Scholastic thinkers like Cardinal Cajetan, St. Robert Bellarmine, and Francisco Suárez developed what is sometimes called a “transmission theory” of governmental authority. It holds that such authority ultimately comes from God, but is directly vested […]
The main point of just war doctrine is to guide public authorities in determining whether a military action they are considering is morally defensible. In a democratic society, it also assists citizens in carrying out […]
In an article at Nature, Eddy Keming Chen, Mikhail Belkin, Leon Bergen, and David Danks ask, “Does AI already have human-level intelligence?” and claim that “the evidence is clear” that the answer is Yes. (Though the article […]
To all appearances, the United States is preparing for war with Venezuela. For months now, American military forces have been blowing up Venezuelan boats said to be carrying drugs. The U.S. has deployed a fleet […]
I am by no means a free speech absolutist. In an article at Postliberal Order a couple of years ago, I set out the natural law position on the issue, noting that the teleology or final cause of […]
It was announced last week that Pope Leo XIV will be declaring St. John Henry Newman to be a Doctor of the Church. As the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, the Church proclaims someone to be a Doctor on […]
In contemporary debates in Catholic moral theology, a distinction is often drawn between actions that are flatly ruled out in principle and those whose permissibility or impermissibility is a matter of prudential judgment. For example, […]
Last week I argued that the U.S. should stay out of Israel’s war with Iran. America has now entered the war by bombing three facilities associated with Iran’s nuclear program. Is this action morally justifiable in light […]
Let me say at the outset that I agree with the view that it would be bad for the Iranian regime to acquire a nuclear weapon. How close it is to actually acquiring one, I […]
It’s often said that while sticks and stones can break our bones, words can never hurt us. But it isn’t true. Were we mere animals, it would be true, but we’re not. We are rational […]
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