Many of us change positions throughout our lives; political, philosophical, and religious. I have spent considerable time on this podcast discussing my journey from atheism to theism, and eventually right on through to Catholicism. I have, however, also hinted occasionally at my development in political thought, from liberal, to libertarian, and, finally, to common good conservatism. This episode — in which I am joined by Dr. Tyler McNabb (bio and website here)– details some of the arguments against liberal political philosophy (including libertarianism) that we ultimately found convincing, before we turn to an interesting new article published by McNabb entitled By Who’s Authority: A Political Argument for God’s Existence, which critiques secular frameworks for grounding political authority and provides a plausible theistic alternative. Please enjoy!
Questioning Libertarianism and Political Authority
Mentioned Resources/Related Episodes
We mentioned Patrick Deneen’s excellent book Why Liberalism Failed. Also, What Is Marriage? Too, Michael Huemer’s book The Problem of Political Authority. And finally, Tyler’s book on religious epistemology.
Edward Feser (who we mentioned in the episode) explains why he departed libertarianism, as well, and offers further critiques, here.
Brian Besong offers a great introductory text to traditional natural law theory; and the Cambridge Companion is fantastic, as well.
Tim Hsaio provides a critique of consent-based ethical theory.
Sunday School: From Agnosticism to Catholicism with Dr. Tyler McNabb
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