John Mitchell Mitchell Finnis

Background

Finnis, John Mitchell was born on July 28, 1940 in Adelaide, Australia. Son of Maurice Meredith Steriker and Margaret McKellar (Stewart) Finnis.

Education

Saint Peters College at Adelaide University (1957). Adelaide University (Bachelor of Laws, 1961). Oxford University (Doctor of Philosophy, 1965).

Career

Associate, University of California, Berkeley, 1965-1966; fellow, U. College, Oxford, England, since 1966; lecturer in law, University of Oxford, 1967-1972; reader in law, University of Oxford, 1972-1989; professor of law and legal philosophy, University of Oxford, since 1989. Professor of law U. Malawi, 1976-1978. Biolchini Professor Law Notre Dame Law School, since 1995.

Special advisor foreign affairs committee House of Commons, London, 1980-1982. Consultant Pontifical Commission Iustitia et Pax, Vatican City, 1977-1989. Member Pontifical Council Iustitia et Pax, 1990-1995.

Member International Theological Commission, Vatican, 1986-1992. Huber distinguished visiting professor Boston College Law School, 1993-1994.

Achievements

• John M. Finnis has been listed as a reputable lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Fundamentals of Ethics

    (Are we entitled to be confident that our moral judgements...)

  • Aquinas: Moral, Political, and Legal Theory (Founders of Modern Political and Social Thought)

    (This launch volume in the Founders of Modern Political an...)

  • Natural Law and Natural Rights. 2 edition(second edition)

    (First published in 1980, Natural Law and Natural Rights i...)

  • Natural Law and Natural Rights (Clarendon Law Series)

    (First published in 1980, Natural Law and Natural Rights i...)

  • Natural Law and Natural Rights. 2nd(second edition)

    (First published in 1980, Natural Law and Natural Rights i...)

  • Nuclear Deterrence, Morality and Realism

    (Providing a rigorous and objective ethical analysis of nu...)

  • Moral Absolutes: Tradition, Revision, and Truth (Michael J. Mcgivney Lectures of the John Paul II Institute)

    ( Moral Absolutes sets forth a vigorous but careful criti...)

  • Natural Law and Natural Rights (Clarendon Law Series) by John Finnis (1980-03-20)

    (Will be shipped from US. Used books may not include compa...)

  • NUCLEAR DETERRENCE, MORALITY, AND REALISM By Finnis, John ( Author) 1988 Paperback
  • By John Finnis - Aquinas : Moral, Political, and Legal Theory: 1st (first) Edition

Views

Finnis is a major natural law theorist according to whom there is an ideal higher than positive law in terms of which the legal structure of a society can be appraised. After a survey of anthropological research, he concludes that diverse human societies share common concerns. On the basis of this he posits seven basic goods in terms of which morality, justice and law are understood. These basic goods are life, knowledge, play, aesthetic experience, sociability or friendship, practical reasonableness and religion understood as ‘recognition of, and concern about an order of things "beyond" each and every man'. These goods are objective, basic, fundamental, premoral and self evident. They are objective since all human societies exhibit a concern for these goods. They are basic since all other values, such as courage, gentleness and moderation, are means of pursuing the basic goods and hence subordinate to them. They are fundamental in that all goods have equal status: there is no priority of value amongst the goods since each acquires a priority when viewed from a certain perspective. The goods are premoral since they are not moral obligations or recommendations or prescriptions, even though they provoke the 'evaluative substratum for all moral judgements’. They are self evident since they are obvious to the questioning mind. The premoral basic goods are transformed into a theory of morality by a set of principles consisting of basic requirements of practical reasonableness. These principles are: a coherent life plan, no arbitrary preferences among the seven basic goods, no arbitrary preferences among persons, detachment, commitment, efficiency within reason, respect for every basic value in every act, fostering the common good of the community, following one’s conscience, and to choose real goods to apparent goods. Finnis regards law as an aspect of practical reasonableness, that works for the common good of the community. The moral authority of the law, for him, ‘depends.. on its justice or at least its ability to secure justice’. What status do unjust laws have in Finnis's theory? Are these laws invalid because they are unjust? Is there any obligation on the part of citizens to obey unjust laws? Finnis is aware that law can, at times, work against the common good. According to him, the laws that are unjust lack moral authority and therefore an unjust law. None the less there may be a moral obligation on the part of the citizens to obey them for practical reasons since disobedience of the law may weaken the authority of the ruler and result in harm to the common good. A problem with Finnis’s natural law theory is that it commits the fallacy of deriving an ‘ought’ from an ‘is’: normative statements are derived from statements of fact lacking value content. However, according to Finnis, this is not true of his theory, since what is offered is not based purely on the observance of human nature but is also based on being a human being. The primary grasp of what is good for us is a practical grasp. Although Finnis provides impressively comprehensive lists of basic goods and basic requirements of practical reasonableness it is questionable whether these are sufficient to provide clear guidance in moral dilemmas. Is it not the case that there are situations where, for instance, it may not be possible to respect each basic value in every act, or to follow one's conscience?

Membership

Member joint bioethical committee Catholic Bishops England and Wales, Scotland andIreland, 1981-1988. Vice chairman Linacre Center (for Medical Ethics), London,1986-1996. Fellow The British Academy.

Interests

• Philosophy of law; ethics.

• Philosophers & Thinkers

  St Thomas Aquinas.

Connections

Married Marie Carmel McNally, June 20, 1964. Children: Rachel, John-Paul, Catherine, Maria, Jerome, Edmund.

Father:

Maurice Meredith Steriker Finnis

Mother:

Margaret McKellar (Stewart) Finnis

Spouse:

Marie Carmel McNally

child:

Jerome Finnis

child:

Catherine Finnis

child:

Rachel Finnis

child:

Maria Finnis

child:

John-Paul Finnis

child:

Edmund Finnis