Thomas More Institute

for a more informed ethical engagement in public and professional life

Outward and Visible Signs -- Theodore Dalrymple

This article points out that despite the Enlightenment's attempts to rid the world of evil through the 'study of Mankind,' as Alexander Pope put it, moral evil has still arrived at 'the banquet of human advancement' as an 'uninvited guest.' In its attempt to explain man fully to himself, the author argues, the enlightenment project has failed.

© In Character

The Very Idea of a University: Aristotle, Newman and Us -- Alasdair MacIntyre

‘The superficial generalist is as much the product of a defective education as the narrow specialist’. In this article Alasdair McIntyre argues strongly in favor of Newman’s idea of a university and against criticism from J. M. Roberts and B. Reddings that Newman’s notions were either never possible or are now no longer relevant. 

© British Journal of Educational Studies  (Oxford)

Silence, PLEASE -- Theodore Dalrymple

'It is not only in public noise that modern life abounds; increasingly, people seem intent on enclosing themselves in a bubble of private noise.'

© In Character

Too Good a Story -- Niklas Ekdal

'For many, the religion of ecology has become an atheist substitute for good old-fashioned faith in God. If we do not get back to nature, we are doomed to destruction.'

© Axess Magasin (Stockholm)

Morality, Rationality, and Natural Law -- Robert P. George

This article seeks to identify the rational basis of our moral norms, such as prohibiting murder, rape, torture, etc. To this end, it is important to realise there are things ‘worth doing or pursuing for their own sake’ and that ‘make sense to act to promote or realize…even when we expect no further benefit from doing so’. Because these actions are more than instrumental, and we perceive their intrinsic value, ‘they are themselves constitutive aspects of our…fulfilment as human persons’. They appeal to our understanding and constitute our practical reason in guiding the many choices humans must make. This stands in stark contrast to utilitarianism which seeks to guide action based on the ‘proportion of benefit to harm overall’ and tries to reduce human goods to ‘some common factor of value’. This reductionism is very misguided, argues the author. If we ‘believe that ethical thinking proceeds from a concern for human well-being and fulfillment’ we should espouse the ‘first principle of moral judgment…choose those options, and only those options, that are compatible with the human good considered integrally’.

© Public Discourse (Princeton, N.J.)

Science Warriors' Ego Trip -- Carlin Romano

In the current debate about science, what belongs in its realm, and what it can actually support it is important to distinguish between ‘philosophers of science’ and ‘science warriors’. The latter need to re-address their ways of approaching their subject and pursue science and philosophy in a more professional manner instead of pure mockery, argues the author.

© The Chronicle (Washington, D.C.)

Attention Whole Foods Shoppers -- Robert Paarlberg

The author argues that, '[i]f we are going to get serious about solving global hunger, we need to de-romanticize our view of pre-industrial food and farming. And that means learning to appreciate the modern, science-intensive, and highly capitalized agricultural system we've developed in the West. Without it, our food would be more expensive and less safe. In other words, a lot like the hunger-plagued rest of the world'.

© Foreign Policy (Washington, D.C.)

Science Versus Religion? The Insights and Oversights of the 'New Atheists' - Brad S. Gregory

The assertion of the ‘New Atheists’ that the natural sciences somehow oppose all religious truth claims about the natural world is false. These atheists mistakenly treat all religion as one. In fact, some teachings are far superior to other blatantly mistaken ones. Moreover, while claims that believers have sinned may be true, ‘any implication that specific religious truth claims are therefore undermined is fallacious’. ‘Christian truth claims…do not stand or fall depending on the actions of Christians’. The ‘New Atheists’ have – probably unconsciously – adopted a presupposition that if God exists, he must ‘belong conceptually at least in certain respects to the same ontological order as everything else’. This departs from the Christian tradition of a God ‘distinct from and noncompetitive with his creation [sic]’ and ‘incomprehensibly transcendent’. Consequently, God ‘cannot in principle be shown to be a “delusion” on the basis of any scientific finding’; rather, ‘the epistemological self-restraints of… natural sciences precludes saying anything… about whether something might transcend the natural order’. To claim that modern science leaves no room for God is quite false and the ‘New Atheists’ must look beyond the strict ‘naturalistic horizons of [their] ontological prison’, becoming more self-conscious and self-critical.

© Logos (St. Paul, M.N.)

When Freedom Isn't Free - Theodore Dalrymple

When a bed-and-breakfast establishment refused to admit a homosexual couple, this was reported to the police by the couple in question who invoked the Equality Act 2006. While no prosecution followed the case received fresh attention when a senior Tory, Christopher Grayling, spoke out in favour of the bed-and-breakfast. The furore this provoked might have suggested he was ‘advocating medieval punishments for homosexuals’. The author argues ‘it is a necessary condition of freedom that private citizens should be allowed to treat with, or to refuse to treat with, whomever they choose…’. Liberalism, in the current public commentary, too often ‘turns into its opposite, illiberalism’.

© City Journal (New York City, N.Y.)

A Liberal Education Provides Freedom of Thought - Torbjorn Elensky

Emphasis is often given to the importance of critical thinking. But thinking critically is something different than having a relativist concept of the truth or lazily questioning every authority.

© Axess Magasin (Stockholm)