DOCSLIB.ORG

Proquest Dissertations

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Proquest Dissertations i RICE UNIVERSITY The Normative Foundations of Civil Marriage By Jeremy Ray Garrett A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE Doctor of Philosophy APPROVED, THESIS COMMITTEE George She^Herbert S. Autrey Professor Philosophy 'Tristrarfi I^elhafdifProfessoi Philosophy ///? //'V^ Alastair Norcross, Associate Professor Philosophy, University of Colorado-Boulder David J. Schneider, Professor Psychology HOUSTON, TEXAS AUGUST 2008 UMI Number: 3362225 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI8 UMI Microform 3362225 Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ii ABSTRACT The Normative Foundations of Civil Marriage by Jeremy Ray Garrett Marriage is an undeniably important institution of modern civilization. Indeed, among the fundamental institutions forming the basic structure of society, perhaps only law and property exercise a more profound influence upon citizens' life prospects. Yet while the latter institutions have long been considered objects of primary importance to political philosophers, the institution of marriage has not received comparable philosophical treatment. In fact, despite the profound influence of marriage on the structure and quality of individual and social life, it is fair to say that, outside of explicitly feminist and natural law circles, the institution has rarely been treated as a topic of any philosophical interest since the nineteenth century. In my dissertation, I seek to make some headway in exploring these relatively uncharted philosophical waters. Within the complex range of conceptual and normative questions surrounding marriage, I focus on arguably the central political-philosophical question concerning the institution: "Should the state establish, recognize, and/or maintain a civil form of marriage?" In addressing this question, I identify, analyze, and critically evaluate the most prominent arguments purporting to justify the state's authority to legally establish and regulate marriage. I conclude that marriages in a pluralistic society ought to be mostly private affairs worked out between or among those party to the arrangements, with the state's involvement limited to the enforcement of (1) general laws (e.g., regarding property, torts, crime, etc.) and (2) particular contracts that are individually initiated and designed within a defensible system of contract law. The project, as I see it, produces at least three significant conclusions. First, the dominant form of civil marriage in contemporary Western societies, traditional civil marriage, derives from inherited beliefs and practices that are philosophically problematic. Secondly, and more abstractly, any substantive account of the basis for civil marriage in a pluralistic society will ultimately prove unsatisfactory for one reason or another. Finally, marital contractualism constitutes a promising and attractive alternative to a preformed, state-defined institution of civil marriage in political theory and practice. Acknowledgments This project has been aided and improved by numerous mentors, colleagues, and friends. I want to begin by acknowledging the excellent committee that assisted me with its development and completion. George Sher was in every way an ideal chair for my committee. His influence on my philosophical development began long before this project, but his critical acumen and good judgment were never more helpful than they were here. George's influence runs throughout the dissertation, from the overall way the project is organized to the (re)construction of the specific arguments considered. I am forever grateful to him for his intellectual support, but even more so for his personal support, friendship, and spirited commitment to Valhalla. I look forward to many reunions in the future (and will hope that some include taking in a winning effort from the Owls baseball team!). Tris Engelhardt served admirably as my second committee member from the Department of Philosophy. I am forever in debt to Tris, who gave me the privilege and honor of working with him in managing the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy for most of my graduate career at Rice. This "second education" (also known as voluntary slavery) has been invaluable in my philosophical and personal development, not least in filling out my knowledge of and appreciation for Texas history and single malt Scotch. Tris is surely one of the most demanding mentors in academia, but I doubt whether many are more generous in attending to the comprehensive education of their students. Long live La Cosa Nostra! Alastair Norcross began with the project while still teaching at Rice and graciously agreed to remain with it after departing for higher altitude in Colorado. I have IV learned much from Alastair who never ceases to impress me with his sharp wit and keen analytic mind. Perhaps even more impressive than these rare gifts is his generous and loyal spirit (consequentialists can learn much about virtue from this man!). Alastair never hesitated to save my meager graduate stipend by allowing me to stay with him at the many conferences we attended together. Moreover, he has always made me feel welcome within his circle of (intellectually impressive) friends and never suggested through word or action that I as a graduate student didn't belong or counted for less. His support and friendship have meant so much since we began together at Rice in the fall of 2002. Here's to many more Norcross cocktail parties! Rachel Zuckert also began with the project while at Rice and (much to its improvement) remained with it after moving to Northwestern. Her extensive and rigorous feedback on chapters was exemplary, always demonstrating a keen attention to detail and ability to see what was most important, and always including wise suggestions for improvement with which I almost invariably agreed after careful thought. Rachel could always be counted upon for very humane insights about academia, graduate school, and the dissertation writing process and her support, encouragement, and reassurances were always helpful and uplifting. And all of this in a year when she herself was in the throes of a (successful!) effort at winning tenure -1 am forever grateful for her investments in me and my project. Finally, I am grateful to David Schneider from the Department of Psychology for serving as my external committee member. David was thoroughly dependable, even as I was careening toward the finish, and contributed insightful remarks at my defense. V I also want to thank the Department of Philosophy at Rice for its support and collegiality. I gained much from the other professors with whom I studied and interacted (including Baruch Brody, Richard Grandy, Mark Kulstad, Donald Morrison, and Hanoch Sheinman) and especially want to recognize the support and encouragement of Steve Crowell who served as Department Chair throughout my graduate career. Rice has provided a great atmosphere for philosophy and never for a day have I regretted my decision to study here. Much of that has to do not just with the outstanding faculty at Rice, but also with the many Mends I have made in my six years in Houston. Here I want to note especially my good friends, Garret Merriam and Phil Robichaud. I have been very fortunate to find two friends with such close personal and intellectual interests. Many of my fondest memories from graduate school have been shared in their company. Each also left his mark on my work, as we took turns reading and commenting upon each other's writing throughout our careers at Rice. I am very grateful to them for this, but so much more so for their friendships that have contributed much to my life. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the person responsible for getting me into philosophy in the first place - Kenneth Cust, my undergraduate mentor from the University of Central Missouri. Kenn was exceptional at employing the Socratic method in class discussion and it was his powerful challenges to my beliefs at the time that hooked my interest. He has stood by me throughout the years of graduate school and has provided support, encouragement, and much valued friendship in the process. It is for my family that I reserve my final thanks. To my parents, Larry and Peggy, I extend my sincere gratitude, both for always encouraging me to pursue my -y VI dreams and for standing by me even when this took me into the strange world of academic philosophy. To my children, Mary and Thomas, I am so thankful for both of you. Though you are still too young to know it, you have provided me with much motivation to work hard and do my best. I look forward to supporting both of you in pursuing your dreams. Finally, to my wife, Leslie, I do not know where to begin in thanking you. You have given so much of yourself to this project directly, reading every page (many times!) and making many suggestions that clearly improved the final draft. You have sacrificed so much to make its successful completion possible. Without you, I am not sure I could have pulled it off. But of course it was your indirect support that was even more meaningful and valuable. You have laughed with me and cried with me and stood beside me through everything. You are my best friend and my trusted companion. I love you and I look forward to many happy years together.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Underlying Assumptions of Germain Grisez's Critique of The
    The underlying assumptions of Germain Grisez’s critique of the perverted faculty argument Los presupuestos subyacentes de la crítica de Germain Grisez al argumento de la facultad pervertida Carlos A. Casanova Universidad Santo Tomás, Chile [email protected] proyecto fondecyt 1180720 Abstract: This paper demonstrates the underlying assumptions of Germain Grisez’s critique of the perverted faculty argument. In the first place, it establishes what formula- tions of the principle Grisez considered in his criticism (those of Father Henry Davis) and what his arguments are. Afterward it establishes his assumptions: (a) a latent ethical logicism; (b) a pragmatist conception of choice and the good; (c) a mistaken metaphysics of being, the good and the theoretical and practical principles. It underlines John Dewey’s influence. Lastly, it defends the classical formulation of the perverted faculty argument and even its rendition by Father Davis. Key words: Perverted faculty argument, Germain Grisez, choice, good as source of ethical rules. Resumen: Este artículo presenta los presupuestos subyacentes a la crítica de Gri- sez al argumento de la facultad pervertida. Muestra, en primer lugar, qué formula- ciones tenía Grisez en mente cuando criticó el argumento (las del p. Henry Davis) y cuáles son sus críticas. Después investiga y determina cuáles son esos presupuestos: un cierto logicismo ético; una concepción pragmatista de la elección y del bien; una metafísica errada del ser, del bien y de los principios teóricos y prácticos. Se subraya la influencia de John Dewey. Se defienden la formulación clásica del principio e -in cluso la del p. Davis. Palabras clave: Argumento de la facultad pervertida, Germain Grisez, elección, bien como fuente de las reglas éticas.
    [Show full text]
  • Dignitatis Humanae and the Development of Moral Doctrine: Assessing Change in Catholic Social Teaching on Religious Liberty
    THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Dignitatis humanae and the Development of Moral Doctrine: Assessing Change in Catholic Social Teaching on Religious Liberty A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy By Barrett Hamilton Turner Washington, D.C 2015 Dignitatis humanae and the Development of Moral Doctrine: Assessing Change in Catholic Social Teaching on Religious Liberty Barrett Hamilton Turner, Ph.D. Director: Joseph E. Capizzi, Ph.D. Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Liberty, Dignitatis humanae (DH), poses the problem of development in Catholic moral and social doctrine. This problem is threefold, consisting in properly understanding the meaning of pre-conciliar magisterial teaching on religious liberty, the meaning of DH itself, and the Declaration’s implications for how social doctrine develops. A survey of recent scholarship reveals that scholars attend to the first two elements in contradictory ways, and that their accounts of doctrinal development are vague. The dissertation then proceeds to the threefold problematic. Chapter two outlines the general parameters of doctrinal development. The third chapter gives an interpretation of the pre- conciliar teaching from Pius IX to John XXIII. To better determine the meaning of DH, the fourth chapter examines the Declaration’s drafts and the official explanatory speeches (relationes) contained in Vatican II’s Acta synodalia. The fifth chapter discusses how experience may contribute to doctrinal development and proposes an explanation for how the doctrine on religious liberty changed, drawing upon the work of Jacques Maritain and Basile Valuet.
    [Show full text]
  • Response to Germain Grisez's
    GRISEZ ON ARISTOTLE AND HUMAN GOODS Response to “Natural Law, God, Religion, and Human Fulfilment” In his essay ‘Natural Law, God, Religion, and Human Fulfillment’ Professor Grisez has given us, in his usual stimulating and provocative way, a good many ideas to chew on and react to. Reading him is always a challenge. In this particular piece he has covered a lot of ground in moral philosophy, theology, and the history of thought. Happily it is not my task to comment on everything. My focus is to be Grisez’s discussion and criticism of Aristotle. However, this focus, while narrow enough for the purposes of this paper, will also give me the opportunity to discuss some of the other things he says. As regards Aristotle, Grisez finds in the Stagirite certain ideas that, as he says, are “disastrous for religion and moral life” (p.13). Well, perhaps they are, but I think we ought to register a certain initial surprise that they could be. After all Aristotle’s philosophy has had such an effect on the theological and moral thinking of the past two millennia, whether Christian or not, that if we are to judge his philosophy disastrous we will probably find ourselves having to judge the thinking it affected disastrous too. Grisez does seem to think that, at least if his remarks on St. Thomas Aquinas later in his paper are anything to go by. But that would suggest that Grisez’s “renewal of Christian ethics” (p. 27) is less like a renewal and more like a revolution. Still it might be a needed revolution.
    [Show full text]
  • Suárez, Natural Law and Contemporary Criticism
    Suárez, Natural Law and Contemporary Criticism Sebastián Contreras Universidad de los Andes, Chile [email protected] Abstract This paper deals with Suárez’s doctrine of natural law. Contemporary scholars often refer to Suárez as responsible of a turning to a physicalist understanding of right, where practical reason is confined to discover the group of commands that nat- ural inclinations imply. Against that interpretation, this paper intends to show that Suárez sustains a practical and rational un- derstanding of natural law in consonance with the Medieval and Thomist tradition. Keywords: Francisco Suárez, natural law, philosophy of law, natural justice. Received: 29 - 06 - 2016. Accepted: 05 - 10 - 2016. Tópicos, Revista de Filosofía 53 (2017), 255-272. 256 Sebastián Contreras Suárez, el derecho natural y la crítica contemporánea* Sebastián Contreras Universidad de los Andes, Chile [email protected] Resumen Este artículo trata sobre la doctrina suareciana de la ley natural. Los estudiosos contemporáneos suelen presentar a Suárez como el responsable del vuelco hacia una comprensión fisicalista del derecho en donde la razón práctica se limita a descubrir el conjunto de mandatos que envuelven las inclinaciones naturales. En contra de esa interpretación, el presente trabajo intenta mostrar que Suárez defiende una comprensión racional-práctica del derecho natural en línea con la tradición medieval y tomista de la ley natural. Palabras clave: Francisco Suárez, ley natural, filosofía del derecho, derecho natural. Recibido: 29 - 06 - 2016. Aceptado: 05 - 10 - 2016. * El autor agradece el patrocinio de Fondecyt-Chile, proyecto 11150649. Tópicos, Revista de Filosofía 53 (2017) Suárez, el derecho natural y la crítica contemporánea 257 Entre los estudiosos de la teoría del derecho natural, actualmente existe una importante discusión acerca del papel que toca a la naturaleza en la fundación de las normas.
    [Show full text]
  • Practical Principles, Moral Truth, and Ultimate Ends John M
    Notre Dame Law School NDLScholarship Journal Articles Publications 1987 Practical Principles, Moral Truth, and Ultimate Ends John M. Finnis Notre Dame Law School, [email protected] Germain Grisez Joseph Boyle Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship Part of the Legal History Commons, and the Natural Law Commons Recommended Citation John M. Finnis, Germain Grisez & Joseph Boyle, Practical Principles, Moral Truth, and Ultimate Ends, 32 Am. J. Juris. 99 (1987). Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/846 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Publications at NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PRACTICAL PRINCIPLES, MORAL TRUTH, AND ULTIMATE ENDS GERMAIN GRISEZ, JOSEPH BOYLE, AND JOHN FINNIS The natural-law theory on which we have been working during the past twenty-five years has stimulated many critical responses. We have restated the theory in various works, not always calling attention to developments. This paper reformulates some parts of the theory, taking into account the criticisms of which we are aware. We append an annotated, select bibliography. I. INTRODUCTION A. PLEASE NOTE WELL WHILE THIS PAPER PROPOSES PHILOSOPHICAL clarifications and arguments rather than textual interpretations, it uses some language common in the (broadly speaking, Thomistic) natural-law tradition from which we developed the theory. But what we say here differs in various ways from the theories articulated by Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and others. In previous works covering more or less the same ground as this paper, we have expressed key concepts in various ways.
    [Show full text]
  • Grounding Human Rights in Natural Law John M
    Notre Dame Law School NDLScholarship Journal Articles Publications 2015 Grounding Human Rights in Natural Law John M. Finnis Notre Dame Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship Part of the Human Rights Law Commons, and the Natural Law Commons Recommended Citation John M. Finnis, Grounding Human Rights in Natural Law, 60 Am. J. Juris. 199 (2015). Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/1257 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Publications at NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. +(,121/,1( Citation: 60 Am. J. Juris. 199 2015 Content downloaded/printed from HeinOnline Thu Sep 29 10:53:21 2016 -- Your use of this HeinOnline PDF indicates your acceptance of HeinOnline's Terms and Conditions of the license agreement available at http://heinonline.org/HOL/License -- The search text of this PDF is generated from uncorrected OCR text. -- To obtain permission to use this article beyond the scope of your HeinOnline license, please use: Copyright Information The American Journal of Jurisprudence, Vol. 60, No. 2 (2015), pp. 199-225 doi: 10.1 093/ajj/auvO 13 Advance Access published 14 November 2015 Grounding Human Rights in Natural Law John Finnis' Abstract: Of the published reviews of Natural Law and Natural Rights, one of the most, and most enduringly, influential was Ernest Fortin's review-article "The New Rights Theory and the Natural Law" (1982).
    [Show full text]
  • Contemporary Perspectives on Natural Law
    1 CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON NATURAL LAW 2 [Dedication/series information/blank page] 3 CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON NATURAL LAW NATURAL LAW AS A LIMITING CONCEPT 4 [Copyright information supplied by Ashgate] 5 CONTENTS Note on the sources and key to abbreviations and translations Introduction Part One The Concept of Natural Law 1. Ana Marta González. Natural Law as a Limiting Concept. A Reading of Thomas Aquinas Part Two Historical Studies 2. Russell Hittinger. Natural Law and the Human City 3. Juan Cruz. The Formal Foundation of Natural Law in the Golden Age. Vázquez and Suárez’s case 4. Knud Haakonssen. Natural Law without Metaphysics. A Protestant Tradition 5. Jeffrey Edwards. Natural Law and Obligation in Hutcheson and Kant 6. María Jesús Soto–Bruna. Spontaneity and the Law of Nature. Leibniz and the Precritical Kant 7. Alejandro Vigo. Kant’s Conception of Natural Right 8. Montserrat Herrero. The Right of Freedom Regarding Nature in G. W. F. Hegel’s Philosophy of Right 6 Part Three Controversial Issues about Natural Law 9. Alfredo Cruz. Natural Law and Practical Philosophy. The Presence of a Theological Concept in Moral Knowledge 10. Alejandro Llano. First Principles and Practical Philosophy 11. Christopher Martin. The Relativity of Goodness: a Prolegomenon to a Rapprochement between Virtue Ethics and Natural Law Theory 12. Urbano Ferrer. Does the Naturalistic Fallacy Reach Natural Law? 13. Carmelo Vigna. Human Universality and Natural Law Part Four Natural Law and Science 14. Richard Hassing. Difficulties for Natural Law Based on Modern Conceptions of Nature 15. John Deely. Evolution, Semiosis, and Ethics: Rethinking the Context of Natural Law 16.
    [Show full text]
  • The Conceptions of Self-Evidence in the Finnis Reconstruction of Natural Law
    St. Mary's Law Journal Volume 51 Number 2 Article 4 4-2020 The Conceptions of Self-Evidence in the Finnis Reconstruction of Natural Law Kevin P. Lee Campbell University School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.stmarytx.edu/thestmaryslawjournal Part of the Catholic Studies Commons, Jurisprudence Commons, Law and Philosophy Commons, Legal History Commons, Logic and Foundations of Mathematics Commons, Natural Law Commons, Other Philosophy Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Kevin P. Lee, The Conceptions of Self-Evidence in the Finnis Reconstruction of Natural Law, 51 ST. MARY'S L.J. 413 (2020). Available at: https://commons.stmarytx.edu/thestmaryslawjournal/vol51/iss2/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the St. Mary's Law Journals at Digital Commons at St. Mary's University. It has been accepted for inclusion in St. Mary's Law Journal by an authorized editor of Digital Commons at St. Mary's University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Lee: Self-Evidence in the Finnis Reconstruction of Natural Law ESSAY THE CONCEPTIONS OF SELF-EVIDENCE IN THE FINNIS RECONSTRUCTION OF NATURAL LAW KEVIN P. LEE* I. Introduction ........................................................................................... 414 A. Locating Finnis’ Claim to Self-Evidence .................................... 416 1. The Separation of Fact and Value ........................................ 416 2. The First Principles of Practical Reason ............................. 419 a. Basic Goods are the First Principles of Practical Reason ................................................................................ 421 b. Basic Goods are Dispositions ........................................ 421 c. Basic Goods are Apodictic ............................................. 422 II. Two Conceptions of Self-Evidence ................................................... 426 A. Finnis and Leonine Thomism .....................................................
    [Show full text]
  • John Finnis's Contribution to the Rediscovery of Aristotelian Ethical Methodology in Aquinas's Moral Philosophy: a Personal Account
    Volume 57 Issue 5 Article 7 2012 Practical Reason, Human Nature, and the Epistemology of Ethics: John Finnis's Contribution to the Rediscovery of Aristotelian Ethical Methodology in Aquinas's Moral Philosophy: A Personal Account Martin Rhonheimer Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/vlr Part of the Legal History Commons Recommended Citation Martin Rhonheimer, Practical Reason, Human Nature, and the Epistemology of Ethics: John Finnis's Contribution to the Rediscovery of Aristotelian Ethical Methodology in Aquinas's Moral Philosophy: A Personal Account, 57 Vill. L. Rev. 873 (2012). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/vlr/vol57/iss5/7 This Symposia is brought to you for free and open access by Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Villanova Law Review by an authorized editor of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository. Rhonheimer: Practical Reason, Human Nature, and the Epistemology of Ethics: J \\jciprod01\productn\V\VLR\57-5\VLR507.txt unknown Seq: 1 27-DEC-12 11:19 2012] PRACTICAL REASON, HUMAN NATURE, AND THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF ETHICS JOHN FINNIS’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE REDISCOVERY OF ARISTOTELIAN ETHICAL METHODOLOGY IN AQUINAS’S MORAL PHILOSOPHY: A PERSONAL ACCOUNT REVEREND MARTIN RHONHEIMER* HEN in 1986, exactly twenty five years ago, I first met John Finnis by Wlistening to a paper he delivered at a Congress in Rome I did this with feelings of admiration and gratitude. At that time I was finishing a book on natural law in Aquinas.1 This book was the fruit of a methodolog- ical turn for which I found confirmation and an important source of fur- ther inspiration in John Finnis’s work on Natural Law2 and on what, in a second book, he called the Fundamentals of Ethics.3 The following, there- fore, is both an account of some aspects of my intellectual biography and an homage to Professor Finnis whom we have come together in this con- ference to honor.
    [Show full text]
  • Wake Forest University on 17, September Extremely 2010
    29809_wlp_1-2 Sheet No. 8 Side A 06/10/2011 15:12:24 BAMFORTH FINAL-MG (DO NOT DELETE) 5/11/2011 8:01 PM ARTICLES NEW NATURAL LAW,RELIGION, AND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE:CURRENT CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES NICHOLAS BAMFORTH † INTRODUCTION I. NEW NATURAL LAW,MARRIAGE, AND CONSTITUTIONAL LITIGATION ........................ 212 A. Two-in-One Flesh Union ...................... 214 B. Critique of the Two-in-One Flesh Union Concept . 229 C. New Natural Law and the Manhattan Declaration . 234 D. New Natural Law and the Perry Decision . 239 E. George’s Amicus Brief . 245 i. The Role of Religious Argument . 246 ii. The Definition of Marriage . 250 iii. The Good of Marriage . 252 iv. Inconsistency Between the Perry Brief and the 29809_wlp_1-2 Sheet No. 8 Side A 06/10/2011 15:12:24 Lawrence Brief . 253 F. Continuing Relevance of Arguments Against Same-Sex Marriage . 257 † This Article results from the symposium on Patriarchal Religion, Sexuality, and Gender organized by the Wake Forest Journal of Law & Policy and held at the School of Law at Wake Forest University on September 17, 2010. I am extremely grateful to the Edi- torial Board of the Journal, and in particular to James Bauer, Editor-in-Chief, and Alicia Luchetti, Symposium Editor, for their highly efficient and wise organization, and to the fa- culty members—particularly Professor Shannon Gilreath and Dean Blake Morant—for their support. I am grateful to my colleague Christopher McCrudden for challenging me to think more fully about the counterargument considered in Section I.G, and as ever to David A.J.
    [Show full text]
  • Aquinas, Finnis and Non-Naturalism
    NJ502 - ch09 7/2/06 9:40 am Page 171 Chapter Nine Aquinas, Finnis and Non-naturalism Craig Paterson 1. Introduction John Finnis’s work on natural law ethics (developed and refined with the help of several key collaborators, most notably Germain Grisez and Joseph Boyle), over the past three decades, has been a source of controversy (both meta-ethical and normative) in neo-Thomist circles.1 In analytical circles too, especially in analytical jurisprudence, his work has also been a source of controversy. (I am not here alluding to populist controversies that have resulted from the use of some of his arguments in the “public square” on the topics of abortion, homosexuality, coitus, and so on, although they too are phenomena that stem from the broad reach of his discourse). Finnis’s work is oftentimes a genuinely interesting source of controversy because he is a thinker who has challenged a common key assumption of both neo- Thomism and Analytical Philosophy, namely, that a natural law ethics (at least one worthy of being called such) must be based on an appeal to some form of ethical naturalism – that natural law is, at bottom, an ethics that seeks to derive or infer normative “ought” type statements from descriptive “is” type statements. Coming to terms with the nature of Finnis’s work has been a challenge for scholars from different philosophical traditions because his own writing has drawn from a variety of different sources and influences. He has, for example, used many insights drawn from or inspired by Aquinas to challenge some of the neo-orthodoxies of contemporary moral philosophy, especially its enduring infatuation with different forms of emotivism or subjectivism.
    [Show full text]
  • Body-Self Dualism and Euthanasia Patrick Lee
    Body-Self Dualism and Euthanasia Patrick Lee Suffering and Hope Conference University of St. Thomas November 10-13, 2005 I. Introduction By “body-self dualism” I mean the idea that what I am is something different from this living bodily being — the idea that the self, the I, is one thing, or perhaps a series of mental events, and the body is another thing. Body-self dualism is the denial that I am an animal organism. I hold that this idea is profoundly mistaken. Along with St. Thomas and also the teaching of the Catholic Church, I hold that what I am is a body-soul composite. So I am not just a soul or a series of conscious events that somehow inhabits or possesses a body. Rather, I am a particular type of animal-organism, a rational and free animal-organism, and having an immortal soul, but essentially, nonetheless, a particular type of animal organism. My contention is that very often the defense of euthanasia is based, sometimes only implicitly, on such body-self dualism. For example, suppose Grandfather has a stroke, his son and daughter call the ambulance, and he is brought to the hospital. As a result of the stroke he loses significant memory and becomes demented. Suppose he no longer recognizes his family and can no longer carry on a conversation; his family comes to visit him. They spontaneously react: “That’s just not Grandfather anymore. Grandfather — the lovable, affable person we have known for years — is just not there any more!” An understandable reaction. But some proponents of euthanasia articulate this reaction into an argument.
    [Show full text]