Critique of the New Natural Law Theory

Russell Hittinger is Warren Professor of Catholic Studies and Research Professor of Law, University of Tulsa.

"Few authors possess Hittinger's extraordinary command of contemporary as well as classical moral theory...This book establishes Hittinger as a moral philosopher of first rank." —Jude Doughterty, Catholic University of America". . . a significant addition to contemporary ethics." —The Journal of Religion"Dr. Hittinger's book causes us to remember how genuinely delicate and refined is the balance between reason and faith in St. Thomas' view of human knowledge and its relationship to reality. . . . Hittinger's book is well researched and worth reading." —The Thomist"Russell Hittinger has written a valuable critique of the theory of practical reason advanced by Germain Grisez and John Finnis. The author contends that although their system claims to be a natural-law ethics, it is not derived from an ontology of human nature or from larger metaphysical considerations. Rather, it resembles Kant's ethical categoricalism."—The American Journal of Jurisprudence"The book is written in a clear and forceful style. It is ideal for use in ethics and logic classes as a model of critical reasoning, although its principal audience will no doubt be philosophers and theologians interested in natural law ethics. Hittinger has in my opinion decisively crushed the Grisez-Finnis 'revolution.' I hope he will elaborate on another occasion the very suggestive remarks, to be found at the close of the book, about the grounds of natural law." —International Philosophical Quarterly