Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Robert George, Method, and the New York Times Magazine
I do not
know if the New York Times magazine accurately reported an aspect of his
method, but, if it did, I find it disturbing. According to the Times, as I read
it, George makes a sharp distinction between moral conclusions based in Reason
(which I take to be Opinion supported by reason - right or wrong) and moral
conclusions that do not follow deductively from moral principles (thus, as I
understand it, favoring particular practical steps in favor of the poor is
always lower in his hierarchy than say opposing homosexuality).
It seems to
me that compassion is a major theme in the gospel and that this method does not
leave adequate room for compassion.
I should
say that I have never met Robert George and am not talking at all about his
personal compassion for others. But I have a general view that deduction as an
exclusive method of moral reason risks taking on bloodless conclusions unless
the operator of the method smuggles his or her desires into the premises.
https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2009/12/robert-george-method-and-the-new-york-times-magazine.html