Uploaded October 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
A lecture by Fr. Kevin Flannery, SJ (Pontifical Gregorian University) delivered on October 7, 2021 at the University of Chicago.
In discussions of the history of the philosophy of human rights, typically a distinction is made between theories that understand rights as objective and those that understand them as subjective (or, to use a more contemporary term, more “personalistic”). This talk relates this issue to the history of reflection, especially by Christian thinkers leading up to the thirteenth century, regarding conscience. It argues ultimately that Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of conscience, influenced as it is by Aristotle, entails an understanding of human rights that is primarily objective. It concludes with a few remarks about the advantages of such an understanding.
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A lecture by Fr. Kevin Flannery, SJ (Pontifical Gregorian University) delivered on October 7, 2021 at the University of Chicago.
In discussions of the history of the philosophy of human rights, typically a distinction is made between theories that understand rights as objective and those that understand them as subjective (or, to use a more contemporary term, more “personalistic”). This talk relates this issue to the history of reflection, especially by Christian thinkers leading up to the thirteenth century, regarding conscience. It argues ultimately that Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of conscience, influenced as it is by Aristotle, entails an understanding of human rights that is primarily objective. It concludes with a few remarks about the advantages of such an understanding.
Subscribe to our channel: youtube.com/user/LumenChristiInt
Support our work: lumenchristi.org/donate
