Body-Self Dualism in Contemporary Ethics and Politics

Published Date: November 5, 2007 | Topics: Philosophy, Politics and Current Affairs

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Profoundly important ethical and political controversies turn on the question of whether biological life is an essential aspect of a human person, or only an extrinsic instrument. Lee and George argue that human beings are physical, animal organisms – albeit essentially rational and free – and examine the implications of this understanding of human beings for some of the most controversial issues in contemporary ethics and politics. The authors argue that human beings are animal organisms and that their personal identity across time consists in the persistence of the animal organisms they are; they also argue that human beings are essentially rational and free and that there is a radical difference between human beings and other animals; criticize hedonism and hedonistic drug-taking; present detailed defenses of the prolife positions on abortion and euthanasia; and defend the traditional moral position on marriage and sexual acts.

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Natural Law and Public Reason

Published Date: April 14, 2000 | Co Authors: Christopher Wolfe | Topics: Natural Law

“Public reason” is one of the central concepts in modern liberal political theory. As articulated by John Rawls, it presents a way to overcome the difficulties created by intractable differences among citizens’ religious and moral beliefs by strictly confining the place of such convictions in the public sphere. Identifying this conception as a key point […]

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The Autonomy of Law: Essays on Legal Positivism

Published Date: June 29, 1999 | Topics: Constitutional Issues, Philosophy

This collection of original essays from distinguished legal philosophers offers a challenging assessment of the nature and viability of legal positivism, an approach to legal theory that continues to dominate contemporary legal theoretical debates. To what extent is the law adequately described as autonomous? Should legal theorists maintain a conceptual separation of law and morality?

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