Comments for Arguments Ever New at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 12 out of 12 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Thu, 23 May 2013 17:31:05 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/arguments-ever-new.html#comment-9802 Dr. Arkes, Thank you again. Well, I gave your essay to my supervisor. She graciously accepted it. She hasn't said anything, yet. I don't expect her to, and I'm reluctant to bring it up again. It's a difficult subject, not suitable to the work environment. If the topic comes up again, I'll try to work Mr. Springer's comments into the discussion. - Dan Deeny Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:54:10 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/arguments-ever-new.html#comment-9724 At a picket one woman yelled, "It's my body and I can do what I want with it." I said, "So make it fly!" - KYpapist Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:36:35 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/arguments-ever-new.html#comment-9723 This is a wonderful and cheering article, Professor Arkes! The depth of ignorance concerning what Catholics actually believe would be shocking, were it not obvious that "educated" people are also ignorant of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the actual beliefs of the American founders, the Fathers of the Church, and on and on -- we aren't dealing anymore with people who cast themselves as new Greek sorts, like Schiller or Shelley, because the illuminati are dark about Aeschylus and Sophocles too. I find that my students tell me, when I discuss something like love, that they've never heard such things before -- nothing about, for instance, medieval art being centered wholly upon the question of love. Ah well ... - Tony Esolen Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:21:11 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/arguments-ever-new.html#comment-9722 I'd like to thank my correspondents for the notes they've sent in today. I'd be interested to hear from Dan Deeny as to what reactions he gets from that lady to whom he was going to give this essay with its arguments--if he can risk giving it to his supervisor. I'd also be curious to what she would say when you add Mr. Springer's fine additions here. I'd alert people that we're forming right now in Washington,D.C. our new Center for Natural Law under the auspices of the Claremont Institute, and we may have programs--lectures, seminars--for students and for people newly sprung from law school. And for primers on moral reasoning and abortion, we can remind people of some of the books written by contributors to the Catholic Thing,including Frank Beckwith and the scribbler writing to you now. Thanks for all of your comments. - Hadley Arkes Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:17:26 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/arguments-ever-new.html#comment-9721 Grump: The Catholic position, which is also the common sense position, is that human beings are free in their judgments (the more precise meaning of the term "arbitrium liberum"), because they choose between one good thing and another. For even people who do evil do so because they seek something they evaluate as good (though they are self-deceived in the evaluation, or the good they seek is vitiated by circumstance, as when a man attempts to go to bed with his neighbor's wife). No one, either, can tell what is going to happen even one moment hence. We can "blame" God for having created the person who would freely choose and freely choose and freely choose to become the monster Hitler; but then we had better also blame God for having created us, too. But God who created the universe from nothing can bring good out of the unreality that is our evil. - Tony Esolen Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:16:56 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/arguments-ever-new.html#comment-9719 "This is MY body"? "Really? In what way is it your body? On what grounds do you claim ownership? Do you claim ownership in the same way that you claim that the hat that you bought is "your" hat. Did you purchase it? Did you make it yourself to your own design and specifications and plans? Do you have control over it? For example, do you control your height, your weight, the color of your eyes? How did you come by it that gives you the right to say, "This is mine."? Did you choose the date and circumstances of your birth? When the flu went around, did you say, "no, thanks?" Can you simply refuse to allow the inflammation of your appendix or gall bladder because, after all, it's YOUR body? I can find no basis on which one can claim ownership of one's body--only stewardship of a gift given. - Louise Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:34:38 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/arguments-ever-new.html#comment-9715 For John Zaleta: Do you know about the organization Healing the Culture in the Seattle, WA area? They are currently in the final stages of developing a curriculum to present such natural law arguments to high school and college students. They might have what you are looking for. I believe it will be more substantial than a booklet, but it is designed for a non-technical audience. - Katherine Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:52:14 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/arguments-ever-new.html#comment-9714 Excellent point about "the whole class of things so wrong that people may not do them to themselves." As a mundane example, consider seat belt laws. The government (not to mention insurance companies) finds it morally objectionable that humans beings should catapault through the windshield should they crash their vehicle into a fixed obstacle. So they mandate that we've all got to wear seatbelts or else pay a fine. Same goes with smoke alarms, basement egress windows and motorcyle helmets. If we willingly disable or opt out of using these safety devices, we're in violation of the law. I'm given no choice or say with regard to these potential risks "to my own body." But with abortion, the smallest, weakest and most vulnerable lives of all are stripped of that consideration. How could someone as smart as a Supreme Court justice fail to see that? - Tom Springer Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:08:37 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/arguments-ever-new.html#comment-9712 Another excellent contribution by Dr. Arkes. It just so happens that several weeks ago at work one of my supervisors said that, while she herself would never have an abortion, she thought a woman had the right to control her own body. I have copied this article and will try to give it to this very decent lady. I wonder what will happen. - Dan Deeny Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:26:06 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/arguments-ever-new.html#comment-9711 Hypothetically, If one had known what Hitler would turn out to be, would one have argued that he should have been aborted? Or do we just blame that one on the Potter? - Grump Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:52:48 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/arguments-ever-new.html#comment-9710 Many of the arguments against abortion are made in excellent books that have no popular audience. It would be helpful to see a booklet that presents the natural law arguments in an accessible format for students and the general public. Maybe the kind of thing that could be placed at the entry of churches as well. - John Zaleta Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:04:04 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/arguments-ever-new.html#comment-9708 Hadley Arkes gets it. It's so obvious what a nightmarish holocaust this is yet so many people are dumbfounded by the thought that it might be wrong. I wonder if your average Nazi was this oblivious to all the innocent lives being taken by the government he served. - Jacob R Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:36:01 +0100