Citizens must always remember that the state’s legitimacy derives from something beyond itself.
James Dominic Rooney
Integralism is unjust, but it captures some important truths.
Government has a legitimate role in preserving peace, but it cannot make men virtuous.
Was Derek Parfit a sterling moral exemplar, or just a socially awkward oddball?
Underneath all their discussion of the common good, Catholic integralists have a repugnant view of political authority.
Colin Bird wants to rescue human dignity from the ashes of the Judeo-Christian tradition. He ends up stripping the concept of all intrinsic value.
Natural law thinkers are not trapped in feudal medieval politics, and neither are Confucians slaves to a despotic past.
Habi Zhang is wrong to suggest that Confucianism inevitably leads to despotism. The Chinese can build a free society.
Some Christian thinkers argue that liberal norms are preventing us from attaining the common good. Illiberalism would be worse.