] Unjust laws are not laws in the proper sense, "though they may still count in reasonable conscious deliberations, and certainly warrant attention and description". [48]   Against Joseph Raz, Finnis argues that morality is not external to the Law since the Law makes moral pursuits (e.g., cooperation among people) possible - "the Law presents itself as a seamless web" of people and transactions. [49]   A specific law or legal determination is an application of a general moral principle that can take many different forms. Thus, the process of practical reasoning leading to the elaboration of laws is not like "the omelette that can be made by following a recipe" [50] (a concept further developed in Finnis' critique of Dworkin's Law's Empire [51] ).  Finnis rejects the following as valid accounts of legal practical reasoning: the Economic Analysis of the Law, Game Theory, the Co-ordination problem, Kant's rationality, and John Rawls' original position. [52]  Against H. L. A. Hart, Finnis rejects "survival" as a central feature of the Law: "human rationality can also reflect that the arbitrariness involved in unrestricted self-preference is itself a deviation from 'rationality'...". [53]   He further rejects Hart’s theory of action, so that normativity follows from reasons not decisions. [54] In his Grand Tour of Legal History, [55] Finnis shows that the Natural Law tradition offers a superior account than Legal Positivism of every aspect of Law, including the meaning of rights, authority, legal methodology, institutionality, tort law, contract law, criminal law, international law, and so on. Finnis argues that the definition of Law "cannot be resolved by any purely ‘analytical’ technique aspiring to be neutral", it must "engage to some extent in reflexion on the moral order…" with implications for anyone involved in the making and application of laws. [56]  Hart's internal point of view only makes sense as a method in social science if it presupposes the understanding of the basic goods. [57] Patrick Devlin's "positive morality" cannot serve as a foundation for the Law because it is simply a set of opinions held by a group of people, lacking critical reflexivity. [54] William Blackstone’s notion of natural law served no purpose in his conception of law because it is impoverished, as it took "the naked individual in his state of nature as the standard". [58]   Max Weber dismissed natural law because he refused to accept the objectivity of values, that is, their accessibility to the intellect [59] (as did Hart [57] ).  Finnis provides an account of positive law according to Aristotle and Aquinas, [60] and engages in a sharp critique of postmodernism [61] and critical legal studies [62] as failing on their own terms.

Fundamentals of Ethics

This book sets out the ontological and epistemological foundations of Finnis' work. This includes rejection of the notion that human goods result from human desires, in favour of the view that they are actualizations of, and participation in, basic goods. Thus, "epistemology is not the 'basics of ethics'" (p. 21), rather ethics is concerned with reasoning about basic goods as experienced by the individual. Robert Nozick's metaphor of the 'experience machine' shows that desires cannot guide ethics, since no one would choose a lifetime of pleasure over one of achievement. People are attracted to the basic goods in the search for "perfection", rather than Humean satisfaction. Thin theories of the good that pretend to satisfy the needs of everyone, such as that offered by John Rawls, result in a thin account of practical reason. Finnis rejects arguments from queerness and naturalism that would deny objectivity to statements of value. Such objectiviy can be compared to that of colour: "postboxes in England are seen as red because they are red..."Red postbox" is not short for "red to human beings postbox" (p. 65). Redness is an 'anthropomorphic category'" (i.e. distinct from the object itself but still objectively true and valid). Finnis proposes the "transparency of reason", so that 'I think that p (since...)' is transparent for 'It is the case that p' or simply 'p'; and associates this line of reasoning to the nature of questions of (rather than about) conscience. Practical reasonableness operating along eight or nine basic requirements offers an intermediate principle that bridges the gap between basic goods and values. Finnis defends the possibility of freedom, the positing of which already involves an exercise in freedom (whether to believe in it or not). Any choice among basic goods must involve the exercise of freedom, since they are incommensurable. Such choices create vital commitments (through the expectation of consistency in future choices and actions) until such time as an incompatible choice is made (involving repentance from the previous choice). Choosing is apprehended by the intellect not only as A or B but much like knowledge or understanding, as involving a choice of character. The book also contains an extensive methodological critique of Kantian and utilitarian ethics.

Critics

In his book on Finnis' student Neil Gorsuch while at Oxford University, John Greenya has described Finnis's views by stating: "Some of John Finnis's views are very controversial. For example, in defending his long-held position against same-sex marriage and same-sex coupling, he once compared them to bestiality." [10]

Philosopher Stephen Buckle sees Finnis's list of proposed basic goods as plausible, but notes that "Finnis's account becomes more controversial when he goes on to specify the basic requirements of practical reasonableness". He sees Finnis's requirement that practical reason requires "respect for every basic value in every act" as intended both to rule out consequentialism in ethics and also to support the moral viewpoint of the Catholic Church on a range of contentious issues, including contraception and masturbation, which in his view undermines its plausibility. [63]

Finnis's work on natural law ethics has been a source of controversy in both neo-Thomist and analytical circles. Craig Paterson sees his work as interesting because it challenges a key assumption of both neo-Thomist and analytical philosophy: the idea that a natural law ethics must be based upon an attempt to derive normative (or "ought") statements from descriptive (or "is") statements. [64]

According to Andrew Sullivan, Finnis has articulated "an intelligible and subtle account of homosexuality" based on the new natural law, a less biologically based version of natural law theory. Finnis argues that the state should deter public approval of homosexual behaviour while refusing to persecute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation, basing this position not on the claim that homosexual sex is unnatural but on the idea that it cannot involve the union of procreation and emotional commitment that heterosexual sex can, and is therefore an assault on heterosexual union. The following excerpts, for example, come from his 1994 essay "Law, Morality, and 'Sexual Orientation'":

In short, sexual acts are not unitive in their significance unless they are marital (actualizing the all-level unity of marriage) and (since the common good of marriage has two aspects) they are not marital unless they have not only the generosity of acts of friendship but also the procreative significance. ...The plain fact is that those who propound 'gay' ideology have no principled moral case to offer against (prudent and moderate) promiscuity, indeed the getting of orgasmic sexual pleasure in whatever friendly touch or welcoming orifice (human or otherwise) one may opportunely find it. [65]

Finnis earlier argues in the article that same-sex activity "cannot express or do more than is expressed or done if two strangers engage in such activity to give each other pleasure, or a prostitute pleasures a client to give him pleasure in return for money." Sullivan believes that such a conservative position is vulnerable to criticism on its own terms, since the stability of existing families is better served by the acceptance of those homosexuals who are part of them. [66] Other scholars, such as Stephen Macedo and Michael J. Perry, have also criticised Finnis's views. [67] [ how? ]

A selection of articles and video lectures

Video lectures

Related Research Articles

The argument from morality is an argument for the existence of God. Arguments from morality tend to be based on moral normativity or moral order. Arguments from moral normativity observe some aspect of morality and argue that God is the best or only explanation for this, concluding that God must exist. Arguments from moral order are based on the asserted need for moral order to exist in the universe. They claim that, for this moral order to exist, God must exist to support it. The argument from morality is noteworthy in that one cannot evaluate the soundness of the argument without attending to almost every important philosophical issue in meta-ethics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jurisprudence</span> Theoretical study of law

Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values; as well as the relationship between law and other fields of study, including economics, ethics, history, sociology, and political philosophy.

Natural law is a system of law based on a close observation of natural order and human nature, from which values, thought by natural law's proponents to be intrinsic to human nature, can be deduced and applied independently of positive law. According to the theory of law called jusnaturalism, all people have inherent rights, conferred not by act of legislation but by "God, nature, or reason". Natural law theory can also refer to "theories of ethics, theories of politics, theories of civil law, and theories of religious morality".

Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, science, language, mathematics, and art, and is normally considered to be a distinguishing ability possessed by humans. Reason is sometimes referred to as rationality.

David Gauthier was a Canadian philosopher best known for his neo-Hobbesian or contractarian theory of morality, as developed in his 1986 book Morals by Agreement.

<i>Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals</i> Philosophical tract by Immanuel Kant

Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals is the first of Immanuel Kant's mature works on moral philosophy and the first of his trilogy of major works on ethics alongside the Critique of Practical Reason and The Metaphysics of Morals. It remains one of the most influential in the field. Kant conceives his investigation as a work of foundational ethics—one that clears the ground for future research by explaining the core concepts and principles of moral theory, and showing that they are normative for rational agents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Divine command theory</span> Meta-ethical theory of morality

Divine command theory is a meta-ethical theory which proposes that an action's status as morally good is equivalent to whether it is commanded by God. The theory asserts that what is moral is determined by God's commands and that for a person to be moral he is to follow God's commands. Followers of both monotheistic and polytheistic religions in ancient and modern times have often accepted the importance of God's commands in establishing morality.

In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of ethics, morality, philosophy, and religion. The specific meaning and etymology of the term and its associated translations among ancient and contemporary languages show substantial variation in its inflection and meaning, depending on circumstances of place and history, or of philosophical or religious context.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euthyphro dilemma</span> Ethical problem on the origin of morality posed by Socrates

The Euthyphro dilemma is found in Plato's dialogue Euthyphro, in which Socrates asks Euthyphro, "Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?" (10a)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alasdair MacIntyre</span> Scottish philosopher (born 1929)

Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is a Scottish-American philosopher who has contributed to moral and political philosophy as well as history of philosophy and theology. MacIntyre's After Virtue (1981) is one of the most important works of Anglophone moral and political philosophy in the 20th century. He is senior research fellow at the Centre for Contemporary Aristotelian Studies in Ethics and Politics (CASEP) at London Metropolitan University, emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and permanent senior distinguished research fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture. During his lengthy academic career, he also taught at Brandeis University, Duke University, Vanderbilt University, and Boston University.

Germain Gabriel Grisez was a French-American philosopher. Grisez's development of ideas from Thomas Aquinas has redirected Catholic thought and changed the way it has engaged with secular moral philosophy. In 'The First Principle of Practical Reason: A Commentary on the Summa Theologiae, I-II, Q. 94, A. 2' (1965), Grisez attacked the neo-scholastic interpretation of Aquinas as holding that moral norms are derived from methodologically antecedent knowledge of human nature. Grisez defended the idea of metaphysical free choice and proposed a natural law theory of practical reasoning and moral judgment which, although broadly Thomistic, departs from Aquinas on significant points.

In ethics, two values are incommensurable when they do not share a common standard of measurement or cannot be compared to each other in a certain way.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. M. Scanlon</span> American philosopher (born 1940)

Thomas Michael "Tim" Scanlon, usually cited as T. M. Scanlon, is an American philosopher. At the time of his retirement in 2016, he was the Alford Professor of Natural Religion, Moral Philosophy, and Civil Polity in Harvard University's Department of Philosophy, where he had taught since 1984. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kantian ethics</span> Ethical theory of Immanuel Kant

Kantian ethics refers to a deontological ethical theory developed by German philosopher Immanuel Kant that is based on the notion that "I ought never to act except in such a way that I could also will that my maxim should become a universal law." It is also associated with the idea that "it is impossible to think of anything at all in the world, or indeed even beyond it, that could be considered good without limitation except a good will." The theory was developed in the context of Enlightenment rationalism. It states that an action can only be moral if it is motivated by a sense of duty, and its maxim may be rationally willed a universal, objective law.

Moral rationalism, also called ethical rationalism, is a view in meta-ethics according to which moral principles are knowable a priori, by reason alone. Some prominent figures in the history of philosophy who have defended moral rationalism are Plato and Immanuel Kant. Perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of philosophy who has rejected moral rationalism is David Hume. Recent philosophers who have defended moral rationalism include Richard Hare, Christine Korsgaard, Alan Gewirth, and Michael Smith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. Jay Wallace</span> American philosophy professor

R. Jay Wallace is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and William and Trudy Ausfahl Chair at the University of California, Berkeley. His areas of specialization include moral philosophy and philosophy of action. He is most noted for his work on practical reason, moral psychology, and meta-ethics.

<i>Natural Law and Natural Rights</i> 1980 book by John Finnis

Natural Law and Natural Rights is a book by John Finnis first published by Oxford University Press, as part of the Clarendon Law Series. Finnis develops a philosophy of Law in the tradition of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas – Natural Law. His presentation and defence of Natural Law can be explored from three perspectives. First, polemical, by contradistinction with other philosophies of Law. Second, through its particular methodology, based on practical reasoning. Third, through its substantive content in the form of basic human goods. In addition, his 2011 edition included an extensive postscript, which is briefly discussed in the fourth section. The book is written as a collection of essays on a wide range of topics guided by an overall theme.

Ethics is the branch of philosophy that examines right and wrong moral behavior, moral concepts and moral language. Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior". The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns matters of value, and thus comprises the branch of philosophy called axiology.

Patricia Greenspan is a professor of philosophy at the University of Maryland, College Park. Greenspan works in analytic philosophy of action, and is known for work on rationality, morality, and emotion that helped to create a place for emotion in philosophy of action and ethics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iusnaturalism</span> Theory of law

Jusnaturalism or iusnaturalism is a theory of law, which holds that legal norms follow a human universal knowledge on justice and harmony of relations. Thus, it views enacted laws that contradict such universal knowledge as unjust and illegitimate. Modern theorists considered as iusnaturalists include Hugo Grotius, Immanuel Kant, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and Franz von Zeiller, among others.

References

  1. ↑ Gorsuch, Neil McGill (2004). The right to receive assistance in suicide and euthanasia, with particular reference to the law of the United States. ora.ox.ac.uk (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford. OCLC   59196002. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.401384. Lock-green.svg
  2. ↑ Among others, Objectivity and Content in Ethics, in Reason in Action.
  3. ↑ "Faculty and students celebrate Professor John Finnis as he moves to emeritus status | the Law School | University of Notre Dame". 14 September 2020.
  4. ↑ "Permanent Senior Distinguished Research Fellows // De Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture // University of Notre Dame".
  5. ↑ "Lord Chancellor welcomes historic promotion of talent for new silks - Press releases - GOV.UK". gov.uk. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  6. ↑ "2019 Queen's Birthday Honours List" (PDF). The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. 10 June 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  7. ↑ "No. 63918". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2022. p. N9.
  8. ↑ Finnis, John Mitchell (1965). The idea of judicial power, with special reference to Australian law. ora.ox.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Oxford. OCLC   694895648. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.671295. Lock-green.svg
  9. ↑ "John Finnis". Faculty of Law, University of Oxford . 2011. Archived from the original on 7 September 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2008.
  10. 1 2 Greenya, John (2018). Gorsuch: The Judge Who Speaks for Himself. Threshold Editions. p. 47. ISBN   978-1-5011-8038-5.
  11. ↑ Video on YouTube
  12. ↑ Finnis, John (2011). Reasons in Action (1st ed.). Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
  13. ↑ Finnis, John (2011). Intentions and Identity (Oxford and New York ed.). Oxford University Press.
  14. ↑ Finnis, John (2011). Human Rights and Common Good. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
  15. 1 2 3 Finnis, John. Philosophy of Law. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
  16. ↑ Finnis, John (2011). Religion and Public Reasons. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
  17. ↑ Essay 1987a
  18. ↑ Reason, Universality and Moral Thought in Reason in Action
  19. ↑ Reason, Universality and Moral Thought, in Reason in Action
  20. ↑ Essays 1977a; 2005b)
  21. ↑ essay 2000a
  22. ↑ Essay 1999a
  23. ↑ Essay 1995a
  24. ↑ Address to an international conference held at Queens' College, Cambridge in the Summer of 2000, in Religion and Public Reasons, p. 340
  25. ↑ Essay 1994a
  26. 1 2 Essay 2001a, with Germain Grisez and Joseph Boyle
  27. ↑ Essay 1999d
  28. ↑ essay 2009a
  29. ↑ Fundamentals of Ethics, p. 68
  30. ↑ Sent. III d.33 q.2 a.3c
  31. ↑ Prudence about Ends, in Reason in Action
  32. ↑ Essay 1993b
  33. ↑ essay 1990a
  34. ↑ Essay 1970a
  35. ↑ essay 1984a
  36. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Essay 1997b
  37. ↑ Essay 1990a
  38. ↑ essay 1997b
  39. 1 2 3 4 Essay 2009c
  40. ↑ Natural Law and Natural Rights, 68-69, 385; Essay 2009c
  41. ↑ The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, p. 92
  42. 1 2 3 4 5 Essay 2009d
  43. ↑ Unpublished paper, read to Catholic student societies in Oxford in 1990, and, with revisions, in 1998 (in Collected Essays, Volume V).
  44. ↑ Essay 2003b
  45. ↑ Essay 2003b in Philosophy of Law, p. 42
  46. ↑ Essay 1989b
  47. ↑ Essay 1984b
  48. ↑ Essay 2003b., in Philosophy of Law, p. 30
  49. ↑ Essay 1984b, in Philosophy of Law p. 50
  50. ↑ Essay 1984b, in Philosophy of Law p. 51
  51. ↑ Essay 1987e
  52. ↑ Essay 1984b and 1989b
  53. ↑ Essay 1989b, in Philosophy of Law p. 75
  54. 1 2 Essay 2009b
  55. ↑ Essay 2002a
  56. ↑ Essay 2005d, in Philosophy of Law p. 169
  57. 1 2 Essay 2007b
  58. ↑ 1967b in Philosophy of Law p. 208
  59. ↑ Essay 1985b
  60. ↑ Essay 1996c
  61. ↑ unpublished essay: Individuals, Communities, and Postmodernsm: Some Notes
  62. ↑ Essay 1985c
  63. ↑ Stephen Buckle, "Natural Law" in Peter Singer (ed.), A Companion to Ethics. Blackwell Publishers, 1997, ch. 13, p. 171.
  64. ↑ Paterson, Craig (2006). "Aquinas, Finnis and Non-naturalism". In Pugh, Matthew S.; Paterson, Craig (eds.). Analytical Thomism: Traditions in Dialogue. London: Routledge. pp. 171–194. doi:10.4324/9781315262604. ISBN   978-1-315-26260-4.
  65. ↑ Finnis, John (1994). "Law, Morality, and "Sexual Orientation"". Notre Dame Law Review. 69: 1049–76.
  66. ↑ Sullivan, Andrew. Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality . Picador: London, 1996. pp. 98–99
  67. ↑ Stein, Edward, The Mismeasure of Desire: The Science, Theory, and Ethics of Sexual Orientation. Oxford University Press, 1999. p. 356
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.