- Title Pages
- Editors’ Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Value: a Menu of Questions
- 2 Finnis on Well-being
- 3 Reasoning about the Human Good, and the Role of the Public Philosopher
- 4 On the Most Fundamental Principle of Morality
- 5 What is Natural Law Like?
- 6 Intention and Side Effects
- 7 Intention and Side Effects
- 8 John Finnis on Thomas Aquinas on Human Action
- 9 On Moral Philosophy and Kinds of Human Actions<sup>*</sup>
- 10 Finnis on Justice
- 11 Retributivism in the Spirit of Finnis<sup>*</sup>
- 12 The Nature of Limited Government
- 13 Pure Perfectionism and the Limits of Paternalism
- 14 ‘Lawful Mercy’ in <i>Measure for Measure</i>
- 15 The Basis for Being a Subject of Rights
- 16 Constitutional and Other Persons
- 17 Bioethics after Finnis
- 18 A New Father for the Law and Ethics of Medicine
- 19 Value, Practice, and Idea
- 20 The Irony of Law
- 21 Ideas of Easy Virtue
- 22 Law and Its Theory
- 23 Finnis on Legal and Moral Obligation
- 24 Constitutional Principle in the Laws of the Commonwealth
- 25 Intention and the Allocation of Risk
- 26 The Right to Religious Liberty and the Coercion of Belief
- 27 Natural Law and the Transcendent Source of Human Fulfillment
- 28 Reflections and Responses
- Bibliography of the Published Works of John Finnis
- Index Introductory Note
The Basis for Being a Subject of Rights
The Basis for Being a Subject of Rights
the Natural Law Position
- Chapter:
- (p.236) 15 The Basis for Being a Subject of Rights
- Source:
- Reason, Morality, and Law
- Author(s):
Patrick Lee
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
What is the basis of full moral worth? On what basis are some entities bearers of fundamental rights while other entities are not? This chapter defends the position that this basis is being a substance with a rational nature. It defends both parts of this criterion, namely, that it is a type of substance — not an accidental attribute — and it is a substance that has a rational nature.
Keywords: substance, rational nature, natural capacity, developed capacity, practical principles
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- Title Pages
- Editors’ Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Value: a Menu of Questions
- 2 Finnis on Well-being
- 3 Reasoning about the Human Good, and the Role of the Public Philosopher
- 4 On the Most Fundamental Principle of Morality
- 5 What is Natural Law Like?
- 6 Intention and Side Effects
- 7 Intention and Side Effects
- 8 John Finnis on Thomas Aquinas on Human Action
- 9 On Moral Philosophy and Kinds of Human Actions<sup>*</sup>
- 10 Finnis on Justice
- 11 Retributivism in the Spirit of Finnis<sup>*</sup>
- 12 The Nature of Limited Government
- 13 Pure Perfectionism and the Limits of Paternalism
- 14 ‘Lawful Mercy’ in <i>Measure for Measure</i>
- 15 The Basis for Being a Subject of Rights
- 16 Constitutional and Other Persons
- 17 Bioethics after Finnis
- 18 A New Father for the Law and Ethics of Medicine
- 19 Value, Practice, and Idea
- 20 The Irony of Law
- 21 Ideas of Easy Virtue
- 22 Law and Its Theory
- 23 Finnis on Legal and Moral Obligation
- 24 Constitutional Principle in the Laws of the Commonwealth
- 25 Intention and the Allocation of Risk
- 26 The Right to Religious Liberty and the Coercion of Belief
- 27 Natural Law and the Transcendent Source of Human Fulfillment
- 28 Reflections and Responses
- Bibliography of the Published Works of John Finnis
- Index Introductory Note
