Contents
Foreword by Steven J. Jensen
Acknowledgments
A Note on Abbreviations and Citations
Introduction
A Case of Murder
Ethical Relativism
Egoism vs. Altruism
The Common Good
Human Dignity
The Cause of Human Dignity
Conclusion
2. Finality in Nature
Finality in Aristotle and Contemporary Science
The Limitations of the Scientific Method
Are Living Things Machines?
Nature Acts for an End
Two Objections
Conclusion
3. Happiness
Opinions about Happiness
The Definition of Happiness
Happiness and Other Human Goods
The Possibility of Happiness in the Present Life
What Is Virtue?
Moral and Intellectual Virtues
The Virtues of Self-Control
The Social Virtues
Justice
Prudence
Friendship
Beyond the Nicomachean Ethics
Virtue Ethics and Natural Law Ethics
5. The Natural Law
The Definition of Law
The Definition of Law Applied to the Natural Law
The Primacy of the Common Good
The Dependence of Human Law on the Natural Law
Deriving Human Laws from the Natural Law
The Content of the Natural Law
Natural Goods
The Love Commandments
A Note on the Is/Ought Fallacy
6. The Life Issues: Part 1
Suicide
Killing the Innocent
Euthanasia
Abortion
Bodily Integrity
Indirect Killing
Killing in Self-Defense
Capital Punishment
War
Treatment of Enemy Combatants
Applying Just War Theory Today
Killing Animals
8. Sex, Marriage, and Family: Part 1
The Sexual Act as an Act of Love
The Sexual Act as Procreative
Masturbation, Sodomy, and Homosexual Acts
Contraception
Natural Family Planning
Artificial Methods of Procreation
9. Sex, Marriage, and Family: Part 2
The Nature of Marriage
Monogamy
Divorce
Adultery and Sex outside Marriage
Homosexual Marriage
Conclusion
10. The Contemplative Life and Life in Society
Truth and Wisdom
The Contemplative Life
Searching for Wisdom
The Political Community and Public Authority
Locke’s Theory of the Social Contract
Natural Law and Democracy
The Universal Common Good
Subsidiarity
Conclusion
11. Natural Rights
Natural Rights and Natural Duties
A Modern Natural Rights Theory
Responding to Natural Rights
The Welfare State
The Right to Life
The Right to Freedom
The Right to Property
The Jus Gentium
The Rights of the Family
The Rights of the People: Virtue, Culture, and Religion
Religion and Art
Human Progress
12. Natural Law and the Alternatives
What Prevents Us from Accepting the Natural Law?
Are There Any Valid Human Laws?
What Are the Alternatives to the Natural Law?
Social Contract Theory
Utilitarianism
Kant
W. D. Ross
Two Concepts of Human Dignity
A Concluding Thought
Bibliography
Index