It is proper for more reasons than the most obvious one that I should open this talk by quoting a former President of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, Lord Quinton, whose works on political philosophy I have so much enjoyed—and learnt from.

The attempt to vindicate the objectivity of morality tops the list of philosophical obsessions. In this paper I consider the rationality of searching for such a vindication. I argue that the only justification of our efforts lies in our belief in moral objectivity; that this belief can be as well, if not better, explained by wishful thinking and other cognitive biases; that as a research community we have failed to take precautions against such biases; and that as a result we (...) have been making disproportionate, and therefore irrational, efforts to establish moral objectivity. (shrink)

Liberal democracy is today under unprecedented attack from both the left and the right. Offering a fresh and penetrating examination of how Leo Strauss understood the emergence of liberal democracy and what is necessary to sustain and elevate it, Leo Strauss on Modern Democracy, Technology, and Liberal Education explores Strauss' view of the intimate (and troubling) relation between the philosophic promotion of liberal democracy and the turn to the modern scientific-technological project of the 'conquest of nature'. Timothy W. Burns explicates (...) the political reasoning behind Strauss' recommendation of reminders of genuine political greatness within democracy over and against the failure of nihilistic youth to recognize it. Elucidating what Strauss envisaged by a liberally-educated sub-political or cultural-level aristocracy--one that could elevate and sustain liberal democracy--and the roles that both philosophy and divine-law traditions should have in that education, Burns also lays out Strauss' frequent (though often tacit) engagement with the thought of Heidegger on these issues." -- Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

The more diverse cultures and values a country perceives to be "normal" even "just", the more it needs to search for a public philosophy. Having developed only recently, China, which is speedily progressing towards a market economy, can be considered this kind of country. This article takes Daniel Bell's concept of modern society and public household as the basis for expatiating on some chief problems and the ways to solve them. It pays special attention to investigating the public ethic while (...) probing public philosophy, and it argues that the public ethic is an ethic that deals with public affairs in the public realm, especially the social political realm; with respect to all people involved, it is a common ethic or an ethic with openness. It is also an ethic that appeals to public opinion and public reason, and tries to find consensus from the demands of different values. Furthermore, because it refers to fundamental public benefits, it has to be a normative ethic of universalism and of baseline holders. (shrink)