The Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization (AHI) is pleased to announce its Annual Summer Conference “The Western Natural Law Tradition,” June 25-26, 2012 at the Alexander Hamilton Inn, 21 W. Park Row, Clinton, New York. The conference is open to the public, but seating is limited. Please call 315-853-5643 to reserve a seat.

The challenges to natural law posed by moral and cultural relativism will be analyzed and discussed in a series of five sessions on June 25 from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and June 26 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Robert Kraynak, Professor of Political Science, Colgate University, and Martha Martini, Attorney at Law, Boston, Massachusetts, will serve as discussion leaders. Participants will include graduate students from the Department of Political Science, Baylor University.

The conference will explore the theory of natural law, its development over the centuries, and its applications to practical issues such as the best form of government, the ideal of social justice in economics and social institutions, and the theory of just war and international law. The conference will begin with the sources of natural law in classical philosophy and the Bible, and then turn to major figures in the development of natural law:  Thomas Aquinas, Francisco Vitoria, Thomas Jefferson, Jacques Maritain, Leo Strauss, and the “new natural law” of John Finnis.

“We are quite excited about this year’s conference,” said AHI Charter Fellow Robert Paquette. “The concept of natural law stands at the center of millennia of Western philosophy and politics. The AHI thanks Senior Fellows Mary and David Nichols of the Department of Political Science, Baylor University, for organizing and co-sponsoring this compelling event.”

Further information about the conference schedule, topics and readings can be found on our website at: www.theahi.org. If you have any questions about this exciting event, please contact Robert Paquette at bob@theahi.org.

 

SCHEDULE

Monday, June 25

9:30 a.m. Breakfast at the Alexander Hamilton Institute

10:45 a.m. Welcome and Introduction – Robert Paquette and Mary Nichols

Session 1: 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. “Sources of Natural Law in Classical Philosophy and the Bible

12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. Lunch, Alexander Hamilton Institute

Session 2: 1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m. “Aquinas and the Natural Law Basis of Justice

Session 3: 3:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. “The Democratic Impulse in Neoscholastic Natural Law

6:30 p.m. – Picnic at Hatch Lake, hosted by the Nichols and sponsored by the Alexander Hamilton Institute

Tuesday, June 26

9:30 a.m. Breakfast at the Alexander Hamilton Institute

Session 4: 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. “Natural Rights and the Dignity of the Human Person

12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. Lunch, Alexander Hamilton Institute

Session 5: 1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m. “The New Natural Law and the Crisis of Natural Law”

 

READINGS AND TOPICS IN FIVE SESSIONS

1. Sources of Natural Law in Classical Philosophy and the Bible
Cicero, On the Laws, Bk. 1 (sect. 1-24) and On the Republic, Bk. 3 (sect. 22)
St. Paul, Epistle to Romans, chs. 1-3

2. Aquinas and the Natural Law Basis of Justice
Aquinas, On Law, Morality, and Politics, from the Summa Theologiae

3. The Democratic Impulse in Neoscholastic Natural Law
Francisco de Vitoria, Political Writings, “On the American Indians”
Francisco Suarez, Defense of the Faith

4. Natural Rights and the Dignity of the Human Person
The American “Declaration of Independence” and the French “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen”
Jacques Maritain, The Rights of Man and Natural Law

5. The New Natural Law and the Crisis of Natural Law
Germain Grisez, “The First Principle of Practical Reason”
John Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights
Leo Strauss, “Natural Law”