The following miscellany is a smattering of favorites culled from my older writings. These pieces range from the academic to the poetic, from the published to the personal. I hope that they offer observations and analyses that might be of interest or help to others. The footnotes and citations in the original versions are here omitted (We wouldn't want this to become a free term paper site for unscrupulous undergraduates, now would we?), but I will gladly provide them to those who contact me directly with credible (and licit) requests. Of course, all rights in these efforts are reserved, and these writings may not be reproduced, retransmitted, or republished in whole or in part without my express written permission. But, hey, just ask.

POETRY IN MOTION:


POLITICAL & LEGAL PHILOSOPHY
A Thomist View of Law, Order, and Legitimacy
"[A]n excellent presentation of St. Thomas [Aquinas]'s legal/political philosophy as a whole ... [that] go[es] farther beyond an exposition of the essential schema, to a striking and elegant demonstration of why an ultimate or exhaustive theory of legitimation is ruled out by the principles of [St. Thomas's] system." (Charles Gray, University of Chicago)

Nature and State in Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France
Why was this eighteenth century statesman and writer so soured on the French Revolution and the ascendancy of the "Rights of Man" that were so lauded by his contemporaries? Later vindicated by the Terror that gripped France, Burke voiced some wise cautions during that heady time which remain applicable even today. "I liked this very much: taut writing, clear line of argument, and intelligent use of Burke's text." (Ralph Lerner, University of Chicago)

Burke: The Moral Medium of the English Constitution
The contours of Edmund Burke's political philosophy are apparent in his differing reactions to the French and English revolutions and constitutions. "Another in a series of uniformly excellent papers showing, among other things, a deeply sympathetic understanding of Burke's way of looking at the world." (Ralph Lerner, University of Chicago)

The Difficulties of Nature: The Good City in Plato's Republic
Way back when, when roving philosophers spoke of the "natural" state of something, they were not merely identifying the state in which a thing exists as a matter of course. Back then, "It's my nature" was an aspiration, not an excuse.


REVIEWS
Impolite Politics
In the crossfire between the "Religious Right" and the "P.C. Left," how ought Christians conduct themselves in the public square? Cease Fire: Searching for Sanity in America's Culture Wars, by Tom Sine, offers little guidance. This review first appeared in Crisis magazine.


POETRY
Not Even Solomon
Young Ruth Carlton
Study Break
To the Point
St. Michael's Curfew
Sierra Vista Wednesday




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