THE COMMON SENSE AMERICAN REPUBLIC: THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF JAMES WILSON (1742–1798)

• Authors: Roberta Bayer
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

James Wilson (1742–1798), lawyer, Justice of the first Supreme Court of the United States, and Constitutional Framer argued, as did Étienne Gilson, that a citizenry who have adopted philosophical skepticism will lose their political freedom, as self-rule requires that citizens be able to reason rightly about the natural law. He advocated a common sense philosophical education in natural law for all lawyers, so that they might know the first principles of moral reasoning.

Keywords

EN

natural law; Étienne Gilson; constitution; James Wilson; William Blackstone; Alasdair MacIntyre; John Locke; Richard Hooker; David Hume; skepticism; liberty; freedom; despotism

• Publisher: International Étienne Gilson Society
• Journal: Studia Gilsoniana
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 187-207

Dates

published

2015-09-30

Contributors

author

Roberta Bayer

• Patrick Henry College, Purcellville, VA USA

Notes

EN

Issue Theme: "Renewing the West: Religion, Atheism, and Common Sense." Guest Editor of the Issue: Tomasz Kopiczko

Identifiers

ISSN

2300-0066