prof. John Finnis: John Paul II and the Fundamentals of Ethics

The topic is "John Paul II and the Fundamentals of Ethics" concerning the ethical and metaphysical problems of Christianity in the modern world.

In the course of his reflections, Prof. Finnis will refer to particular issues, considered by John Paul II in his writings, especially the concept of Person and Deed in Redemptor Hominis, Familiaris Consortio, Laborem Exercens, Veritatis Splendor, and Novo Millennio Ineunte. The lecture will also be a voice on “apologia fidei ex ratione”, one of the significant theological debates, of which Prof. Finnis is a contemporary expert.


Prof. John M. Finnis – born in 1940 in South Australia. Jurist, philosopher and scholar, taught Law in the University of Oxford 1965-2010 and is Professor of Law and Legal Philosophy emeritus there and also in the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, where he was a chaired Professor 1995-2020. Author of Natural Law and Natural Rights (1980; 2011) elaborating a new approach to classical natural law theory; Fundamentals of Ethics (1983); Moral Absolutes (1991); Aquinas: Moral, Political and Legal Theory (1995); and in five volumes Collected Essays of John Finnis (2011). He was a member of the International Theological Commission of the Holy See 1986-91, the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace (1990-95), and the Pontifical Academy Pro Vita (2001-2016).
This is another of the series of "Janopawłowe Lectures" organized by the Institute of Culture of St. John Paul II at Angelicum. See full list of "JP2 Lectures": https://angelicum.it/news/2020/10/16/...