Author Archives: F. E. Guerra-Pujol

We now proceed to Chapter IX of “Natural Law and Natural Rights.” This chapter contains five subsections and is devoted to the theme of authority. By “authority,” Professor Finnis means coercion or the power “to require one to choose what … Continue reading →

My wife and I are in the Atlanta area this weekend, but the forecast calls for lots of rain. Perfect weather for reading! (We will return to “Natural Law and Natural Rights” on Monday.)

Before we wrap up our review of “Natural Law and Natural Rights” (NLNR), I want to take a moment to sum up my protracted two-part Coasean critique of rights-talk (here is part one and here is part two) by making … Continue reading →

In response to Professor Finnis’s analysis of rights in Chapter VIII of his book on “Natural Law and Natural Rights,” we began to present a general critique of rights-talk in our previous post. Specifically, we surveyed Ronald Coase’s economic analysis … Continue reading →

We now proceed to Chapter VIII of “Natural Law and Natural Rights.” Among other things, Professor Finnis revisits W. N. Hohfeld’s classic taxonomy of rights (see pp. 199-205), delves into the history of the language of rights (pp. 206-210), and … Continue reading →

We now proceed to Chapter VII of “Natural law and natural rights,” the chapter on justice. Alas, Professor Finnis’s beautiful theory of justice is built on theoretical quicksand, for it is premised on his view of the common good, and … Continue reading →

Note: This part of our review of “Natural law and natural rights” (NLNR) was revised on 17 May 2019. (In fairness to Finnis we added an important clarification below the cartoon.) We now proceed to Chapter VI of NLNR, though, … Continue reading →

Let’s now turn to Chapter V of “Natural law and natural rights,” the most important chapter in Professor Finnis’s beautiful book. This chapter is a must-read because Professor Finnis does three big things in this chapter: (1) he presents a … Continue reading →

We interrupt our extended review of Finnis (2011) to present this beautiful coat rack made from an old chess board. (The pieces on this board/coat rack are set in the Caro-Kann opening position. More details here. Hat tip: The Amazing … Continue reading →

After making some preliminary clarifications in Chapter II and setting forth the first of his “underived first principles” (knowledge and truth) in Chapter III, Professor Finnis goes on to catalog his entire collection of “basic values” or “basic goods” in … Continue reading →