John M. Finnis receives The Center for Bioethics and Culture's 2006 Paul Ramsey Award

Oakland, CA. (PRWEB) January 16, 2006

John M. Finnis joins both Edmund Pellegrino, MD, and Germain Grisez, PhD, as recipients of an award that honors those who "are deeply impacting the bioethics discussion by actively equipping our society to face the challenges of the 21st century, profoundly defending the dignity of humankind, and enthusiastically embracing ethical biotechnology for the human good."

The Ramsey Award is given to those who have demonstrated exemplary achievement in the field of bioethics. Ramsey (1913-1988) was the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University and is regarded by many as one of the most important ethicists of the twentieth century.

Finnis is Professor of Law and Legal Philosophy in the University of Oxford and Professor of Law in the University of Notre Dame. He is also Visiting Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Moral Philosophy in the Institute in Melbourne. He was born and educated in Adelaide, graduating LLB at the University of Adelaide in 1961. As Rhodes Scholar for South Australia in 1962 he went on to University College, Oxford and was awarded his D.Phil in 1965. He has been a lecturer in Law and Legal Philosophy there ever since, as well as a Member of the Philosophy sub-Faculty since 1984. He is a Governor of the Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics in London and a Fellow of the British Academy.

He has served on the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (1990-95), the International Theological Commission (1986-95) and the Pontifical Academy for Life (since 2001). With Germain Grisez and Joseph Boyle he is credited with the revival of natural law ethics in the secular academy. His published works include "Natural Law and Natural Rights" (1980), "Fundamentals of Ethics" (1983), "Moral Absolutes: Tradition, Revision and Truth" (1991) and "Aquinas: Moral, Political, and Legal Theory" (1998).

The 3rd Annual Ramsey Award Dinner will be held at The Olympic Club Lakeside on Friday, March 31, 2006, in San Francisco, California.

# # #