Thomistic Tradition and Human Rights

Book excerpt: The present book verses on the current discussion, between authors writing within the Thomistic tradition, on the issue of human rights, and pretends to adjudicate that discussion. The positions of authors who are critical of the notion of human rights, like Michel Villey and Alasdair MacIntyre, as well as that of those who try to justify their existence and explain their nature, like Jacques Maritain, John Finnis, and others, are carefully explained and evaluated. This book is the first to deal in detail with this contemporary discussion and therefore represents an important contribution to the bibliography on the philosophy of human rights, as well as to the bibliography on the Thomistic tradition.