Does It Matter What the Declaration of Independence Means?
The answer to the question of whether it matters what the Declaration of Independence...
Howard I. Schwartz Ph.D.
Latest Thinking
Thomas Jefferson, Natural Rights and the Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson had a different view of rights than is commonly ascribed to the...
Reply to Objection 1: Private Property Does Not Contradict Natural Law
Private property does not contradict natural law, in which everything is in common. Aquinas...
The Second Human Competence with Private Property
In a surprise move, Aquinas bases the virtue of alms on the second human...
Three Reasons Private Property Is Necessary
Aquinas gives three reasons why private property is necessary, drawing heavily from Aristotle’s Politics....
The First Human Competence with Private Property
Aquinas argues that two human competences justify private property. The first is care and...
Aquinas’s Justification of Private Property
After providing three objections to private property, Aquinas now puts forward his own view...
Aquinas’s Third Objection to Private Property: Let no man call his own that which is common property
Aquinas now poses the third objection to private property appealing to St. Ambrose. This...
Aquinas’s Second Objection to Private Property: Don’t take too many seats in the theater
A rich person who keeps too much surplus is like a theater goer who...
Aquinas on the Relationship of Natural Law and Human Law
How does Aquinas understand private property’s relationship to natural law? This question is a...