Abstract

Robert George of Princeton University challenges the fundamental dogma of contemporary political philosophy, namely, that it is wrong to "legislate morality." George's positive argument for morals legislation is in the tradition of Aristotle and Aquinas. "The idea that public morality is a public good, and that immoral acts--even between consenting adults--can therefore do public harm, has not been refuted by liberal critics of the central tradition". Chapter 1 defends this, arguing that a healthy political society has a moral environment or "ecology" which encourages virtue and is inhospitable to such vices as pornography, prostitution, drug abuse, and so on.