From Mere Survival to Absolute Human Rights

Survival or human rights: what is the purpose of the law and through what content can the legal system ensure it? This book is an invitation to reflect on how the legal system works. It does so by exposing, comparing and criticizing the doctrines of two great names in legal theory, namely H. L. A. Hart and John Finch. L. A. Hart and John Finnis. Starting from the idea that legal norms act as reasons for action in the practical deliberation of individuals, both find their foundation in the telos of the human being, the end at the service of which Law is found. They disagree, however, on what constitutes the human purpose and this disagreement leads them to radically opposite positions with regard to the minimum content necessary for the law to be able to configure itself as an instrument for achieving that end and, consequently, as a directive force on the actions of individuals. The result is this: two conceptions of natural law, two understandings of the nature of legal obligation, two perspectives on what law is and what it should be. A debate whose examination leads us down an essential path towards understanding the legal phenomenon.