The Natural Moral Law: The Good After ModernityThe Natural Moral Law argues that the good can be known and that therefore the moral law, which serves as a basis for human choice, can be understood. Proceeding historically through ancient, modern, and postmodern thinkers, Owen Anderson studies beliefs about the good and how it is known, and how such beliefs shape claims about the moral law. The focal challenge is whether the skepticism of postmodern thinkers can be answered in a way that preserves knowledge claims about the good. Considering the failures of modern thinkers to correctly articulate reason and the good and how postmodern thinkers are responding to these failures, Anderson argues that there are identifiable patterns of thinking about what is good, some of which lead to false dichotomies. The book concludes with a consideration of how a moral law might look if the good is correctly identified. |
Contents
Introduction The Concept of the Natural Moral Law as a Legal Theory | 1 |
1 The Postmodern Challenge | 29 |
2 Traditional Natural Law | 46 |
3 Patterns in Historical Development | 65 |
4 The Challenge of Modernity | 91 |
5 The Challenges of Naturalism | 134 |
6 Objectivity without a Metaphysical Foundation | 171 |
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achieve actually affirmed Alan Guth answer appeal Aquinas argue argument Aristotle Aristotle's assertion assumptions attempts beatific vision beginning called challenges Christianity claim common consider contemporary contrast creator critical critique deontology Derrida Descartes desire empirical empiricism Enlightenment epistemology eternal ethical evil existence explain fideism Foucault Furthermore give given goal God’s happiness Hobbes human flourishing human nature Hume Ibid idea identified individual intuition Kant Kierkegaard kind knowable knowledge known legal theory live logical material world matter means medieval metaphysical metaphysical absolute modern thinkers moral absolute moral law Muggletonians natural law theory non-being objectivity one’s person philosophy Plato positivism postmodern thinkers Postmodernity practical rationality presupposes presuppositions principles problem question reality reason rejection relationship relies religious response sense skepticism social society Socrates solution soteriology theism things thinking tion tradition truth understand universal Unmoved Mover W. D. Ross Wars of Religion worldview