A religião como fundamento ético para os direitos humanos segundo o pensamento de John Finnis

This present research proposes to introduce, for the first time in the field of knowledge of the Sciences of Religion, John Finnis' analysis of the jusnaturalist thought about the human aspect of religion. In his works, Finnis presents an innovative reconstruction of the natural law theory of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. Such innovation was published in 1980, under the guidance of Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart, who was his mentor at the end of his doctorate, and who also proposed the title of the work "Natural Law and Natural Rights" (2011a), which was welcomed by Finnis. The first publication of this work in Brazil occurred only in 2007, by Unisinos. Finnis emphasizes in his works the probability that, through practical reason, it is possible to identify seven human goods that he himself characterizes as "basic fundamentals", among them "Religion". Such goods, according to his understanding of the natural law theory of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, consist of values inherent to the human being, which are, because of this, also essential for the "human flowering" of each individual. Thus, this dissertation proposes to analyze how the theory of natural law of John Finnis collaborates for thinking about the place of religion in the public space, in which resigns its resignification as an ethical foundation for the shaping of human rights. The analysis will be carried out by reading the author's works on this topic, mainly "Natural Law & Natural Rights" and "Religion & PublicReasons". As a general result, there is a need to ethically ground human rights on the basis of the fundamental basic human goods of John Finnis' theory of natural law. Thus, grounding Human Rights on "Religion", considering it in such a way, as a fundamental, basic good, it will be then, possible to think the importance of its place in the public space. As a basic human fundamental good, religion becomes understood, as determined by the author, as an essential good for the human flourishing, as well as for the common good of society as a whole.