JohnFinnisNaturalLawaquicksummary

Australian(born1940);currentlyEmeritusProfessoratOxfordUniversity
HewroteabookcalledNaturalLawandNaturalRights(1980).Itisoneofthe
mostimportantrecentbooksonthephilosophyoflaw.Muchofwhatiswritten
belowisasummaryofwhatappearsinNaturallawandNaturalRights.
Around700yearsafterThomasAquinas(12251274),FinnisreturnedtoAquinas
ideasandtriedtoreformulateamoderntheoryofnaturallaw
Finnis:wecantsaywhatthelawiswithoutunderstandingwhatthepurposeof
lawis:
o [T]herationaleofnaturallawtheory[is]toestablishwhatisreally
goodforhumanpersons.1
LikeAristotlebeforehim,Finnisstartshisargumentbyaskingthisquestion:
whatconstitutesaworthwhile,valuablelife?
Theanswer:thereare7basicgoodsthatcontributetoafulfillinglife:
o Life
o Knowledge
o Play
o Aestheticexperience
o Sociability(friendship)
o Practicalreasonableness
o Religion
Finnisthinksthatthese7basicgoodsareuniversaltheyapplytoallhumans
atalltimes.Toflourishashumanbeingsweneedallofthesebasicgoods.

Letslookattheminmoredetail(seehandoutforevenmoredetail):
o Life=thedriveforselfpreservation;itincludeseveryaspectoflifewhich
putsahumanbeingingoodshapeforselfdetermination;itincludesbodily
health,freedomfrompain;alsothetransmissionoflifebyprocreation.
NOTE:ina2011postscript,Finnisaddedtheinstitutionofmarriage(a
manandawoman)tothiscategory.

1Wacks,RPhilosophyofLawAVeryShortIntroduction(OxfordUniversityPress,2006)1415

o Knowledge=itisdesirableforitsownsakeitsagoodtobewell
informedinsteadofbeingignorant
o Play=recreation,enjoyment,fun;engaginginaperformancefornoother
reasonthantheperformanceitself
o Aestheticexperience=anappreciationofbeautyinartornature;
o Sociability(friendship)=peaceandharmonyamongstmenatits
minimum,initsstrongestformitisthefloweringoffullfriendship.Acting
intheinterestsofonesfriendsorforthesakeofafriend
o Practicalreasonableness=usingonesintelligencetosolveproblemsof
decidingwhattodo,howtolive,andshapingonescharacter
o Religion=ourconcernaboutanorderofthingsthattranscendsor
individualinterests(notnecessarilyareligionperse).

Thesecondtolastoneonthelistispracticalreasonableness.Finnisexplainsmore
aboutthat.Hesaysthatthereare9basicrequirementsofpracticalreasonableness:
1. Thegoodofpracticalreasonablenessstructuresthepursuitofgoodsgenerally.
Itshapesourparticipationintheothergoods.Ithelpsustochoosewhattodo,
whatprojectstocommitourtimeto.
2. Acoherentplanoflife.
3. Noarbitrarypreferenceamongstvalues.
4. Noarbitrarypreferenceamongstpersons.
5. Oneshouldbebothopenmindedandcommittedtoonesprojects.
6. Therelevanceofconsequences:actionsshouldbereasonablyefficient.
7. Respectforeverybasicvalueineveryact.
8. Therequirementsofthecommongoodoneshouldacttoadvancetheinterests
ofthecommunity
9. Followingonesconscienceweshouldntgoagainstourinnerconscience

Sowhathavewegot?
The7basicgoods+the9requirementsofpracticalreasonableness=Finniss
ideaoftheuniversalandimmutableprinciplesofnaturallaw.Histheory,he
says,accordswiththebasicideasofnaturallawputforwardbyAquinas.

Somepointstonote:
1. Hesaysthatthese7basicgoodsarenotderivedfromanything:theyareallself
evident,understoodbyall,andtheyareallequallyfundamental.
2. Ofcourse,eachpersoncanchoosewhethertomakeone(ormore)more
importantintheirownlives.
3. Oneofthesegoodsiscalledpracticalreasonhemeansthetypeofreasoningwe
usetomakedecisions
4. Hethinksthatpracticalreasonisuniversal,timeless

Somepossiblecriticism:
a) Whoseideaofreasondoeshispracticalreasoninclude?
b) HisconceptisbasedonWesternideasofreasoncanpracticalreasonevenbe
isolatedfromthevaluesystemofasociety?(seeDaviesatp90)

c) Whathashistoricallycountedasreasonablehasreflectedthevaluesofwhite,
Europeanmen.Differencesinpowerhaveaneffectonwhatwemightcountas
reasonable.
d) Hisideathatsometimeswemighthavetoobeyimmorallaws(seebelow)might
meanputtingupwithatyrantjusttopreserveorder.

Otherpointsabouthistheorytoconsider:

1. Hesaysthatunjustlawsarenotsimplynullities.Butbecausetheygoagainstthe
commongood,theylosetheirdirectmoralauthoritytobind.Soinotherwords,an
unjustlawisstillalaw.
2. Hesaysthatinsomesituationswemustobeyanunjustlawandevencomplywith
anunjustlawtofurtheracommongood(thecontinuedoperationofthelegal
system).So,anunjustlawmightsometimeshavetobecompliedwithitwill
dependonthecircumstances.Wecannotautomaticallyassumethatanunjustlaw
isnolawatallandneednotbeobeyed.

Inotherwords.Hearguesthatalegalsystemistheretofurtherthecommon
good.Thereforeanydisobedientactthattendstoweakenthelegalsystemasa
wholemaybeunjustified(seediscussioninDaviesat94).Surprisingly,hethinks
thatsometimesalawmayhavetobeobeyed,evenifitseemsimmoral,because
disobeyingitmightweakenthewholesystem.

3. Heusessomeinterestingexamplestoshowthatnaturallawisaccepted,evenby
positivists.Forexample,theNuremburgtrials.Naziwarcriminalswere
prosecutedforcrimessuchascrimesagainsthumanitywhichwerenotcrimesat
thetimetheywerecommitted.This,hesaysisanexampleofnaturallawatwork.
Hesaysthetribunalappliedhigherlawthatexistsatalltimes,inallplaces,
regardlessofthepositivelaw.SeehisentryintheStanfordEncyclopediaatthis
linkformoreinfo:http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/naturallawtheories/

Learnmore:
GototheWikipediapageabouthimandthenclickonsomelinksatthebottomof
thepage:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Finnis
Trythesetextbooks:
o WacksUnderstandingJurisprudenceespeciallypages2231
o Freeman(ed)LloydsIntroductiontoJurisprudenceespeciallypages168190
o DaviesAskingtheLawQuestionsespeciallypages9094
TryreadingProfessorWilliamLongsdescriptionhere
http://www.drbilllong.com/Jurisprudence/Finnis.html
OryoucangotoJohnFinnisstaffpageatOxfordUniversity.

HehasalsowrittenaninterestingchapterintheOxfordHandbookof
JurisprudenceandthePhilosophyofLawwhichcanbedownloadedforfree:
http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.co.uk/pdf/019927181X.pdf