Semester of Graduation
Spring 2023
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Political Science
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
The present work examines the natural law jurisprudence of John Finnis. It argues that Finnis’s teaching is a genuinely new natural law theory. Finnis’s jurisprudence is not a re- presentation of the jurisprudence of St. Thomas Aquinas because its central element—a doctrine of natural rights—is a departure from Aquinas’s natural law teaching. In support of these claims, the present work relies upon the scholarship of Ernest L. Fortin, A.A. Following Fr. Fortin, it presents an understanding of the natural law that endorses a clear distinction between natural right and natural rights—between premodern political philosophy and modern political philosophy.
Date
4-3-2023
Recommended Citation
Cacciatore, Charles Neville, "Natural Lights & Natural Rights: The Problem of the New Classical Natural Law Theory" (2023). LSU Master's Theses. 5730.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/5730
Committee Chair
Stoner, James R.
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_theses.5730
Included in
Catholic Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, History of Philosophy Commons, Jurisprudence Commons, Law and Philosophy Commons, Law and Politics Commons, Natural Law Commons, Political Theory Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons