Reason, Morality, and Law: The Philosophy of John Finnis

by John Keown DCL (Editor), Robert P. George (Editor)

Overview

John Finnis is a pioneer in the development of a new yet classically-grounded theory of natural law. His work offers a systematic philosophy of practical reasoning and moral choosing that addresses the great questions of the rational foundations of ethical judgments, the identification of moral norms, human agency, and the freedom of the will, personal identity, the common good, the role and functions of law, the meaning of justice, and the relationship of morality and politics to religion and the life of faith. The core of Finnis' theory, articulated in his seminal work Natural Law and Natural Rights, has profoundly influenced later work in the philosophy of law and moral and political philosophy, while his contributions to the ethical debates surrounding nuclear deterrence, abortion, euthanasia, sexual morality, and religious freedom have powerfully demonstrated the practical implications of his natural law theory. This volume, which gathers eminent moral, legal, and political philosophers, and theologians to engage with John Finnis' work, offers the first sustained, critical study of Finnis' contribution across the range of disciplines in which rational and morally upright choosing is a central concern. It includes a substantial response from Finnis himself, in which he comments on each of their 27 essays and defends and develops his ideas and arguments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191665516
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	03/21/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	18 MB
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About the Author

John Keown DCL holds the Rose Kennedy Chair in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University. Having graduated in law from Cambridge he completed a doctorate at Oxford, under the supervision of John Finnis. Before his election to the Kennedy Chair he taught medical law in the Faculty of Law at Cambridge, where he was a Fellow of Queens' College and of Churchill College. Professor Keown has written widely in the field of the law and ethics of medicine. His research has been cited by the Law Lords and by the US Supreme Court. His latest book is The Law and Ethics of Medicine (OUP, 2012). Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University. He holds a D.Phil from Oxford, where he studied under John Finnis and Joseph Raz. He is the author of numerous books, including Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality, and In Defence of Natural Law.

Table of Contents

Editors' Preface
Introduction: The Achievement of John Finnis, Robert P. George
Reasons, Goods, and Principles
1. Value: A Menu of Questions, Joseph Raz
2. Finnis on Well-being, Roger Crisp
3. Reasoning about the Human Good, and the Role of the Public Philosopher, John Haldane
4. On the Most Fundamental Principle of Morality, Joseph Boyle
5. What is Natural Law Like?, Jeremy Waldron
Intentions in Action
6. Intention and Side-effects: John Finnis and Elizabeth Anscombe, Luke Gormally
7. Intention and Side-effects: The mens rea for Murder, Anthony Kenny
8. John Finnis on Thomas Aquinas on Human Action, Kevin L. Flannery SJ
9. On Moral Philosophy and Kinds of Human Actions, Cristobel Orrego
Justice, Rights, and Wrongdoing
10. Finnis on Justice, John Gardner
11. Retributivism in the Spirit of Finnis, Matthew H. Kramer
12. The Nature of Limited Government, Leslie Green
13. Pure Perfectionism and the Limits of Paternalism, Christopher Tollefsen
14. "Lawful mercy" in Measure for Measure, Jacqueline Tasioulas and John Tasioulas
15. The Basis for Being a Subject of Rights: The Natural Law Position, Patrick Lee
16. Constitutional and Other Persons, Gerard V. Bradley
17. Bioethics After Finnis, Anthony Fisher OP
18. A New Father for the Law and Ethics of Medicine, John Keown
Philosophy of Law
19. Value, Practice and Idea, N E Simmonds
20. The Irony of Law, Timothy Endicott
21. Ideas of Easy Virtue, Timothy Macklem
22. Law and its Theory: a Question of Priorities, Julie Dickson
23. Finnis on Legal and Moral Obligation, Maris Kopcke Tinture
24. Constitutional Principle in the Laws of the Commonwealth, Richard Ekins
25. Intention and the Allocation of Risk, Neil M. Gorsuch
Philosophy, Religion, and Public Reasons
26. The Right to Religious Liberty and the Coercion of Belief: A Note on Dignitatis Humanae, Thomas Pink
27. Natural Law and the Transcendent Source of Human Fulfillment, Germain Grisez
Reflections and Responses
28. Responses, John Finnis
Bibliography of the Published Works of John Finnis

Editorial Reviews

"This is no ordinary Festschrift. Comprising twenty-eight contributions and one hundred and twenty-five pages of detailed responses from Finnis,...Reason, Morality, and Law is a decidedly weighty tome. And if we include the publication in 2011 of the second edition of Natural Law and Natural Rights, and then in 2013 the five volumes of Finnis's collected essays, Finnis's position as the most important contemporary defender of the natural law tradition has now been powerfully, and deservedly, established for some years to come... Reason, Morality, and the Law is a superb achievement, and a fitting tribute to this most inestimable of men."- Raymond Hain, Providence College, Nova et Vetera

From the Publisher