Natural Law and Natural Rights

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Law, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy
Cover of the book Natural Law and Natural Rights by John Finnis, OUP Oxford
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: John Finnis ISBN: 9780191021541
Publisher: OUP Oxford Publication: April 7, 2011
Imprint: OUP Oxford Language: English
Author: John Finnis
ISBN: 9780191021541
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Publication: April 7, 2011
Imprint: OUP Oxford
Language: English

First published in 1980, Natural Law and Natural Rights is widely heralded as a seminal contribution to the philosophy of law, and an authoritative restatement of natural law doctrine. It has offered generations of students and other readers a thorough grounding in the central issues of legal, moral, and political philosophy from Finnis's distinctive perspective. This new edition includes a substantial postscript by the author, in which he responds to thirty years of discussion, criticism and further work in the field to develop and refine the original theory. The book closely integrates the philosophy of law with ethics, social theory and political philosophy. The author develops a sustained and substantive argument; it is not a review of other people's arguments but makes frequent illustrative and critical reference to classical, modern, and contemporary writers in ethics, social and political theory, and jurisprudence. The preliminary First Part reviews a century of analytical jurisprudence to illustrate the dependence of every descriptive social science upon evaluations by the theorist. A fully critical basis for such evaluations is a theory of natural law. Standard contemporary objections to natural law theory are reviewed and shown to rest on serious misunderstandings. The Second Part develops in ten carefully structured chapters an account of: basic human goods and basic requirements of practical reasonableness, community and 'the common good'; justice; the logical structure of rights-talk; the bases of human rights, their specification and their limits; authority, and the formation of authoritative rules by non-authoritative persons and procedures; law, the Rule of Law, and the derivation of laws from the principles of practical reasonableness; the complex relation between legal and moral obligation; and the practical and theoretical problems created by unjust laws. A final Part develops a vigorous argument about the relation between 'natural law', 'natural theology' and 'revelation' - between moral concern and other ultimate questions.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

First published in 1980, Natural Law and Natural Rights is widely heralded as a seminal contribution to the philosophy of law, and an authoritative restatement of natural law doctrine. It has offered generations of students and other readers a thorough grounding in the central issues of legal, moral, and political philosophy from Finnis's distinctive perspective. This new edition includes a substantial postscript by the author, in which he responds to thirty years of discussion, criticism and further work in the field to develop and refine the original theory. The book closely integrates the philosophy of law with ethics, social theory and political philosophy. The author develops a sustained and substantive argument; it is not a review of other people's arguments but makes frequent illustrative and critical reference to classical, modern, and contemporary writers in ethics, social and political theory, and jurisprudence. The preliminary First Part reviews a century of analytical jurisprudence to illustrate the dependence of every descriptive social science upon evaluations by the theorist. A fully critical basis for such evaluations is a theory of natural law. Standard contemporary objections to natural law theory are reviewed and shown to rest on serious misunderstandings. The Second Part develops in ten carefully structured chapters an account of: basic human goods and basic requirements of practical reasonableness, community and 'the common good'; justice; the logical structure of rights-talk; the bases of human rights, their specification and their limits; authority, and the formation of authoritative rules by non-authoritative persons and procedures; law, the Rule of Law, and the derivation of laws from the principles of practical reasonableness; the complex relation between legal and moral obligation; and the practical and theoretical problems created by unjust laws. A final Part develops a vigorous argument about the relation between 'natural law', 'natural theology' and 'revelation' - between moral concern and other ultimate questions.

More books from OUP Oxford

Cover of the book Legal Aspects of Carbon Trading by John Finnis
Cover of the book Hate Crime and Restorative Justice by John Finnis
Cover of the book Extraterritorial Use of Force Against Non-State Actors by John Finnis
Cover of the book Confidentiality in Offshore Financial Law by John Finnis
Cover of the book The Nineteenth Century by John Finnis
Cover of the book Oxford Handbook of Expedition and Wilderness Medicine by John Finnis
Cover of the book Emotional Cities by John Finnis
Cover of the book The Law of Armed Conflict and the Use of Force by John Finnis
Cover of the book Born in the GDR by John Finnis
Cover of the book The Invisible Hand? by John Finnis
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Africa and Economics by John Finnis
Cover of the book The Confusions of Young Törless by John Finnis
Cover of the book Legalism by John Finnis
Cover of the book The Neuroscience of Tinnitus by John Finnis
Cover of the book Coherence in EU Competition Law by John Finnis
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy