The Good Is Prior to the Right

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i think our basic ideas about rights are shaped by some fundamental conceptions about the good. And so this is why i think rols is not only wrong on this point, but he has it exactly backwards. The good is prior to the right. Our conceptions of the right, and rights like the right to freedom of speech, will be shaped in part by your conception of the human good. If you believe as i believe, that that aspect of our well being is truth and truth seeking, the pursuit of knowledge, knowledge of truth, then your argument for free speech will draw on that understanding too. That's what John Stuart mill does - argues from the good. He's a bentamite

Robert P. George is an American legal scholar and political philosopher. The McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, George is considered one of the foremost conservative intellectuals in America, and advocates a theory of natural law consistent with Catholic belief. With Cornel West, he authored a statement on “Truth Seeking, Democracy, and Freedom of Thought and Expression.”

In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Robert P. George discuss the political philosophy of John Rawls, why democratic republics can’t function without free speech, and what relevance the first principles of conservatism do or don't retain today.

This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

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