Présentation de l’éditeur

A rigorous but accessible overview of the new natural law account of ethics and political philosophy.

The foundational principles of ethics and politics are principles that guide us to respect and promote human flourishing. In Ethics, Politics, and Natural Law Melissa Moschella provides an accessible explanation and development of the new natural law account of these principles while clarifying common misconceptions.

As a commonsense ethical theory, natural law grounds ethics in the fundamental dimensions of human flourishing. Moschella lays out the basic principles of natural law, their relationship to the virtues, and their social and political implications. Highlighting the importance of communities for flourishing, Moschella explains how this should shape our understanding of justice and the common good, and shows how natural law principles support limited government and civil liberties. She also considers the relationship between morality and God, and how natural law relates to Christian revelation. This fresh and compelling account of new natural law is the go-to resource to understand this important and influential theory.

Melissa Moschella is a professor of the practice in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life. She is the author of To Whom Do Children Belong? Parental Rights, Civic Education, and Children’s Autonomy.

Foreword by Russell Hittinger, Executive Director of the Institute for Human Ecology and co-founder of the Program on Catholic Political Thought at the Catholic University of America.

Sommaire

Introduction: Natural Law Ethics as “Commonsense Morality”

1. Basic Human Goods: The First Principles of Ethics

• What Ethics Is About: Human Action and Free Choice
• Basic Human Goods: The Basic Reasons for Action
• Responses to Common Objections
  • Does Human Life Really Have Intrinsic Value?
  • What about Pleasure?
  • What about Autonomy?
• How We Come to Know Basic Goods
• Some Clarifications about Basic Goods
  • Incommensurability of Basic Goods
  • Basic Goods as First Principles of Practical Reason
  • Basic Goods and Human Nature
• Nature, Natural Law, and Practical Rationality
• Putting It All Together

2. Moral Principles

• The First Principle of Morality and Intermediate Moral Norms
  • Never Intentionally Damage or Destroy a Basic Human Good
  • Fairness: The Golden Rule
  • The Vocation Principle: Establishing a Reasonable Priority among Goods
  • The Unity of Life Principle: Integrating Pursuits and Commitments in View of an Ultimate End
• The Doctrine of Double Effect
• Virtues: The Embodiment of Moral Principles
  • Acting for No Real Reason
  • Unreasonable Preferences among Persons or Goods
  • Practical Wisdom and Emotional Motivation

3. The Social Dimension of Human Flourishing

• The Nature of Community
• The Role of Community in Human Flourishing: The Life of Susie
  • The Family
  • Intermediate Associations
• Justice and Special Obligations

4. The Political Dimension of Human Flourishing

• The Political Community as a Community of Communities
• The Common Good of the Political Community: All-Inclusive Common Good versus Specifically Political Common Good
• Political Authority
• The Limits of Political Authority
  • Substantive Limits on Government
  • Procedural Limits on Government: The Rule of Law
• Natural Law and Liberalism
• What about Patriotism?
• Conclusion

5. Human Flourishing, Morality, and God

• God and Moral Obligation
• God and Moral Motivation
• Christian Revelation and the Promise of the Kingdom
• Conclusion

Appendix: Annotated Resource Bibliography