fbpx
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube Rss
Search
Close this search box.
Search Results For:

Search Results for: tollefsen capital punishment

Capital Punishment, Catholicism, and Natural Law: A Reply to Christopher Tollefsen

By
Aquinas taught the principle that a punishment ought to be proportionate to the offense, where death is a proportionate punishment for the gravest crimes.

Development, Capital Punishment, and Dignitatis Humanae

By
Despite the vast amount of ink spilled in the current controversy over capital punishment, there’s been a real hesitancy to make explicit its analogy with the longer-running and arguably more important debate respecting the Church’s teaching on religious liberty.

The Philosophical Case against the Philosophical Case against Capital Punishment

By
It’s three times more likely that you’ll die of lightning than that Aquinas will turn out to be wrong about something. The same cannot be said of New Natural Law philosophy.

Traditional Catholic Doctrine on Capital Punishment is Irreversible: A Reply to E. Christian Brugger

By
E. Christian Brugger is wrong: neither scripture nor tradition could justify a reversal of the Church’s millennia-old teaching on capital punishment

A Philosophical Case Against Capital Punishment

By
Arguments against the death penalty can be made not only on the basis of theology but also on the basis of natural law philosophy. The first in a two-part series.
Public Discourse

God, Death, and Capital Punishment

By
It is philosophically and theologically defensible for Catholics to believe that the death penalty is intrinsically wrong.
Public Discourse

Punishment: Political, Not Metaphysical

By
The presumptive starting point in the natural law and, more specifically, Christian tradition is one of absolute opposition to intentional killing of beings created in the image of God, for which exceptions must be earned; but the traditional justifications for such exceptions fail.
Public Discourse

Punishment, Proportionality, and the Death Penalty: A Reply to Chris Tollefsen

By
While not explicitly denying the principle of proportionality, Tollefsen implicitly rejects it, leaving his argument not only counterintuitive but incoherent.
Public Discourse

Capital Punishment, Dignity, and Authority: A Response to Ed Feser

By
Nothing that a man does can change his nature as man, and so, considered in himself, it will always remain wrong to kill him. This should be the final judgment of practical reason when brought to bear on the question of capital punishment.
Public Discourse

In Defense of Capital Punishment

By
If one accepts the legitimacy of punishment and the principle of proportionality, then it is impossible to claim that capital punishment is intrinsically wrong.
Public Discourse

Capital Punishment, Sanctity of Life, and Human Dignity

By
Intentional killing is always wrong, and support of capital punishment often stems from a misunderstanding of the nature of human dignity.
Hiker

Facing Tomorrow’s Biggest Challenges

By
The authors and editors at PD don’t pretend to have all of the answers, but we think we know something about which questions we need to raise, and who we should ask to address them. As more and more about America and conservatism seem up for debate, expect PD to continue to provide a path forward.
Swaddled baby

Making Children, Unmaking Families

By
Manufacturing children using the genetic material of multiple parents is not a prospect to be celebrated. It is a dystopian technology, making children, as if they were consumer goods, and unmaking the family, as if it were not essential to the common good.

Physician-Assisted Suicide and Personal Action: Responding to the Law

By
We can’t afford to live without physicians who are devoted to always healing and caring, and never harming. Requesting physician-assisted suicide, like legalizing it, erodes that devotion. A refusal to ask, even on the part of those not committed to the inviolability of human life, helps sustain that devotion.
philosophy, natural law

Practical Reason, Basic Goods, and Natural Law

By
Reason operating without error judges that no human being should ever intend the death of another human being for any reason whatsoever. No achievable good can justify such a choice. And that is the foundation for the case against the death penalty.

Doubting Thomas (Aquinas) on Private and Public Killing

By
There is a genuine tension, not just in Aquinas but in Church teaching more generally, between claims about the intrinsic goodness, sanctity, and inviolability of human life, and claims about political authority to kill. The second in a two-part series.
Public Discourse

Mercy for Dylann Roof

By
Showing mercy to Dylann Roof by refusing to impose the death penalty would respect the acts of both his victims, who showed him welcome, and their families, who showed him forgiveness. In this way, good could be drawn from evil, and the sinfulness of Dylann Roof’s actions could be overcome by love.

Joseph Boyle, Public Discourse, and the Kingdom of God

By
Joseph Boyle was a colleague, mentor, and friend to many associated with Public Discourse and in the broader academic community. He will be sorely missed.
Public Discourse

On the Dangers of Thanking God for the Atom Bomb

By
There are often great temptations to violate the absolute norms against intentional killing and against lying. On the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs over Japan, we should remember what is at stake in such decisions and how agents constitute themselves in their choosing.
Public Discourse

The Least Evil Option: A Defense of Harry Truman

By
Rather than simply denouncing Truman for his decision to employ the atomic bomb, his critics need to confront the harsh reality of war and seriously consider the lack of viable alternatives available to him.
Public Discourse

Moral Absolutes and the Moral Life

By
Moral absolutes are not “mere” restrictions on our actions. Nor should they be suspended even when upholding them might bring about grave consequences. They are essential for protecting human wellbeing.
Public Discourse

Torture: What it is, and Why it is Wrong

By
The recent publication of the Torture Memos and of the International Red Cross report on the treatment of high-level detainees in the aftermath of 9/11 has returned to national prominence the discussion of the morality of torture and “enhanced interrogation” techniques. It is important to be clear, as a moral matter, on what boundaries should be accepted in interrogation of human beings; a responsible and non-politicized discussion is essential on this difficult issue.
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube Rss
Public Discourse © 2024 | All Rights Reserved