In my last post, Abortion and the Morality of Feticide: Part I, I briefly sketched an argument against feticide, [1] It is wrong to kill a human being without justification; [2] A fetus is a human being; [3] In the case of feticide (at least in the majority of cases) insufficient or no justification is forthcoming. [...]
Entries Tagged as 'John Locke'
Abortion and the Morality of Feticide: Part II
February 16th, 2011 155 Comments
Tags: Abortion · David Boonin · David Oderberg · Ethics · Ethics and Medicine · Feticide · John Locke · Michael Tooley · Peter Singer · Susan Sherwin
Can State Expropriation of Minerals be Justified? Part II
March 9th, 2010 6 Comments
In Can State Expropriation of Minerals be Justified? Part I, I set out a common law property rights argument drawing from the writings of jurists Blackstone and Locke as well as contemporary philosopher Ed Feser. I looked at what circumstances, if any, might justify the state taking of real property, looking specifically at minerals from [...]
Tags: Case of Mines · Crown Minerals Act 1991 · Edward Feser · James Parcell · John Locke · Kevin Counsell · Lewis Evans · Neil Quigley · Property Rights · Rights and Freedoms · Sub-Soil Land Rights · Takings · William Blackstone
Can State Expropriation of Minerals be Justified? Part I
March 5th, 2010 22 Comments
New Zealand, like many nations, has a long history of the state taking real property, often without compensation. In this two part series I examine one sub-set of takings, minerals from the sub-soil of privately held property (although the argument herein could apply with equal force to any state taking). Drawing from common law, the [...]
Tags: Crown Minerals Act 1991 · Edward Feser · John Locke · Property Rights · Rights and Freedoms · Sub-Soil Land Rights · Takings · William Blackstone
Property Rights: Blackstone, Locke and the Legislative Scheme Part I
February 17th, 2010 10 Comments
This two part series looks at the state of property rights under the current legislative scheme in New Zealand. Particularly I address attempts to suggest that the passage of Acts such as the Crown Minerals Act and the Resource Management Act have not significantly altered the common law concept of property rights and the claim [...]
Tags: Crown Minerals Act 1991 · Edward Feser · John Locke · Property Rights · Resource Management Act 1991 · Rights and Freedoms · Sub-Soil Land Rights · William Blackstone
The Theological Foundations of the Enlightenment Philosophers
February 14th, 2010 7 Comments
In my previous post, Freedom, Science and Christianity: A Response to James Valliant Part I, I criticised a recent post by James Valliant. I plan to put Part II of this critique online later this week (after Madeleine is clear of her exam on Tuesday to edit it). Here, I simply want to pick up [...]
Tags: James Madison · James Valliant · John Locke · Lactantius · Lindsay Perigo · Pierre Bayle · Tertullian · Thomas Aquinas
Sunday Study: Slavery, John Locke and the Bible
June 28th, 2009 98 Comments
It is often affirmed, as an incontestable and obvious truth, that the Bible supports slavery. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong cites Leviticus 25:44 as evidence of this charge in “Why Traditional Theism is not an Adequate Foundation for Morality.”[1] Although Armstrong is not the alone in making this claim, I think the charge is mistaken; the Bible does [...]
Tags: John Locke · John Loftus · Old Testament Ethics · Selection · Slavery · Sunday Study · Theology · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
Epistemology 101: Science, Faith and Authority Part II
July 21st, 2010 12 Comments
This three-part blog series is essentially the talk I gave at the recent Clearing the Air Forum, which was entitled “Discovering Truth in the Synthesis of Science and Faith.” The audience was comprised of scientists, church leaders, journalists and other interested parties so this is a fairly lay introduction to epistemology. In my first post, [...]
Tags: AGW · Clear · Climate Change · Epistemology · Faith and Reason · Greg Dawes · John Locke · Keisha Castle-Hughs · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Richard Dawkins · Roy Clouser · Science and Religion