John Finnis'understanding of Natural Law

Natural law understanding, dated to Antique Greeks, stemmed from that it was against ethical nihilism, ethical subjectivisim, and ethical relativism and that it was to search for universal justice. It is concerned about to search for common, universal value and good, which is located on the basis of areas like ethics, moral philosophy, the philosophy of law, politics, and religion. There is a tradition of natural law which contained many theories of natural law in the history of thought.This thesis examines John Finnis? understanding of Natural law in the light of natural law tradition. The thesis contains four chapter including introduction and conclusion. Introductory chapter deals with the problematic of natural law.First chapter investigates the tradition of natural law, especially natural law theories of Cicero, Thomas Aquinas, and Hugo Grotius.Second chapter analyzes John Finnis? theory of natural law which based on main human values and goods. It tries to estimate distinguishing features of Finnis? theory and its place in the tradition of natural law.The thesis ends with a concluding remark about some of the main points which came out during the course of study.Keywords: Natural Law, Finnis, Practical Reasonableness, Play, Aesthetic Experience, Knowledge, Religion, Friendship, Life, Cicero, Thomas Aquinas, Hugo Grotius.