Natural Law Today: The Present State of the Perennial Philosophy explains and defends various aspects of traditional natural law ethical theory, which is rooted in a broad understanding of human nature. Some of the issues touched upon include the relation of natural law to speculative reason and human ends (teleology), the relationship between natural law and natural theology, the so-called naturalistic fallacy (deriving “ought” from “is”), and the scope of natural knowledge of the precept...

Inspired by the Catholic intellectual tradition, these essays are the fruit of a series of seminars sponsored by the Center for Catholic Studies and the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota. With a special focus on the works of John Paul II (especially Veritatis Splendor and Fides et Ratio), the authors bring to light a host of considerations that set the work of his pontificate within the illuminating light of th...