Liberty Law Talk Freedom and the Natural Law: A Conversation with John Lawrence Hill
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Jan 12, 2020 Author John Lawrence Hill discusses the necessity of natural law for freedom. Topics include Justice Kennedy's redefinition of liberty in abortion rights, defense of classical natural law over modern rights, importance of natural law principles in legal crises like Nuremberg trials, shift to utilitarianism in American jurisprudence, challenges to constitutional law and negative rights, and the debate between individualism and collectivism in constitutional rights.
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Kennedy Channels John Stuart Mill
- Justice Kennedy's "Mystery Passage" reflects John Stuart Mill's idea that freedom is self-definition.
- Mill's view emphasizes individuality as essential to well-being and liberty.
Risks of Untethered Liberty
- Modern concepts of liberty untether freedom from objective human nature.
- This unbound individualism risks becoming dangerous and relativistic.
Final Causes Bracketed, Not Rejected
- Early modern thinkers retained belief in final causes but bracketed them from scientific inquiry.
- Science proceeded ignoring teleology but philosophy still considered purpose essential.