Thomas More Institute

Category Archives: Philosophy

Published on
10 June 2013

Innocence, Surveillance and Our Perennial Dilemma

Posted in Civil Liberties, Conscience, Culture, Legal Affairs, Liberty, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy, Public Policy, Religion

News that the United States government ordered the largest US communications company Verizon to hand over details of communications of all of its customers on a daily basis is as regrettable as it is shocking. That is to say, insofar as it is regrettable it is also shocking but it is not a complete surprise. […]

Published on
25 February 2013

The War on Drugs and Contemporary Moral Failure

Posted in British Politics, Civil Liberties, Philosophy, Religion

Increasingly we are told that the ‘war on drugs’ has failed, and the evidence for this is persuasive. In spite of the challenges of legalisation it is clear that criminalising everyone associated with the drugs trade is, in the words of one report, ‘as costly as it is ineffective’. Throughout history some people have sought […]

Published on
22 November 2012

Religion, Secular Politics and Intelligible Values

Posted in Christianity, Civil Liberties, Conscience, Culture, Human Rights, Liberty, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy, Religion, Social Commentary, Virtue

Religious experience is, for many sceptical or simply indifferent secularists, something unintelligible. The idea that there is a God who can become a man and forgive sins — even that there is such a thing as God or as sin — is for them unacceptable. Religious people must remember that this is no simple matter […]

Published on
16 May 2012

The Liberal Arts, A.C. Grayling and the Catholic Church

Posted in Education, Philosophy

The New College of Humanities is a recently established academic institution based in London. It is the project of well-known academics such as A.C. Grayling and Richard Dawkins. Students, alongside their chosen degree, will be required to study a few core modules emulating the liberal arts method of many North American colleges. A number of […]

Published on
3 February 2012

Democracy, Morality and the Common Good

Posted in Big Society, British Politics, Christianity, Civil Liberties, Conscience, Culture, Human Rights, Liberty, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy, Religion, Virtue

From a guest blogger: A position commonly held by ‘reformers’ in various religious traditions in this country may be summarised roughly in the following lines: If the central authority of a religion is at odds with beliefs held by the majority of that its adherents, the former is duty-bound to reconsider and even to change […]

Published on
30 January 2012

Chimps may be ‘97% Human’, but they’re 0% Homo Sapiens

Posted in Culture, Education, Europe, Freedom, Human Rights, Moral Philosophy, Music & Art, Philosophy, Religion

From a guest blogger: What is it that St. Peter’s Basilica, Climate Change, the Euro Crisis and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy have in common? I shall not keep you guessing. All four demonstrate that humans are not only special, but also without doubt the most special of creatures on Planet Earth. Consider for a moment […]