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Acton Research

Natural Law

    List of Readings

    Natural law, or right reason, rests on the self-evident truths of fundamental goods and supposes that humanaction can be directed toward what is morally right by practical reason. According to Aquinas, “Goodis the first thing that falls under the apprehension of the practical reason, which is directed toaction: since every agent acts for an end under the aspect of good. Consequently the first principlein the practical reason is one founded on the notion of good.” Summa Theologiae,I—II, 94, a.2.

    Below are selected readings exploring the truths and application of natural law.

    Aristotle

    Aquinas, Saint Thomas

    • Aquinas, Saint Thomas. Summa Theologica. London: Blackfriars, 1975.
    • Aquinas, Saint Thomas. Commentarium super epistolam ad Romanos, c.14, lect.2 (ad v.5), in S. Thomae Aquinatus Super Epistolas S. Pauli Lectura, R. Cai, O.P. (ed.). Turin: Marietti, .
    • Aquinas, Saint Thomas. In Duo Praecepta Caritatis et in Decem Legis Praecepta. Prologus: Opuscula Theologica, II, No.1129, Ed. Taurinen. Paris, 1954.

    Althusius, Johannes

    • Althusius, Johannes. Politica. Boston: Beacon Press, 1964 (1614).

    Bayle, Pierre

    Barth, Karl

    Biggar, Nigel

    Black, Rufus

    • Black, Rufus. Christian Moral Realism: Natural Law, Narrative, Virtue and the Gospel. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
    • Black, Rufus. "Is the New Natural Law Theory Christian?" In The Revival of Natural Law: Philosophical, Theological and Ethical Responses to the Finnis-Grisez School, 148-63. Edited by Nigel Biggar and Rufus Black. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2000.
    • Black, Rufus. Karl Barth and Germain Grisez on the Human Good: An Ecumenical Rapprochement. In The Revival of Natural Law: Philosophical, Theological and Ethical Responses to the Finnis-Grisez School, 164-83. Edited by Nigel Biggar and Rufus Black. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2000.
    • Black, Rufus. "The New Natural Law Theory" In The Revival of Natural Law: Philosophical, Theological and Ethical Responses to the Finnis-Grisez School, 1-28. Edited by Nigel Biggar and Rufus Black. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2000.

    Boyle, Joseph

    Boyle, José

    • Boyle, José. Incoherence and Consequentialism (or Proportionalism)--A Rejoinder, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 64. , 1990.

    Bradley, Gerard

    • Bradley, Gerard. Marriage and the Liberal Imagination', Georgetown Law Journal 84. , 1995.

    Brunner, Emil

    Budziszewski, J

    • Budziszewski, J. Written on the Heart: The Case for Natural Law. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997.
    • Budziszewski, J. The Revenge of Conscience: Politics and the Fall of Man. Dallas: Spence Publishing, 2000.
    • Budziszewski, J. "The Roots of Law" In Religion & Liberty, vol. 11, n. 5. Grand Rapids: Acton Institute, 2001.
    • Budziszewski, J. What We Can't Not Know: A Guide. Dallas: Spence Publishing, 2003.

    Burlamaqui, Jean-Jacques

    Carmichael, Gershom

    Culverwell, Nathaniel

    Cumberland, Richard

    Finnis, John

    • Finnis, John. Aquinas: Moral, Political and Legal Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
    • Finnis, John. Fundamentals of Ethics. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1983.
    • Finnis, John. Natural Law and Natural Rights. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980/1993.
    • Finnis, John. "A Bill of Rights for Britain? The Moral of Contemporary Jurisprudence", Maccabaean Lecture in Jurisprudence, Proceedings of the British Academy 71. , 1985.
    • Finnis, John. Nuclear Deterrence: Morality and Realism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987.
    • Finnis, John. "Legal Enforcement of 'Duties to Oneself': Kant v. Neo-Kantians", Columbia Law Review 87. , 1987.
    • Finnis, John. "Incoherence and Consequentialism (or Proportionalism)--A Rejoinder", American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 64. , 1990.
    • Finnis, John. Moral Absolutes: Tradition, Revision, and Truth. Washington, DC: University of America Press, 1991.
    • Finnis, John. Practical Principles, Moral Truth, and Ultimate Ends, American Journal of Jurisprudence 32. , 1987.

    Fordyce, David

    Grisez, Germain

    • Grisez, Germain. Nuclear Deterrence: Morality and Realism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987.
    • Grisez, Germain. "Incoherence and Consequentialism (or Proportionalism)--A Rejoinder", American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 64. , 1990.

    George, Robert P, ed

    George, Robert P

    • George, Robert P. "Recent Criticism of Natural Law Theory", University of Chicago Law Review 55. , 1988.
    • George, Robert P. "Marriage and the Liberal Imagination", Georgetown Law Journal 84. , 1995.
    • George, Robert P. "Moralistic Liberalism and Legal Moralism", Michigan Law Review 88. , 1990.
    • George, Robert P. "Does the 'Incommensurability Thesis' Imperil Common Sense Moral Judgements?" American Journal of Jurisprudence 37. , 1992.
    • George, Robert P. Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
    • George, Robert P. "Natural Law and Positive Law" in The Autonomy of Law: Essays on Legal Positivism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
    • George, Robert P. "Natural Law and International Order" in The Constitution of International Society: Diverse Ethical Perspectives, Terry Nardin et al. (eds.). Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.
    • George, Robert P. In Defense of Natural Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999.
    • George, Robert P. "A Clash of Orthodoxies", First Things 95. , 1999.
    • George, Robert P. "A Clash of Orthodoxies: An Exchange", First Things 104. , 2000.

    Glendon, Mary Ann

    • Glendon, Mary Ann. Rights Talk: The Impoverishment of Political Discourse. New York: Free Press, 1991.

    Gierke, Otto Friedrich von

    Grabill, Stephen

    • Grabill, Stephen. Rediscovering the Natural Law in Reformed Theological Ethics. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2005.

    Gregg, Samuel

    • Gregg, Samuel. On Ordered Liberty. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2003.
    • Gregg, Samuel. Morality, Law, and Public Policy. Sydney: St. Thomas More Press, 2001.

    Grisez, Germain

    • Grisez, Germain. The Way of the Lord Jesus, 3 vols. , 1983, 1993, 1997.
    • Grisez, Germain. "Practical Principles, Moral Truth, and Ultimate Ends", American Journal of Jurisprudence 32. , 1987.

    Grotius, Hugo

    Gustafson, James M

    Hare, John E

    • Hare, John E. God's Call: Moral Realism, God's Commands, and Human Autonomy. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2001.

    Helm, Paul

    Hittinger, Russell

    Home, Henry

    Hutcheson, Francis

    Jackson, Robert

    • Jackson, Robert. "Opening Speech", in Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, vol. ii, Proceedings, 11/14/1945-11/30/1945 [Official text in the English language], IMT, Nuremberg, 1947: Second Day, Wednesday, 11/21/1945, part 20, 143. , 1945.
    • Jackson, Robert. "Closing Speech", in Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, vol. xix, Proceedings, 7/19-29/1946, [Official text in English language], IMT, Nuremberg, 1947: One Hundred and Eighty-Seventh Day: Friday, 7/26/1946: Morning Session: Part 2, 29. , 1946.

    Kuyper, Abraham

    • Kuyper, Abraham. De gemeene gratie, 3 vols. Leiden: Donner, 1902.
    • Kuyper, Abraham. Encyclopaedie der heilige godgeleerdheid, 3 vols. Amsterdam: J.A. Wormser, 1894.

    Mackintosh, Sir James

    MacIntyre, Alasdair

    • MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981.
    • MacIntyre, Alasdair. Whose Justice? Which Rationality?. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1988.
    • MacIntyre, Alasdair. "The Privitization of Good", Review of Politics 52. , 1990.

    Wolfe, Christopher, ed

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