The Revenge of Conscience: Politics and the Fall of Man

by J. Budziszewski

Overview

Describing the political effects of Original Sin, Professor Budziszewski shows how man's suppression of his knowledge of right and wrong corrupts his conscience and accelerates social collapse. The depraved conscience grasps at the illusion of "moral neutrality," the absurd notion that men live together without a shared understanding of how things are. After evaluating the political devices, including the American Constitution, by which men have tried in the past to work around the effects of Original Sin, Dr. Budziszewski elucidates the pitfalls of contemporary communitarianism, liberalism, and conservatism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498276597
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	06/01/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	182
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

J. Budziszewski (PhD Yale, 1981) is a professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas, Austin, where he has taught since 1981. A specialist on the natural law, the foundational moral principles "written on the heart," he is especially interested in the suppression of moral knowledge -- what happens when we tell ourselves that we don't know what we really do. The author of ten scholarly books including What We Can't Not Know: A Guide and The Line Through the Heart: Natural Law as Fact, Theory, and Sign of Contradiction, he has also written three books for Christian young people.
J. Budziszewski (PhD Yale, 1981) is a professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas, Austin, where he has taught since 1981. A specialist on the natural law, the foundational moral principles "written on the heart," he is especially interested in the suppression of moral knowledge -- what happens when we tell ourselves that we don't know what we really do. The author of ten scholarly books including What We Can't Not Know: A Guide and The Line Through the Heart: Natural Law as Fact, Theory, and Sign of Contradiction, he has also written three books for Christian young people.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

1 The Fallen City (apologion) 5

2 The Revenge of Conscience 20

3 The Illusion of Moral Neutrality 39

4 Politics of Virtues, Government of Knaves 55

5 The Problem with Communitarianism 73

6 The Problem with Liberalism 87

7 The Problem with Conservatism 106

8 Why We Kill the Weak 125

9 The Fallen City (reprise and charge) 136

Index 147