Nov 17, 2023·edited Nov 17, 2023Liked by Adrian Vermeule
Thanks Prof Vermeule for great piece, as well author of previous essay Judge Matey.
I wonder, coming from a different cultural tradition that views and receives values distilled from real lives of real people and have endured the vicissitudes of history as a cumulative body of wisdom to learn from and build on rather than tired old wardrobe to be replaced. In the crossfires between originalism and positivism, one does discern, from the point of view of the tradition to which I refer, a deep mistrust and therefore absence, of *commitment* to specific principles and values that generate or is derived from what is or has been understood about human behavior.
Human behavior, the subject of law, is an offspring of Nature, not the other way around. The endeavor of Philosophy (and in point of fact also of Science in Aristotelian thought), is to decipher Nature. The endeavor of Law is to apply what has been deciphered, not innovate or otherwise contrive or concoct (without evidence from onward discoveries in Science). In everyday application, nowhere is this Nature and Law linkage more relevant than in laws governing abortion and enthanasia of the elderly and the infirm.
Thanks Prof Vermeule for great piece, as well author of previous essay Judge Matey.
I wonder, coming from a different cultural tradition that views and receives values distilled from real lives of real people and have endured the vicissitudes of history as a cumulative body of wisdom to learn from and build on rather than tired old wardrobe to be replaced. In the crossfires between originalism and positivism, one does discern, from the point of view of the tradition to which I refer, a deep mistrust and therefore absence, of *commitment* to specific principles and values that generate or is derived from what is or has been understood about human behavior.
Human behavior, the subject of law, is an offspring of Nature, not the other way around. The endeavor of Philosophy (and in point of fact also of Science in Aristotelian thought), is to decipher Nature. The endeavor of Law is to apply what has been deciphered, not innovate or otherwise contrive or concoct (without evidence from onward discoveries in Science). In everyday application, nowhere is this Nature and Law linkage more relevant than in laws governing abortion and enthanasia of the elderly and the infirm.
What a great and insightful comment. especially the first sentence of your second paragraph. Thank you!
Thank you for liking the first sentence. It took some courage to write it!