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Entries Tagged as 'John Locke'

Divine Command Theory and Utilitarianism forgotten bedfellows? Paley’s Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (part two)

January 18th, 2018 1 Comment

In my last post, I explained the position of Theological Utilitarianism as expounded in William Paley’s The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy. I pointed out The Principles was first published in 1785, four years before Jeremy Bentham published An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. In this post, I want to look at the influence Theological Utilitarianism had […]

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Contemporary Philosophy of Religion and NCEA Religious Studies: Part one

October 17th, 2017 Comments Off on Contemporary Philosophy of Religion and NCEA Religious Studies: Part one

This is a talk I gave to the New Zealand Association of Philosophy Teachers annual conference at St Cutherberts College in September this year. Several people have asked me to make this talk available. I have broken my talk up into four parts. Part One introduces what philosophy of religion. In part two I will […]

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Abortion and the Morality of Feticide: Part II

February 16th, 2011 155 Comments

In my last post, Abortion and the Morality of Feticide: Part I, I briefly sketched an argument against feticide, [1] It is wrong to kill a human being without justification; [2] A fetus is a human being; [3] In the case of feticide (at least in the majority of cases) insufficient or no justification is forthcoming. […]

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Epistemology 101: Science, Faith and Authority Part II

July 21st, 2010 12 Comments

This three-part blog series is essentially the talk I gave at the recent Clearing the Air Forum, which was entitled “Discovering Truth in the Synthesis of Science and Faith.” The audience was comprised of scientists, church leaders, journalists and other interested parties so this is a fairly lay introduction to epistemology. In my first post, […]

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Can State Expropriation of Minerals be Justified? Part II

March 9th, 2010 6 Comments

In Can State Expropriation of Minerals be Justified? Part I, I set out a common law property rights argument drawing from the writings of jurists Blackstone and Locke as well as contemporary philosopher Ed Feser. I looked at what circumstances, if any, might justify the state taking of real property, looking specifically at minerals from […]

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Can State Expropriation of Minerals be Justified? Part I

March 5th, 2010 22 Comments

New Zealand, like many nations, has a long history of the state taking real property, often without compensation. In this two part series I examine one sub-set of takings, minerals from the sub-soil of privately held property (although the argument herein could apply with equal force to any state taking). Drawing from common law, the […]

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Property Rights: Blackstone, Locke and the Legislative Scheme Part I

February 17th, 2010 10 Comments

This two part series looks at the state of property rights under the current legislative scheme in New Zealand. Particularly I address attempts to suggest that the passage of Acts such as the Crown Minerals Act and the Resource Management Act have not significantly altered the  common law concept of property rights and the claim […]

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