A Critique of Western Thinker's Conception of the Doctrine of Natural Law in the Modern Age

The doctrine of natural law is one of the fundamental philosophical teachings of the discourse on human rights (natural right) in political philosophy. The new period of the studies about natural law, which statred with the Enlightenment and is still going on, witnessed the development of a variety of theories about natural law. Neo-Thomistic and non Neo-Thomistic theses of natural law constitute the scheme of the theories of natural law of the new era. Neo-Thomistic theses are divided into two kinds: traditional and modern. All these theses have a number of shortcomings which are dealt with in this paper.The most important of the new Neo-Thomistic theses of matural law is Finnis's interpretation of this theory. Finnis’s theory is given special emphasis because the views he presented about natural law in the western world are consideved to be of great importance. This article expounds and comments on the main features of Finnis's theory. The author's observations are the outcome of years of investigation and study into the works of this philosopher.