Publication Date: July 14, 2003 | Series: Religion, Politics, and Society in the New Millennium
Perhaps no issue is more divisive among philosophers, jurists and theologians than the nature of human liberty. Liberty is central to the claims of the Christian Gospel, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the American Revolution. But discussions about the nature of freedom have been characterized by profound disagreement and unsettling questions. What does it mean to be free? Is freedom worth more than mens' lives? Why should man be free? What, if any, legitmate responsibilities accompany freedom? These subjects are that the heart of Samuel Gregg's new book On Ordered Liberty. Beginning with the insights of Alexis de Tocqueville and some natural law theorists, Gregg suggests that something which he terms 'integral law' must be distinguished from most contemporary visions of freedom. He argues that this new arrangement requires a complete repudiation of utilitarian ideas on the grounds that they are incompatable with human nature. He also recommends a new and more rigorous focus on the basic but often neglected-question: what is man? On Ordered Liberty goes beyond the liberal and conservative divide, asking its readers to think about the proper ends of human choice and actions in a free society.
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The book is well written and from the author's Australian pen flows an elegant style. . . . A final word about this edition of the book, it only merits praise. (Anuario Filosofico )
This concise introduction to the principles of the free society provides a welcome antidote to the unreflective relativism that dominates important currents of contemporary academic moral and political philosophy. Samuel Gregg's elegantly written treatise is in the best conservative liberal tradition and is studded with revealing quotations from the likes of Burke, Tocqueville, Guizot, and Ropke. In the spirit of his great predecessors, Gregg's book combines genuine attachment to personal and political liberty with an equally fulsome appreciation of the ends or purposes that inform a freedom worthy of man. (Journal of Markets and Morality )
Anyone who wants to be informed on what is at stake in current policy discussions of liberty, no matter whether they occur in a local tavern or on the floor of the United States Supreme Court, should read On Ordered Liberty> (Religion & Liberty )
Anyone who wants to be informed on what is at stake in current policy discussions of liberty, no matter whether they occur in a local tavern or on the floor of the United States Supreme Court, should read On Ordered Liberty (Religion & Liberty )
About the Author
Samuel Gregg is the Director of Research at the Acton Institute and the author of several books on morality, economics, politlcs and philosophy. He is the editor of Lexington's Studies in Ethics and Economics series.
Dr. Samuel Gregg is director of research at the Acton Institute. He has written and spoken extensively on questions of political economy, economic history, ethics in finance, and natural law theory. He has an MA in political philosophy from the University of Melbourne, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in moral philosophy and political economy from the University of Oxford, where he worked under the supervision of Professor John Finnis.
He is the author of several books, including Morality, Law, and Public Policy (2000), Economic Thinking for the Theologically Minded (2001), On Ordered Liberty (2003), his prize-winning The Commercial Society (2007), The Modern Papacy (2009), and Wilhelm Röpke's Political Economy (2010) as well as monographs such as Ethics and Economics: The Quarrel and the Dialogue (1999), A Theory of Corruption (2004), and Banking, Justice, and the Common Good (2005). Several of these works have been translated into a variety of languages. He has also co-edited books such as Christian Theology and Market Economics (2008), Profit, Prudence and Virtue: Essays in Ethics, Business and Management (2009), and Natural Law, Economics and the Common Good (2012). His forthcoming book is entitled Becoming Europe: Economic Decline, Culture, and America's Future. He has also written on the thought of St. Thomas More.
He publishes in journals such as the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy; Journal of Markets & Morality; Economic Affairs; Law and Investment Management; Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines; Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy; Evidence; Ave Maria Law Review; Oxford Analytica; Communio; Journal of Scottish Philosophy; University Bookman, Moreana, and Policy. He is a regular writer of opinion-pieces which appear in publications such as the Wall Street Journal Europe; Foreign Affairs; National Review; Public Discourse; American Spectator; Australian Financial Review; and Business Review Weekly. His op-eds are also widely published in newspapers throughout Europe and Latin America. He has served as an editorial consultant for the Italian journal, La Societa, as well as American correspondent for the German newspaper Die Tagespost.
In 2001, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and a Member of the Mont Pèlerin Society in 2004. In 2008, he was elected a member of the Philadelphia Society, and a member of the Royal Economic Society. He is the General Editor of Lexington Books' Studies in Ethics and Economics Series. He also sits on the Academic Advisory Boards of Campion College, Sydney; the La Fundación Burke, Madrid; and the Institute of Economic Affairs, London; as well as the editorial boards of the Journal of Markets and Morality and Revista Valores en la sociedad industrial.
Books:
On Ordered Liberty The Commercial Society Wilhelm Röpke's Political Economy
Recent articles:
Truth, Lies, and Euros Can't Face Economic Reality Monetary Possibilities for a Post-Euro Europe The American Left's European Nightmare Europe's Right in Disarray Financial Fiddling while the Euro Burns The Prophet of Europe's Crisis
The preface includes this quote by Alexis de Tocqueville: "Nothing is more fertile than the art of being free, but nothing is harder than freedom's apprenticeship." (p.xii) This highlights the purpose of this book -- to describe and analyze the issues that have arisen in the post-aristocratic world of modern times. Liberty is nearly universally valued as a good thing, but defining what liberty really is and applying it correctly has produced much more difficulty. Gregg's book is a short but fruitful tour of the competing theories on how to preserve the liberty everyone so desires.
The first six chapters are organized by function: the first two chapters provide some philosophical background on the topic; the third chapter analyzes what people are talking about when they speak of liberty ("freedom to _____"); the fourth and fifth chapters concern how to make laws and establish a state, respectively, to preserve these rights; the sixth chapter discusses the role of nongovernmental associations and the importance of providing a check against the state's power if necessary.
Throughout these chapters, the same types of issues permeate the discussion. Does liberty carry with it a moral obligation to be virtuous and to require it of others? Is an appeal to an absolute standard of truth necessary in order to make the case for liberty? If the answers are yes, then what virtues or truths should they be? Can we rely on our human nature and capabilities as a guideline, or do we have to tailor our government to assume that left to our own devices, we will destroy ourselves? What principles do we use to mark out a position in between?... Although ordered liberty is most associated with a question of designing an optimal government, this necessarily carries some assumptions about the nature of mankind, and this is not left out of the discussion.
The last chapter is a more informal and personal one, one in which the author discusses how the Catholic Church and individual Catholics should engage in the public debate, as well as the danger of having public policy expressed by people of faith disqualified because their motivations are labeled as religious in nature.
This is a good gateway book, complete with endnotes at the end of each chapter for further exploration.Read more ›
