The Thomistic Perception of the Person and Human Rights

• Authors: Eleni Procopiou
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The idea of human rights is connected to the modern perception of law founded on subjectivity, in the context of which rights are authorizations of individual action versus a higher authority, resulting in a subjectivity of law. The huge importance of the thomistic perception of the person is connected with the issue of relations between the individual and society, as well as relations between law and state, since Thomas Aquinas foresaw what we call ‘rights of man’. Thus, the person, in a metaphysical context, is associated with natural order, since natural sociability forms the basis of a person’s supernatural fulfillment. Because of his social nature, the person is also a carrier of social relations and a product of his own encounter with other persons. In this way, Thomas Aquinas makes a synthesis of man per se, as part of mankind, and man as a person vis-à-vis others in the sphere of justice, consisting ‘in rendering to each one his right’. Ius is a relation of justice concerning what is right (iustum) from the point of view of the other, “to whom something is due.” Aquinas can be considered a forerunner of human rights of the modern era, as demonstrated by the issue of natural equity, the issue of unjust law and obedience and the issue of political legitimization. In this framework, “human” or “natural” rights are considered moral rights. However, in the sphere of law they are perceived only within the community and common good, by no means constituting exclusive and absolute rights but only rights corresponding with duties and obligations. The Thomistic approach expresses both the free side of man vis-à-vis the state and its structures (in the spiritual level) and the egalitarian demand of law within social relations. Furthermore, it places the sphere of law on the background of common good and common interest. The Thomistic approach of the human person is a response to the modern perception of legal subjectivity and the priority of individuals, associated with the ideology of rights and leading to a confrontation of individual and society and a division of man to natural man and citizen, a product of the antithesis between society and state.

Keywords

EN

Aquinas; person; rights; natural law; justice

• Publisher: International Étienne Gilson Society
• Journal: Studia Gilsoniana
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 131-152

Dates

published

2017-03-30

Contributors

author

Eleni Procopiou

• University of Athens, Greece

References

• Bix, Brian. Jurisprudence, Theory and Context. London: Sweet and Maxwell, 2006.
• Bloch, Ernst. Droit naturel et dignité humaine. Paris: Payot, 1976.
• Bourgeois, Bernard. Philosophie et droits de l’homme. De Kant à Marx. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1990.
• Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France. Oxford University Press, 1993.
• Coulanges, Fustel de. “Considérations sur la France.” In Fr. Hartog, Le XIX siècle et l’histoire.Le cas Fustel de Coulanges. Paris: Seuil, 2001.
• Del Vecchio, Giorgio. “Sur le prétendu caractère ‘politique’ du Droit.” In Déontologie et discipline professionnelle. Paris: Editions du Recueil Sirey, 1953–1954.
• Ferry, Luc, and Alain Renaut. Philosophie politique. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2007.
• Finnis, John. Aquinas Moral, Political, and Legal Theory. Oxford University Press, 1998.
• Finnis, John. “Is Natural Law Theory Compatible with Limited Government?” In Natural Law, Liberalism, and Morality, Contemporary Essays, ed. R. P. George. Oxford University Press, 2002.
• Finnis, John. Natural Law and Natural Rights. Oxford University Press, 1980.
• Goldmann, Lucien. Marxismeetscienceshumaines. Paris: Gallimard, 1970.
• Haarscher, Guy. “Citoyenneté, droits individuels et supranationalité.” In Démocratie et Construction européenne, ed. M. Telo. Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles, 1995.
• Hart, Herbert L. A. TheConceptofLaw. Oxford University Press, 1961.
• Kretzmann, Norman. “Philosophy of mind.” In The Cambridge Companion to Aquinas, ed. N. Kretzmann, E. Stump. Cambridge University Press, 1993.
• Lochak, Danièle. Les droits de l’homme. Paris: La Découverte, 2002.
• MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue. London: Duckworth, 1981.
• Maritain, Jacques. La personne et le bien commun. Paris: Desclée de Brower, 1947.
• Marx, Κarl. LaQuestionJuive. Paris: Aubier, 1971.
• McInerny, Ralph. “Ethics.” In TheCambridgeCompaniontoAquinas, ed. N. Kretzmann, E. Stump. Cambridge University Press, 1993.
• McInerny, Ralph. “Natural Law and Human Rights.” American Journal of Jurisprudence 36 (1991): 1–14.
• Procopiou, Eleni. “Person and the Tradition of Common Good in Theory of Justice of Thomas Aquinas.” Disputatiophilosophica 16: 1 (2015): 189–198.
• Procopiou, Eleni. ΤοπρόσωποωςυποκείμενοδικαίουστοέργοτουΘωμάΑκινάτη [The Person as a Subject of Law in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas]. Athens: Herodotos, 2013.
• Quiviger, Pierre-Yves. Le secret du droit naturel ou après Villey. Paris: Garnier, 2012.
• Rawls, John. ATheoryofJustice. Harvard University Press, 1971.
• Sandel, Michael. Liberalism and the Limits of Justice. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
• Sigmund, Paul. “Law and Politics.” In The Cambridge Companion to Aquinas, ed. N. Kretzmann, E. Stump. Cambridge University Press, 1993.
• Strauss, Léo. Droit naturel et histoire. Paris: Flammarion, 1986.
• Thomas, Saint. Textes sur la morale, ed. É. Gilson. Paris: J. Vrin, 1998.
• Tzitzis, Stamatios. La personne, l’humanisme et le droit. Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 2001.
• Villey, Michel. “La genèse du droit subjectif chez Guillaume d’Occam.” Archives de philosophie du droit IX (1964): 97–127.
• Villey, Michel. Le droit et les droits de l’homme. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1998.
• Villey, Michel. Seize essais de philosophie du droit. Paris: Dalloz, 1969.
• Villey, Michel. La philosophie du droit, vol. I. Paris: Dalloz, 1978.
• Villey, Michel. Leçons d’histoire de la philosophie du droit. Paris: Dalloz, 2002.
• Villey, Michel. Critiquede la pensée juridique moderne. Paris: Dalloz, 1976.
• Wolfe, Christopher. Natural Law Liberalism. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Contra Gentiles. Available at: http://dhspriory.org/thomas /ContraGentiles.htm.
• Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologiae. Available at: http://www.newadvent.org/sum ma/.
• Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. Available at: http://classics.mit.edu/ Aristotle/nicoma chaen.html.
• Cicero. Derepublica. Available at: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/repub.shtml.

Identifiers

ISSN

2300-0066