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Thomas D. Howes

Thomas Howes is the Editor-in-Chief of The Vital Center and the Director of the Reagan Caucus. He is also a research fellow of the Austrian Institute (Vienna), a member of the James Madison Society, and a lecturer in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. Right now he is finishing a book manuscript with the preliminary title Natural Law and Constitutional Democracy, which draws on neglected elements of the natural law tradition to defend constitutional democracy; he also has a contract with Acton Institute to co-author a book with James M. Patterson, entitled Why Postliberalism Failed—also the title of their podcast.

Rome

Martin Rhonheimer, the Church’s Swiss Army Knife 

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If Rhonheimer’s work never gets the appreciation it deserves, he has already changed the conversation in subtle ways. Modifying Oliver Wendell Holmes’s definition of a great thinker, I would wager that 100 years after Rhonheimer passes on, whether they know it or not, Catholic philosophers and theologians “will be moving to the measure of his thought.”
Small child holding an iPad

Virtue Can’t Be Learned from Devices

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During the pandemic, schools deployed digital technologies enabling them to efficiently transmit content and monitor student engagement at a distance. Unfortunately, these technologies have become entrenched, and screen-based activities now dominate many classrooms. But to develop intellectual and moral virtue, schools must engage students’ bodies, minds, and souls. Screen-centered, digital modes of learning undermine education because they are incapable of fostering virtue in embodied human beings.
School hallway

Public Education and Liberal Neutrality

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Attempting neutrality in public education ends up creating a systemic preference for a particular ethical standpoint—a rather controversial one at that. Ironically, this creates a tension between public schools and the principle of liberal neutrality. Fortunately, this tension can be resolved without abandoning government-financed education through policies that are both popular and effective: school vouchers and education savings accounts.
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