Hadley Arkes on “Mere Natural Law,” Abortion, and the Logic of Law and Morals

In this episode:

• Hadley Arkes, founder and director of the James Wilson Institute, joins the podcast to discuss his newest book, Mere Natural Law
•  how the Dobbs ruling dodged the essential moral questions at the heart of abortion, and why conservative jurisprudence has failed to do so
• how principles of natural law are so suffused into America’s law and the American regime that they are inseparable from any judgments about law in the judiciary

Texts Mentioned:

• Mere Natural Law: Originalism and the Anchoring Truths of the Constitution by Hadley Arkes
• First Things  by Hadley Arkes
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
• The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics by Immanuel Kant
• Roe v. Wade
• Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
• The Federalist Papers by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay
• Lectures on Law by James Wilson
• Constitutional Illusions and Anchoring Truths by Hadley Arkes
• Natural Rights and the Right to Choose by Hadley Arkes
• ISI Homecoming, June 2-3, 2023

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