Articles tagged as moral relativism
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“Once More Unto the Breach” — Hadley Arkes
In a response to Ed Whelan’s critique of “On Overturning Roe,” Prof. Arkes insists that the moral argument against Roe is the only logical one for judges who believe in the deep wrong of abortion. The pro-life cause rests on objective moral truths, not on value judgments, and as a result does not require judges […] -
“Our Divided House: A Review of Charles Kesler’s Crisis of Two Constitutions” — Gerard V. Bradley
Gerard Bradley reviews Kesler’s Crisis of Two Constitutions, which argues for a “reborn American conservatism” with natural law principles and the Constitution at its center. Not only does our constitutional government presuppose a virtuous citizenry, but public virtue will last only if we uphold the morality of our constitution. Some excerpts: “Lincoln is a recurring […] -
“A Telling Moment, Foregone” – Prof. Hadley Arkes at The Catholic Thing
JWI Founder and Director Hadley Arkes discusses the Court’s recent denial of a writ of certiorari in Gloucester County School Board v. Grimm. In choosing to remain silent on this issue by not hearing the case, the Court fails to create any resistance to the ever encroaching ideology of gender identity. After the disastrous Bostock […] -
“Civic Virtue as Moral Facts: Recovering the Other Half of Our Founding” – Professor Daniel Mahoney in RealClearPublicAffairs
In an essay for Real Clear Public Affairs, Professor Daniel Mahoney of Assumption University argues that the American Founding presupposed a belief in moral facts and the immutability of human nature. The Founding Fathers, and the American people more broadly, understood that society required a strong moral foundation. They knew that self-government required a virtuous […] -
“Ballast on the Ship of State: Statesmanship as Human Excellence” – Professor Daniel Mahoney in Modern Age
In an essay for Modern Age, Professor Daniel Mahoney of Assumption University demonstrates that true statesmanship consists in moral excellence and self-control. He argues against moral relativism, as well as the Machiavellian view of politics that sees a desire to acquire and wield power as man’s sole political motivator. Mahoney acknowledges that pacifism is not […] -
“The Wages of Relativism”: Gunnar Gundersen in The American Mind
JWI Affiliated Attorney Gunnar Gundersen takes on rioters, Nazis, and Antifa looters in an article attacking the relativistic view of free speech advanced by the American Civil Liberties Union and other free speech fundamentalists. Gundersen argues that by holding as equally valid the speech of neo-Nazis marching through a Jewish neighborhood and the speech of […] -
“On the Monuments: May We Really Honor All of the Dead?”: Prof. Hadley Arkes in Newsweek
This article was originally published in Newsweek and may be accessed here. When General Ulysses S. Grant received General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox to arrange the surrender of his Army, Grant recalled their service together in the Mexican War, when Grant was a young officer. Grant was able to summon his sympathy for “the […] -
“On the First Principles of Moral Reason”: Paul DeHart in Public Discourse
In an essay for Public Discourse, James Wilson Institute friend Prof. Paul DeHart continues his interaction with Prof. F.H. Buckley’s criticism of natural law reasoning. In an article for Law & Liberty, Prof. Buckley argued that “natural lawyers” fall victim to the “is-ought” problem pointed out by British skeptic David Hume – you cannot derive […] -
VIDEO “Should We Limit Free Speech?”: An Evening with Arthur Milikh and Hadley Arkes
In April 2020, Intercollegiate Studies Institute and the Heritage Foundation hosted a discussion with Mr. Arthur Milikh and Prof. Hadley Arkes. Mr. Milikh is the associate director of The Heritage Foundation’s B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies and Prof. Arkes is the founder and director of the James Wilson Institue. Prof. Arkes and Mr. Milikh […] -
“Liberty and the Claims of Truth II”: Professor Hadley Arkes in The Catholic Thing
In his latest column for The Catholic Thing, JWI Founder and Director Hadley Arkes addresses what he sees as a modern misunderstanding of the meaning of liberty in our law and civil society. Arkes claims that failing to use our ability to reason about the correct and incorrect uses of our liberty leads us into […]