Add to ORKGThe new natural law theory of John Finnis and others is an ambitious but flawed reinterpretation of the natural law tradition. It dispenses with ontological or teleological commitments, appealing instead to practical reason and self-evident first principles directing one toward basic human goods as starting points for moral reflection. The new natural lawyers claim that their methods yield absolute moral norms that must never be violated, but these norms produce legalistic casuistry and undermine personal moral responsibility. Among the alternative approaches to natural law theorizing that help rectify these difficulties is the work of Jean Porter, whose interpretation of Aquinas deemphasizes natural law as a means of deriving specific univ...