Neuhaus misreads Rawls - Reader comments at The New York Sun

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Freedom For Religion

Submitted by John Hacker-Wright, Feb 29, 2008 08:43

Father Neuhaus criticizes Nussbaum for missing the fact that religious conviction has been the grounds for the defense of religious liberty. He thinks it is risible for Nussbaum to associate Roger Williams and Madison with Rawls. But this is a fundamental misreading of Rawls. Rawls's view is that our political values should not be dependent on a single comprehensive doctrine, such that they cannot be affirmed by other reasonable comprehensive doctrines. For instance, he doesn't think a liberal society can have political values that are defensible only on utilitarian or on Kantian grounds (favored traditional secular defenses of liberalism). So, Rawls thinks our political values must be defensible independently of our comprehensive doctrines. But, our individual convictions indeed have their roots in our comprehensive doctrines. Our political values are a separable part of our comprehensive doctrines; our motivation for upholding political values can be religious or (comprehensively) philosophical.

So, it is not at all risible for Nussbaum to turn to Williams; he articulated views about religious toleration that are defensible, I think (with Nussbaum), independently of his strongly held Christian convictions. The same can be said for Madison, obviously.

John Hacker-Wright
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
University of Guelph

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
Fr. Neuhaus is an extraordinarily intelligent critic who exemplifies the qualities he attacks in Professor Nussbaum. Any long time reader... [MORE]	Jim Clark	Mar 22, 2008 09:54
Roger Williams defended Native Americans, saw us as "one blood" with them and was against forced conversions. He was against... [MORE]	Gretchen Robinson	Mar 10, 2008 15:52
Father Neuhaus's critique suggests again that a key, perhaps THE key of any argument is its ethos dimension, i.e. the... [MORE]	George T. Karnezis	Mar 4, 2008 14:24
Father Neuhaus, Your attempt to discredit Nussbaum's contention that Roger William's conclusions about religious freedom, which he based on his... [MORE]	curious sampler	Mar 3, 2008 19:34
We know the USA is a failed social experiment and every time a new change is introduced to diversify USA... [MORE]	HRossner	Mar 2, 2008 15:44
Father Neuhaus criticizes Nussbaum for missing the fact that religious conviction has been the grounds for the defense of religious...	John Hacker-Wright	Feb 29, 2008 08:43
According to what Hacker-Wright is saying, Neuhaus has misread Williams, not Rawls. But Neuhaus's only point about Williams is that... [MORE]	Michael Mattair	Mar 5, 2008 14:09
Just because a view is a product of another does not mean it is essentially tied to that view. Nussbaum... [MORE]	John Hacker-Wright	Mar 12, 2008 13:13
There was once a time not so long ago when comments such as those of Father Neuhaus would have evoked... [MORE]	Stephen R. Marks	Feb 29, 2008 02:48
I seriously doubt that Jefferson, the man that removed all mention of miracles from his version of the bible and... [MORE]	Corey Long	Feb 28, 2008 17:47
Thank you for the review of Nussbaum's new work. It is clear where Father Neuhaus is coming from in his... [MORE]	Jim H.	Feb 28, 2008 13:07
in order to have freedom of any sort there has to be order and law. people have to refrain from... [MORE]	Fender	Feb 28, 2008 10:22
Fender claims Nussbaum has yet to comment on religious violence. In fact, she is well aware of such things; her... [MORE]	Bill in DC	Feb 28, 2008 22:50