Natural Law, Natural Rights, and the American Constitution

A National Endowment for the Humanities Faculty Workshop (EZ 50094)
2006
A Summary

(N.B.: Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this announcements do not necessarily reflect those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.)

The Workshop co-directors, Thomas D’Andrea and Bradford P. Wilson, worked with the leaders of the five sessions to prepare a set of readings, in the form of a readings packet and books, for each day of the workshop. These readings were distributed well in advance so that participants were able to prepare amply for each session. Participants convened at Princeton University for five full-day sessions from January to May, 2006, to discuss the following topics:

  1. Pre-Modern Sources of Natural Law (April 7, 2006)
    Led by: Dr. Thomas D’Andrea, The Witherspoon Institute & Cambridge University
  2. Early Modern Liberal Roots of Natural Law (January 27, 2006)
    Led by: Dr. Bradford P. Wilson, Princeton University; Dr. Jeanne Heffernan, Villanova University
  3. The American Founding and the Question of Natural Law (May 5, 2006)
    Led by: Dr. Matthew S. Holland, James Madison Fellow, Princeton University; Dr. Colleen Sheehan, Villanova University
  4. Critics of the Natural Law Tradition (March 3, 2006)
    Led by: Dr. Bradley C.S. Watson, James Madison Fellow, Princeton University; Dr. Russell Nieli, Princeton University
  5. Constitutional Theory and the New Natural Law (May 12, 2006)
    Led by: Dr. Robert P. George, Princeton University; Dr. Christopher O. Tollefsen, University of South Carolina

Participants included:

  • Alan Gibson, California State University, Chico
  • Jeanne Heffernan, Villanova University
  • Matthew Holland, Brigham Young University
  • Carson Holloway, University of Nebraska
  • Catherine McCauliff, Seton Hall University School of Law
  • Margarita Mooney, Princeton University
  • Paul Moreno, Hillsdale College
  • Colleen Sheehan, Villanova University
  • Bradley C.S. Watson, St. Vincent College

Because of the volume of readings, we concluded that it was necessary for the discussion leaders to begin with a brief summary of the topic’s contours and relation to the tradition of natural law thinking and American constitutionalism, and to be armed with questions to pose to the participants to focus the conversation. We were pleased to find that the participants were already familiar with most of the readings and were well prepared for each session, making the ensuing conversation fruitful and lively, quickly moving beyond the superficial to a serious engagement with the texts and with American constitutional theory.

A variety of perspectives was represented around the seminar table, and so there was plenty of argument and disagreement over the claims made in the readings and in the seminar room. This added to the sense of intellectual adventure and made evident the fact that the differences among the thinkers of the past on natural law and American constitutionalism are alive in contemporary academic life, and deserve serious inquiry and vigorous discussion. The Witherspoon Institute’s NEH Workshop provided an exemplary forum for that inquiry and discussion.