Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Morality and Legality

  • Guns in the Delusional World of the Leftist

    Your typical leftist wants it to be illegal for a citizen to own  a gun for self-defence.  In recent news, an 80 year old Chicago man shot and killed an armed  home invader thereby defending himself, his elderly wife and his grandson.  Well done, old man,  a boon service to humanity.  The miscreant was a scumbag…

  • Another Round with Reppert on AZ SB 1070: Reasonable Suspicion

    In his most recent post on this topic, Victor Reppert tells us that his "main concern is with the 'reasonable suspicion' clause. That strikes me as horribly vague."  Here is the relevant SB 1070 passage as amended by HB 2162 which contains the clause in question: For any lawful contact stop, detention or arrest made by…

  • Illegal Immigration, The Catholic Bishops, and the Misuse of Scripture

    (Written 26 April 2006, revised 23 May 2010) At the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, we read: Why is the Catholic Church involved in the immigration issue? There are several reasons the Catholic Church is involved in the  immigration debate. The Old and New Testaments, as well as the encyclicals of the Popes,…

  • More on Immigration Law: Arizona House Bill 2162. Response to Reppert

    On Friday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed HB 2162 which modifies and clarifies SB 1070 which was signed into law the week before.  Here is a passage from 1070 which is constantly misrepresented in the liberal press, including the Arizona Republic newspaper: FOR ANY LAWFUL CONTACT MADE BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR…

  • Legal Insurrection

    A blawg by William A. Jacobson, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Cornell Law School, Ithaca, NY.  I came to it via Keith Burgess-Jackson.  Jacobson has his head screwed on Right.  Get thee hence, learn and enjoy.

  • Laws of Nature, Civil Laws, and the Idea of ‘Breaking’ a Law

    In Kant on Miracles,  I wrote: The advantage of the epistemic approach [to miracles] is that it rescues us from the rank absurdity, pointed out by Hume, of having to say that there are laws of nature that admit of exceptions. Since our understanding is imperfect, our formulations of the laws of nature will some…

  • All Legislation Legislates Morality

    One often hears people say, 'You can't legislate morality!' People who say this are often people who confuse the genus morality with the species sexual morality. But even upon acquiescence in this genus-species confusion, it is obvious that we can, do, and ought to legislate morality. After all, we have laws against rape, and we…

  • Morality Private and Public: On Not Confusing Them

    Socrates and Jesus are undoubtedly two of the greatest teachers of humanity. Socrates famously maintained that it is better to suffer injustice than to commit it, and Jesus, according to MT 5:39, enjoins us to "Resist not the evildoer" and "Turn the other cheek." No one with any spiritual sensitivity can fail to be deeply…