Feser vs. Hart on Natural Law

The recent natural law debate launched by David Bentley Hart's First Things article continues. Thaddeus Kozinski entered the fray on Hart's side with an article in Ethika Politika. Both Edward Feser and Brandon Watson responded. Then Hart responded to Feser's response of Hart's original article. Finally, just today, Feser posted a cleverly titled response to Hart's response, very likely to result in another response by Hart.

Meanwhile, on a related note, Brandon has continued posting his introductory series on natural law theory. So far, there's parts I, II, IIIa, and IIIb.

SCOTUS Starts Hearings on DOMA and Prop 8. Cases.

A transcript of yesterday's Supreme Court hearings is available here. (HT: First Thoughts)

As for the basics of the same-sex marriage debate, especially regarding the nature of marriage, and why the state takes an interest in marriage, see the following:

- Robert P. George, Ryan T. Anderson, & Sherif Girgis, "What is Marriage?" article, book

- Ryan T. Anderson, "Marriage: What It Is, Why It Matters, and the Consequences of Redefining It," The Heritage Foundation

- Steven Smith, "The Red Herring of "Marriage Equality," Public Discourse

- Brandon Vogt, "10 Best Arguments for 'Same-Sex Marriage;…and Why They’re Flawed," Our Sunday Visitor

- Francis Beckwith, "Interracial Marriage and Same-Sex Marriage," Public Discourse

- Tim Hsaio, "The Case for Conjugal Marriage" flowchart

- Marcel LeJoune, "Why Same-Sex Marriage Is A Bad Idea," Aggie Catholics




Also, here's Ryan T. Anderson debating Piers Morgan on CNN (HT: The Foundry):




I stand with Ryan!

It's only Natural...

The philosopher David Bentley Hart recently touched off a natural law debate with an article in the March issue of First Things (HT: First Thoughts). Hart basically argues that natural law arguments are unpersuasive in today's public square, in addition to being philosophically problematic (falling prey to the standard "is-ought" problem).

There have been several responses from around the conservative blogosphere. Rod Dreher and Alan Jacobs at The American Conservative are both sympathetic to Hart, while R.J Snell at Public Discourse defends the viability of "new" natural law theory, which focuses on practical reasoning.

Closer to home, our friend Brandon Watson is very critical of Hart's Kantianism, on Siris and on Edward Feser's combox. Meanwhile, Feser, fresh from another take down of Lawrence Krauss's "nothing" nonsense, just posted a response to Hart on the First Things page.

Not on the topic of natural law but still somewhat relevant is James Chastek's post on "blindness to what is self-evident to us."

UPDATE

James Chastek of Just Thomist posted his take on Hart.

Cicero on the Natural Law

True law is Reason, right and natural, commanding people to fulfill their obligations and prohibiting and deterring them from doing wrong. Its validity is universal; it is immutable and eternal. Its commands and prohibitions apply effectively to good men, and those uninfluenced by them are bad. Any attempt to suppress this law, to repeal any part of it, is sinful; to cancel it entirely is impossible. Neither the Senate nor the Assembly can exempt us from its demands; we need no interpreter or expounder of it but ourselves. There will not be one law at Rome, one at Athens, or one now and one later, but all nations will be subject all the time to this one changeless and everlasting law. -- Cicero, De Rei Publica (On the commonwealth), III, 33

HT: James V. Schall,  Sundry Reflections on "The Natural Law Bibliography"

Aristotle on the Natural Law

"It will now be well to make a complete classification of just and unjust actions. We may begin by observing that they have been defined relatively to two kinds of law, and also relatively to two classes of persons. By the two kinds of law I mean particular law and universal law. Particular law is that which each community lays down and applies to its own members: this is partly written and partly unwritten. Universal law is the law of Nature. For there really is, as every one to some extent divines, a natural justice and injustice that is binding on all men, even on those who have no association or covenant with each other. " -- Aristotle, Rhetoric, 1.13.1373b5
(HT: David Oderberg, "The Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Law")

Feast Day of St. Thomas Aquinas

Today is the feast day of St.Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church (Doctor Angelicus) and the most prominent medieval Scholastic philosopher and theologian.


While so many men were trying to base philosophy on theological foundations, a very simple and modest man was putting everything in its place. His name was Thomas Aquinas, and he was saying things so obviously true that, from his time down to our own day, very few people have been sufficiently self-forgetful to accept them. There is an ethical problem at the root of our philosophical difficulties; for men are most anxious to find truth, but very reluctant to accept it. We do not like to be cornered by rational evidence, and even when truth is there, in its impersonal and commanding objectivity, our greatest difficulty still remains; it is for me to bow to it in spite of the fact that it is not exclusively mine, for you to accept it though it cannot be exclusively yours. In short, finding out truth is not so hard; what is hard is not to run away from truth once we have found it. When it is not a "yes but," our "yes" is often enough a "yes, and..."; it applies much less to what we have just been told than to we are about to say. The greatest among philosophers are those who do not flinch in the presence of truth, but welcome it with the simple words: yes, Amen.

St. Thomas Aquinas was one of the latter, clear-sighted enough to know truth when he saw it, humble enough to bow to it in its presence. -- Etienne Gilson, The Unity of Philosophical Experience, 49




There are many interesting links available across the net:



Recommended reading on Aquinas:

- New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia page, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy page, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Aquinas Metaphysics page.

-G.K. Chesterton, St Thomas Aquinas (free online version)

-Etienne Gilson, The Christian Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas (Brandon: "Still the best introduction to Aquinas you can get your hands on.")

-Brian Davies, The Thought of Thomas Aquinas (Ed Feser: "Probably the best single volume in print for anyone looking for an overview of the whole range of Aquinas’s philosophical and theological thinking.")

-Edward Feser, Aquinas

For peeping Thomists like me who've just discovered the Angelic Doctor, a good place to start is:

Timothy Mcdermott, ed., Summa Theologiae: The Concise Translation

Ralph McInerny, ed, Thomas Aquinas: Selected Writings

For the full Summa, there are a few choices: hardback/paperback, Kindle, and online.

For Aquinas's entire works online.

Just for fun, a Thomas Aquinas music video:

- Father Robert Barron on St. Thomas Aquinas:

St. Thomas Aquinas, Ora Pro Nobis!

Dr. King and St. Thomas Aquinas on Just and Unjust Laws

A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. -- Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail

***

Brandon has several interesting posts on Dr.King:  here, here, here, and here.

Applejack and the Virtue of Truthfulness: Part 2 (of 3)

                                                Liarjack and Pinkie Promises

We've seen examples of Applejack's honesty in season one, and, now, in season two, AJ begins to show her darker side. While in "The Return of Harmony”, she becomes a habitual liar against her will, in "The Last Roundup" she voluntarily makes a promise that she might never have intended to keep.

In "Return of Harmony," some infighting between the "Cutie Mark Crusaders," Apple Bloom (AJ's little sister), Sweetie Belle (Rarity's little sister), and Scootaloo, unexpectedly brings along the return of Discord from a thousand-year imprisonment in a statuesque prison. As I've noted before, Discord's main motivation is spreading social chaos by creating enmity between the ponies. (But, hey, as Pinkie Pie says, at least all this chaos comes with chocolate milk rain!)

Realists and Nominalists disputing the existence of universals (oh, and of friendship)

Discord uses his powers to corrupt each of the Main Six, in some sense turning their strengths (virtues) into their opposite weakness (vices). Thus, Rainbow Dash, the loyal one, is now disloyal to her friends, Fluttershy, the kind one, is now unkind, Rarity, the generous one, becomes covetous, Pinkie Pie, the playful one, adopts a boorish and joyless temperament, and Twilight, the friendly one, is suddenly unfriendly. In short, the harmony between the Main Six gives way to disharmony. But for our purposes we focus on Applejack, the honest one, who trades her honest disposition for inveterate lying.

Liarjack

Discord used his manipulation to fool AJ into hiding the truth because "sometimes a lie is easier to take." Almost immediately, the lies begin to spew forth from Liarjack's mouth. Twilight is surprised that honest Applejack would lie and initially is in disbelief. But TS's initial skepticism falls under the weight of AJ's increasingly frequent intentional false statements. However, once Twilight rediscovers the "magic of friendship" which holds the Mane Six (and Equestria) together, she manages to heal the rifts between each of her friends, and together they defeat Discord with the Elements of Harmony. AJ returns to her honest self and takes part in a celebration of the Mane Six's destruction of the Death Star, I mean, of the defeat of Discord.

Honest Applejack returns

The excuse of being under the influence of Discord is not available in "The Last Roundup." Applejack travels to Canterlot to compete in a rodeo competition and to help raise money to fix Ponyville City Hall (Derpy's doing). When Applejack doesn't return and sends back a cryptic letter about "not coming back to Ponyville," the Mane Six get suspicious and board the Friendship Express train to Canterlot, promising the Apple family to find out the real reason for AJ's absence.

Apple Bloom's epic sad face

At the Canterlot rodeo, the pony friends find no sign of Applejack, so they move on to the frontier town of Dodge Junction all the way in the outer edges of Equestria. Finally, at the local outhouse the Mane Six stumble onto AJ, who appears to be working as a hired hoof for one of the local ranch owners. Applejack is reluctant to answer her friends' queries over why she didn't return to Ponyville after the rodeo. She wanted a "change of scenery" and took a job harvesting cherries, "end of story." The Mane Six rightfully see that AJ is withholding crucial information and make plans to "get her to spill the beans," as RD puts it.

AJ, I don't think you're being honest with us...

The Mane Six's first attempt to get Applejack to tell the truth meets with failure in a sea of red and yellow cherries. A more ambitious plan unfolds, as Rarity says, "desperate times do call for desperate measures." The Mane Six bring in their truth serum secret weapon: Pinkie Pie! Pinkamena summons all her powers of buffoonery and nonsense to annoy AJ into confessing...until AJ finally cracks and promises to tell her friends the truth at breakfast the next day.

Nopony can withstand Pinkie torture!

Instead of keeping her "Pinkie Promise," Applejack gets out of dodge, literally! The Mane six follow her in pursuit. Once they close in on AJ, Pinkie Pie hops on board the stagecoach and confronts her over the broken promise. AJ seems to say that she didn't break the promise since she never meant to keep it in the first place! "I just can't tell you the truth!" AJ responds. Saddened by her friend's dishonesty, Pinkie Pie leaps off the stagecoach...

You Pinkie Promised!

Just when Applejack thinks she escaped, Rainbow Dash swoops in out of the sky and tackles AJ to the ground. AJ drops her saddlebag, revealing a host of medals she won at the rodeo competition. Apparently AJ didn't do as well as she expected (failing to place first in any contest) and didn't earn any prize money. As the town of Ponyville and AJ's friends had high hopes, she's too embarrassed to admit her failure, thus she stayed in Dodge Junction to work until she could raise money for the Ponyville City Hall repairs.

But Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash make it clear that they don't mind if Applejack does poorly in rodeos, they're friends regardless. They just want AJ to come back home. Applejack agrees to put aside her pride and returns to Ponyville... (Meanwhile, Rarity and Pinkie Pie get left behind.)

Darn it, now you got me acting all sappy!

Applejack and the Virtue of Truthfulness: Part 1 (of 3)

         [As today is the feast of St. Augustine, whose definition of lying as "speaking falsely with the intent to deceive" I incline towards, I think it's fitting I begin my series on the virtue of honesty and the vice of lying.]                                        

                                                           Character Overview

Applejack

Applejack in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a country pony with a southern accent and like all the members of the Apple family (her brother Big Mac, her little sister Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith) AJ’s special talent is apple harvesting. Unlike her lazy friend Rainbow Dash, AJ is adamant about hard work (sometimes too much, as in her attempt to single-hoovfully buck all the apples in Sweet Apple Acres). AJ’s stubborn pride sometimes gets her into conflict with the other Mane Six (she won’t accept busybody Twilight’s help, she can’t get along with the prissy Rarity, she is extremely competitive with the athletic RD).

The Apple Family

Applejack also embodies the Element of Honesty. As the Hasbro.com description tells us, “Applejack would never stoop to tell a lie and this makes her a beacon for those seeking advice.”

"You've never told a lie? You honest, AJ?"

There a few episodes in the series in which Applejack's honesty comes into play and in these series of posts I'll focus on "Friendship is Magic: Part 2," "Party of One," The Return of Harmony: Part 2," and "The Last Roundup." In addition, I'll look at "Green isn't Your Color," which, while it doesn't feature AJ, still focuses on the importance of keeping promises.
                                             
                                                Applejack, Don't Lie to Me

We meet Applejack in the first episode of FiM. She invites the newcomer Twilight Sparkle to an Apple family reunion. AJ, of course, teams up with the rest of the Mane Six to look for the ancient pony castle to find the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon (my previous posts on FiM Episode 1 and 2).

In the Everfree Forest, amongst all the trials the new pony friends face, AJ emerges to show her quality: honesty. Twilight almost falls off a cliff, held only by AJ's hooves. Applejack tells Twilight to let go and promises she'll be safe. Being skeptical by temperament (and no doubt afraid of heights), Twilight asks AJ to honestly tell her if she means what she says. AJ responds that she's telling the "honest truth." Twilight decides to trust AJ and does indeed let go. Before she can hit the ground, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, both pegasi, catch Twilight. Therefore, Applejack is true to her word.

Long live the Princess...

Applejack does not appear in the episode "Green isn't Your Color," but her zany friend Pinkie Pie is a suitable substitute. Most of the episode is concerned with the dress designer Rarity’s attempts to gain the notice of Equestria’s famous fashion photographer Photo Finish. Rarity needs a fashion model and the closest candidate is the bashful pegasus Fluttershy. FS is initially reluctant (no surprise) but agrees to help.

While Rarity attempts to find the right dress for Fluttershy in Carousel Boutique, we see Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Spike (Twilight’s baby dragon assistant) mention one of the episode’s themes: keeping promises. Spike agrees to reveal a personal secret to Twilight and Pinkamena but tells them to promise to tell nopony else… He has a crush on Rarity! Twilight doesn’t seem willing at first to keep quiet but Pinky interjects. She tells Twilight that, “You promised Spike you wouldn't say anything. He trusts you. And losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend forever!” As if for emphasis, Pinky adds an emphatic, “FOREVER!”

After Photo Finish finishes her shoot, she announces that she intends to make Fluttershy, not Rarity, the new fashion star of Equestria. Rarity is visibly disappointed, but nevertheless tells her friend Fluttershy to promise not waste this opportunity at fame.

Forever!

However, alone in her thoughts, Rarity is still a bit jealous over not being picked to be Equestria's next top fashion model. After revealing her wish for Fluttershy to fail, Rarity makes Twilight promise not to tell FS. Fluttershy comes into the spa, missing Rarity's departure, and decides to confide a secret to Twilight, making TS promise not tell Rarity that she does not want to become a fashion star but only proceeds because of her promise to Rarity. Twilight desires to break her promise to Rarity and tell Fluttershy how Rarity really feels but stops after a side-glance from Pinky, the element of honesty in this episode.

Trying to unravel the tangle of promises, Twilight comes up with a plan: sabotage Fluttershy's fashion show, ruining her career and thus making it so that Rarity will no longer be jealous of FS. Of course, Twilight makes Pinky Pie promise not to tell anypony.

Twilight's plan goes well until Rarity arrives and uses her charm to sway the crowd into cheering for Fluttershy. Not only is FS back to square one, she's even more popular than before! Rarity walks in on Fluttershy and Twilight having a conversation in the dressing room. Twilight has to keep herself from breaking either of their promises. Luckily, both Rarity and Fluttershy finally reveal what they think to each other. Rarity is jealous of Fluttershy's success and wanted her to fail and Fluttershy never wanted to be a model in the first place. "If we just told each other the truth," Fluttershy says. Rarity and Fluttershy promise never to keep their feelings secret from each other again.

No more secrets between us...Wait, is that 'Lady Gaga' in the background?

Twilight eventually reveals Spikie's secret, but everypony already knows he likes Rarity, so nopony minds, though Twilight still apologizes to Spike anyway...

The episode "Party of One" tests Applejack's honesty as the Mane Six plan a surprise birthday party for Pinkie Pie. Of course, a surprise birthday party requires the birthday pony to be unaware of the party or, as Pinkie puts it, "then it wouldn’t be a surprise." Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack proceed to play a game of deception to keep Pinkamena in the dark while they plan the festivities. Unfortunately, Pinkie Pie plans a party the exact the same day (completely unaware of her own birthday) and is confused at her friends declining to attend and then avoiding her all day. All of the Mane Six offer an "excuse" (and avoid divulging the plan) for not coming to Pinkie's party, including AJ.

Why are all my friends lying to me today?

Pinkie Pie finally gets suspicious and follows RD (with birthday present in tow) to AJ's barn, where the Main Six are setting up the surprise party.  Of all ponies, AJ, the honest one, finds herself dealing with the Pinky at the door. Pinkamena asks AJ what the Mane Six are up to in the barn and AJ responds that they are doing some "construction" work, complete with fake sound effects. Frustrated by the evasiveness and lying of her friends, Pinky misinterprets the Mane Six's intentions to be no longer including her in their social circle (the end of their friendship) and, already being a little crazy to begin with, she edges ever closer to complete madness.

It's all fun and games until Pinkie loses it...

After literally being dragged all the way to AJ's barn by RD, Pinkie Pie accuses her friends of avoiding and lying to her to drive her from the group before finding out that the Mane Six planned to throw her a surprise birthday all along (hence her surprise!). RD also admits that the Mane Six lied but only to keep the surprise. Of course, Pinkie Pie isn’t exactly the moral exemplar of honesty herself… Anyway, Pinkie regains her sanity, the friends reconcile, and the Mane Six get down to serious party business as the episode ends.

Her blood lust sated, Pinkie has a good time at her surprise birthday party

[Next post I'll look at two episodes from season two, "Elements of Harmony P2" and "The Last Roundup, before finishing the series on honesty and lying with some help from Aristotle, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas.]

John C. Wright on the Natural Law

JCW: Ninja-Trained  Philosopher

Be sure to check out this running debate between the science fiction writer (and fellow Brony) John C. Wright and some of his readers on the natural law. I should mention the excellent comment by Matthew Su, a member of the Thomistic Discussion Group on Facebook, who elaborates on the Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysical grounding of NLT.