Ethics, Politics, and Natural Law

Melissa Moschella is a professor of the practice in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame's McGrath Institute for Church Life. She is the author of To Whom Do Children Belong? Parental Rights, Civic Education, and Children's Autonomy. Russell Hittinger is the Executive Director of the Institute for Human Ecology and co-founder of the Program on Catholic Political Thought at the Catholic University of America.

Foreword by Russell Hittinger Acknowledgments Introduction: Natural Law Ethics as "Commonsense Morality" 1. Basic Human Goods: The First Principles of Ethics What Ethics Is About: Human Action and Free Choice Basic Human Goods: The Basic Reasons for Action Responses to Common Objections Does Human Life Really Have Intrinsic Value? What about Pleasure? What about Autonomy? How We Come to Know Basic Goods Some Clarifications about Basic Goods Incommensurability of Basic Goods Basic Goods as First Principles of Practical Reason Basic Goods and Human Nature Nature, Natural Law, and Practical Rationality Putting It All Together 2. Moral Principles The First Principle of Morality and Intermediate Moral Norms Never Intentionally Damage or Destroy a Basic Human Good Fairness: The Golden Rule The Vocation Principle: Establishing a Reasonable Priority among Goods The Unity of Life Principle: Integrating Pursuits and Commitments in View of an Ultimate End The Doctrine of Double Effect Virtues: The Embodiment of Moral Principles Acting for No Real Reason Unreasonable Preferences among Persons or Goods Practical Wisdom and Emotional Motivation 3. The Social Dimension of Human Flourishing The Nature of Community The Role of Community in Human Flourishing: The Life of Susie The Family Intermediate Associations Justice and Special Obligations 4. The Political Dimension of Human Flourishing The Political Community as a Community of Communities The Common Good of the Political Community: All-Inclusive Common Good versus Specifically Political Common Good Political Authority The Limits of Political Authority Substantive Limits on Government Procedural Limits on Government: The Rule of Law Natural Law and Liberalism What about Patriotism? Conclusion 5. Human Flourishing, Morality, and God God and Moral Obligation God and Moral Motivation Christian Revelation and the Promise of the Kingdom Conclusion Appendix: Annotated Resource Bibliography Bibliography Index Extended Table of Contents

"Melissa Moschella's Ethics, Politics, and Natural Law is the most readable and accessible articulation of 'New' Natural Law Theory I have read in the field. I recommend the volume to ethics enthusiasts everywhere, but especially to Protestant audiences that tend to produce a voluntarist and divine command account of ethics to the neglect of articulating how and why God's moral decrees are also eminently reasonable." -Andrew T. Walker, author of Faithful Reason "Is it the case, and, if so, how is it the case, that the human intellect can grasp reasons-including moral reasons-for choice and action? In Ethics, Politics, and Natural Law, Melissa Moschella provides persuasive answers to these questions as well as a cogent account of those reasons. Her book represents the clearest, most readable exposition and defense of contemporary natural law theory yet to appear." -Robert P. George, author of Conscience and Its Enemies "The ability to achieve this combination of philosophical rigor and clear, accessible presentation is rare. . . . It will be appreciated across the spectrum of intellectual sophistication, schools of thought, and political ideology." -Daniel Philpott, author of Religious Freedom in Islam "[Moschella] shows how [New Natural Law Theory] is also positively transformative for individuals and political communities who have not given up on the idea that there is moral truth and that we can know it. That is no small thing in a world seemingly paralyzed by perpetual doubt."