Natural Law Liberalism

280 Pages·2006·2.31 MB·English

by  Christopher Wolfe

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NaturalLawLiberalism
Liberal political philosophy and natural law theory are not contra-
dictory, but – properly understood – mutually reinforcing. Contem-
poraryliberalism(asrepresentedbyRawls,GutmannandThompson,
Dworkin,Raz,andMacedo)rejectsnaturallawandseekstodiminish
itshistoricalcontributiontotheliberalpoliticaltradition,butitisonly
onedefectivevariantofliberalism.Acarefulanalysisofthehistoryof
liberalism,identifyingitscoreprinciples,andasimilarexaminationof
classicalnaturallawtheory(asrepresentedbyThomasAquinasandhis
intellectualdescendants),showthatanaturallawliberalismisbothpos-
sibleanddesirable.Naturallawtheoryembracesthekeyprinciplesof
liberalism;italsoprovidesbalanceinresistingsomeofitsproblematic
tendencies. Natural law liberalism is the soundest basis for American
publicphilosophy,anditisapotentiallymoreattractiveandpersuasive
formofliberalismfornationsthathavetendedtoresistit.
Christopher Wolfe is professor of political science at Marquette Uni-
versity.HereceivedhisPhDfromBostonCollegeandhasbeenteach-
ing at Marquette University since 1978. His published books include
TheRiseofModernJudicialReview(1986),JudicialActivism(1991),
andHowtoReadtheConstitution(1996).Hiseditedvolumesinclude
LiberalismattheCrossroads(1994);NaturalLawandPublicReason
(2000); That Eminent Tribunal (2004); The Family, Civil Society, and
theState(1998);HomosexualityandAmericanPublicLife(1999);and
Same-Sex Matters (2000). Dr. Wolfe has published articles in many
scholarlyjournalsandinFirstThings,aswellasbookreviewsandvar-
ious opinion pieces. He is the founder and President of the American
PublicPhilosophyInstitute.
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Natural Law Liberalism
CHRISTOPHER WOLFE
MarquetteUniversity
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CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
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Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521842785
© Christopher Wolfe 2006
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2006
ISBN-13 978-0-511-24236-6 eBook (NetLibrary)
ISBN-10 0-511-24236-0 eBook (NetLibrary)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-84278-5 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-84278-6 hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
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Contents
Acknowledgments page ix
Introduction 1
parti: contemporaryliberalism
1 ContemporaryLiberalExclusionismI:JohnRawls’s
AntiperfectionistLiberalism 9
Rawls’sPoliticalLiberalism 10
TheInadequacyofRawlsianLiberalism 14
2 ContemporaryLiberalExclusionismII:Rawls,Macedo,
and“Neutral”LiberalPublicReason 24
Macedo’sRawlsianPublicReason 28
SomeBasicProblemsWithPublicReason 29
Macedo’sCritiqueofNaturalLaw 31
SlaveryandAbortion 33
PublicReasonasArgumentativeSleight-of-Hand 37
PublicReasonandReligion 41
Conclusion 43
3 ContemporaryLiberalExclusionismIII:Gutmannand
Thompsonon“Reciprocity” 44
TheConditionofReciprocity 44
WhyLiberalReciprocityIsUnreasonable 46
4 ContemporaryLiberalismandAutonomyI:Ronald
DworkinonPaternalism 57
VolitionalandCriticalInterests 58
Paternalism 59
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AdditiveandConstitutiveViewsoftheGoodLife 60
CritiqueofVariousFormsofPaternalism 62
A“Paternalist”Response 67
Conclusion 80
5 ContemporaryLiberalismandAutonomyII:JosephRaz
onTrustandCitizenship 82
Coercion 83
Trust 84
TrustandCitizenship 89
ProblemsWithRaz’sCitizenship 91
Citizenship,Self-Respect,andMutualRespect 92
LiberalTyranny 96
Conclusion 97
6 “OffensiveLiberalism”:Macedoand“Liberal”Education 100
DiversityandDistrust 101
DistrustingDiversityandDistrust 104
Conclusion 125
partii: liberalismandnaturallaw
7 UnderstandingLiberalism:ABroaderVision 131
UnderstandingsofLiberalism 131
ABriefHistoryofLiberalism 134
CorePrinciplesofLiberalism 144
TendenciesofLiberalism 146
DefiningLiberalismTooBroadly? 148
8 UnderstandingNaturalLaw 152
ABriefHistoryofNaturalLaw 152
LevelsofNaturalLaw 164
ContemporaryNaturalLawDebates:The“NewNatural
LawTheory” 169
CoreAgreementonNaturalLaw 174
ClassicalNaturalLawandLiberty 176
9 LiberalismandNaturalLaw 185
TheTruthNaturalLawSeesinLiberalism 185
WhatLiberalismOftenFailstoSee 205
ReconcilingNaturalLawandLiberalism:WhyDoesIt
Matter? 214
10 “CashingOut”NaturalLawLiberalism:TheCaseof
ReligiousLiberty 217
PreliminaryNoteon“Religion” 217
NaturalLawandReligion 220
NaturalLaw,theCommonGood,andReligion 226
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Contents vii
Principledvs.PrudentialArgumentsforaBroadScopeof
ReligiousLiberty 238
11 ANaturalLawPublicPhilosophy 248
TheFoundationalPrinciple:TheDignityoftheHuman
Person 248
TheOriginsandEndofGovernment:TheCommonGood 249
TheLegitimateScopeofGovernment:LimitedGovernment 249
PoliticalAuthority 250
Citizenship 251
PoliticalandPersonalRightsofCitizensandPersons 251
RelationshipofthePoliticalCommunitytoOther
Communities:CivilSociety 251
TheEconomicSystemandtheRightsandDutiesofProperty 252
Education 253
CultureandEntertainment 253
TheSharedUnderstandingoftheCommunityRegardingIts
History 254
RelationshipoftheNationtoOtherPeoplesandtheWorld 254
RelationshipofthePolitytotheTranscendentOrder 255
Conclusion 256
Index 259
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Acknowledgments
Thisbookwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithouttheverygeneroussup-
portIhavereceivedfromanumberoffoundations.TheNationalEndow-
mentfortheHumanitiesandtheRandolphFoundationprovidedsupport
fora1993–94sabbaticalinwhichtheworkonthebookwascommenced.
Thebooktookfinalshapeduringmy2000–01sabbatical,withthesup-
portoftheLyndeandHarryBradleyFoundation,theEarhartFoundation,
andtheLehrmanInstitute.
The Earhart Foundation and the Bradley Institute for Democracy at
MarquetteUniversityalsokindlysuppliedfundsforsummerwork.
Portionsofthebookwerepresentedatvariousconferences,including
theInternationalFoundationforHumanRightsconferenceon“Natural
RightandLiberty”inRennes,France(December,1994);aconferenceon
“Practical Reason and Multiculturalism” at the University of Navarra,
Pamplona,Spain(November,1996);theCenterforEconomicandPolicy
Education conference, “Public Morality, Civic Virtue, and the Problem
of Modern Liberalism,” at St. Vincent’s College (April, 1999); a Sacred
HeartMajorSeminary/AveMariaLawSchoolconferenceon“St.Thomas
AquinasandtheNaturalLawTradition”(June,2000);andtheconference
“CatholicPerspectivesonAmericanLaw,”CatholicUniversityofAmerica
(March, 2001). I am grateful to the organizers of these conferences for
theirsupport,andtotheparticipantsfortheircommentsandsuggestions.
Chapter 2 is based on “Natural Law and Public Reason,” which
appeared in the American Journal of Jurisprudence, Volume 42 (1997)
andinNaturalLawandPublicReason,editedbyR.GeorgeandC.Wolfe
(GeorgetownUniversityPress,2000).Chapter4waspublishedas“Liber-
alismandPaternalism:ACritiqueofRonaldDworkin”inTheReviewof
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