12 Dec 2016
Posted by Andrew Fulford 
I recently wrote about Steven D. Smith's arguments in The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse, and more specifically, about how he demonstrates the vacuity of many of the Western world's central political buzzwords, such as equality and freedom. In the course of his critique of Martha Nussbaum, he mentions...
Read more → 10 Dec 2016
Posted by Andrew Fulford 
Steven D. Smith’s The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse is one of the most piercing works in political philosophy I’ve read in a long while. Though it’s brief, by the end of it Smith has turned inside out some of the modern Western world’s most repeated fundamental values, and shown that appeals...
Read more → 23 Nov 2016
Posted by Andrew Fulford 
Dr. Feser has been writing on the doctrine of hell and punishment these days. I wanted to highlight some very useful arguments he makes connecting punishment to natural law. He says in his recent post, "Does God damn you?": Now, given what has been said, happiness – which is, again, the realization...
Read more → 05 Apr 2016
Posted by Andrew Fulford 
Back when I reviewed Edward Feser's Scholastic Metaphysics, I noted that most the disagreements between Catholics and Protestants during the Reformation and in the scholastic period afterward were focused on matters of "grace", largely connected with what God has done in history. This would be distinct...
Read more → 01 Apr 2016
Posted by Andrew Fulford 
Some of my previous posts at TCI have contended that there is a rational method for verifying religious claims, and have outlined in more detail how this method works for Protestants. I want to build slightly upon these arguments to make another clarification about method. In my post about religious...
Read more → 31 Mar 2016
Posted by Andrew Fulford 
Yesterday I responded to one of Sarah Conly's critiques of moral perfectionism, but I mentioned she provides useful objections to stringent libertarianism. Shortly after I posted this, Steven wrote a provocative analysis of some current libertarian politicking. In the spirit of continuing a criticism...
Read more → 30 Mar 2016
Posted by Andrew Fulford 
One of the most provocatively titled books I have ever come across from a contemporary ethical philosopher is Sarah Conly’s Against Autonomy: Justifying Coercive Paternalism. The book’s gist is just as punchy: Since Mill's seminal work On Liberty, philosophers and political theorists have accepted...
Read more → 29 Mar 2016
Posted by Andrew Fulford 
In his stimulating The Pretenses of Loyalty, John Perry conveys a seminal moment in John Rawls’ life from autobiographical comments: To the extent that Christianity is taken seriously, I came to think it could have deleterious effects on one’s character. Christianity is a solitary religion: each...
Read more → 05 Dec 2015
Posted by Andrew Fulford 
Elsewhere I have written about Protestant resistance theory, and how the cases of justified opposition to magistrates are limited in scope: Calvin also wanted to preserve a relatively just and peaceful social order, believing that such was natural good of human beings. As an implication of this principle,...
Read more → 20 Nov 2015
Posted by Andrew Fulford 
He writes at Quadrant: The link between Obergefell and the Planned Parenthood controversy is the family—in particular, the death of the traditional Western conception of family. Marriages no longer necessarily produce children. Children are no longer necessary products of sex, but only an optional...
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