Two small errors turned up in the hardcover edition of my Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Treatise on Law. Although they were corrected in the paperback, a reader suggests that I post the corrections here too. Good idea.
Query:
What would you say is the single most compelling, prima facie argument for God?
Reply:
The argument I find most compelling is sometimes called the Argument from Desire.
Men think they may do as they please.
In order to limit them, among other things the law of Moses prohibits disproportionate revenge: One may take an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but not a life for an eye or a limb for a tooth.
I am glad to say that after receiving my response, this fellow made a gracious reply.
Query:
This is the text of my acceptance talk for the Pope Pius XI Award for Contributions to the Building Up of a True Catholic Social Science, at October’s annual meeting of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists. I had hesitated to post it, but my advisors think it would be interesting to many of my readers.
I stoutly hope that I am wrong about how the president-elect will govern. He has made several appropriate gestures, and he did not use his victory speech to boast and bluster, as he might have.
However, he seems to be laboring under a misconception. He thinks he won.
No, the other candidate lost.
Liberalism is said to mean believing in liberality, which is generosity. Though generosity is a real virtue, it lies between opposite vices. The interesting question, then, is not whether you are in favor of liberality. Instead let us ask: How do you recognize and avoid covetousness on the one hand, and prodigality on the other?
We have come to expect vast and manipulative public relations campaigns mounted to influence the voters, who are then supposed to exert influence on elected officials. In an empire, however, the only constituency that matters to people who want things done is the courtiers, and the only constituency that matters to the courtiers is the emperor himself.