Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Morality and Legality

  • Morality Public and Private: On not Confusing Them

    With a little help from Aristotle, Machiavelli, and Hannah Arendt. Substack latest. By the way, I learned that Arendt had ten books by Carl Schmitt in her library. We will have to look into their relationship. Is that a cigarette holder she's using?  A Randian touch. It would not be fair to call Ayn Rand…

  • Decent Man, Manly Man, Otherworldly Man

    No morally decent man wants ever to have to take a human life. But no manly man will be unprepared to defend against a lethal attack using lethal force, or hesitate to do so if and when circumstances require it.*   The first proposition cannot be reasonably disputed; the second can.  How might one dispute the…

  • Morality and Legality: Three Principles

    (show) On my view morality and legality are both 'notionally distinct' and 'extensionally distinct.' Thus I maintain both that the concept or notion of a morally qualified action is distinct from the concept of a legally qualified action, and that there are instances of each concept that are not instances of the other. If the…

  • William E. Mann, God, Modality, and Morality

    Vallicella, William F. (2016) "William E. Mann, GOD, MODALITY, AND MORALITY," Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers: Vol. 33 : Iss. 3 , Article 8. DOI: 10.5840/faithphil201633368 Available here. A long and meaty review article including a discussion of divine simplicity and Mann's approach thereto.

  • Moral Progress in the West and its Benchmarks

    A London correspondent writes, A question for you: is there a set of verifiable practices that would act as a benchmark for the Western Enlightenment? I can think of (i) widespread (but not universal) respect for science (ii) separation of church and state (iii) end of judicial torture (iv) abolition of slavery, etc. 1) I…

  • “Ignorance of the Law is No Excuse”

    AN EMINENTLY REASONABLE PRINCIPLE, but only if the law can be known by the average citizen who exercises appropriate diligence.  For that exercise of due diligence to be possible, however, laws must be relatively few in number, rational in content, and plainly stated.  If that were the case, then ignorance of the law would be…

  • It Can’t Be Legislated

    Respect for the rule of law cannot be legislated. A law that mandated respect for the rule of law would presuppose the very respect without which it could not be an effective law. Such respect is among the moral prerequisites of the positive law.

  • Can One Reasonably Hold that Abortion is Murder but Ought to be Legal?

    Victor Reppert poses the following important question on his Facebook page: What, if anything, is wrong with holding, at the same time that a) Abortion is murder, and b) abortion should be legal? It's not a logical contradiction, is it? Is it merely counterintuitive? Is it un-Christian? One way of reaching this position might be to…

  • Democrats as Tribal Termites

    Mendocino Joe writes, Wow, I cannot believe what I am seeing in our country these days.   I think your blog post about the Left hating because they need a bogey man after winning the civil rights battle is way too kind. I think we are seeing, in the Left these days, radical Evil from…

  • Of Cats and Mice, Laws and Criminals

    Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, The Waste Books, tr. R. J. Hollingdale, New York Review Books, 1990, p. 101: Certain rash people have asserted that, just as there are no mice where there are no cats, so no one is possessed where there are no exorcists. Lichtenberg's observation puts me in mind of anarchists who say that where…

  • The Stalinization of Trump Derangement Syndrome: “Show Me the Man, and I’ll Find You the Crime”

    From a Cato Policy Report: . . . Alan Dershowitz discusses his time litigating cases in the old Soviet Union. He was always taken by the fact that they could prosecute anybody they wanted because some of the statutes were so vague. Dershowitz points out that this was a technique developed by Beria, the infamous…

  • Lawlessness and Obstructionism Among Beltway Elites

    Hugh Hewitt: Sanctuary cities and marijuana legalization statutes are examples of local and state governments ignoring federal law. But federal authorities and elected officials who vent about those subjects should look to their own disregard of the law. Two recent instances of the lawlessness of Beltway elites concern the U.S.-Mexico border barrier and the Export-Import…

  • Is Illegal Immigration a Crime?

    It is. Illegal immigrants are subject to criminal penalties. While improper entry is a crime, unlawful presence is not a crime. One can be unlawfully present in the U. S. without having entered improperly, and thus without having committed a crime.  If a foreign national enters the country on a valid travel or work visa,…

  • Libel?

    Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, 13 June:  "Omar Mateen despised gays in the same way that Donald Trump and too many of his supporters despise Muslims." Why isn't this libel?   'Libel' as defined in the law: 1) n. to publish in print (including pictures), writing or broadcast through radio, television or film, an untruth about another…

  • Should Gun Manufacturers Be Sued for Gun Crimes?

    Suppose I sell you my car, transferring title to you in a manner that accords with all the relevant statutes. It is a good-faith  transaction and I have no reason to suspect you of harboring any  criminal intent. But later you use the car I sold you to mow down  children on a school yard, or to…