Seeking Truth and Speaking Truth: Law and Morality in Our Cultural Moment

by Robert George

Overview

A wide-ranging collection of essays from one of America's leading public intellectuals

In Seeking Truth and Speaking Truth acclaimed political philosopher and legal scholar Robert P. George tackles one of the most vexing issues dividing Americans today. He argues that the "Age of Faith" of the Medieval period and the "Age of Reason" of the European Enlightenments have been followed by a modern "Age of Feeling," in which people derive their beliefs not from faith or reason—or faith and reason—but from emotion, which becomes the central source of truth. And so, many have embraced a fierce moral absolutism on the basis of beliefs that are the products of nothing more than subjective inclinations and experiences.

This collection of essays challenges the "Age of Feeling" by appealing to reason in the pursuit of sound moral understanding on crucial and contentious topics of human dignity, the definition of marriage, philosophy of law, constitutional law, the nature of civil liberties, free markets, and others.

Robert George has taught generations of students at Princeton Universityand Harvard Law School, and he has long proclaimed that a teacher's sacred mission is to form his students to be determined truth seekers and courageous truth speakers. In Seeking Truth and Speaking Truth he shows us how it is done. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781641774215
Publisher:	Encounter Books
Publication date:	07/08/2025
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He has served as Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the U.S. President’s Council on Bioethics. He has also been the U.S. member of UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology. He was a Judicial Fellow at the U.S. Supreme Court, where he received the Justice Tom C. Clark Award. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Swarthmore, he holds the degrees of JD and MTS from Harvard Universityand the degrees of DPhil, BCL, DCL, and DLitt from Oxford University. He is a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Citizens Medal and Princeton University’s President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching. He is Of Counsel to the law firm of Robinson & McElwee and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Editorial Reviews

"A friend of mine for decades, Professor George is a man of thought, of faith, and of action. In this book, he teaches us that the highest objects of learning are also the firmest basis of action. We all need to understand that both to know and to act. He is one of the best to help us."

—Larry P. Arnn, president of Hillsdale College

"Taking aim at the superficial dichotomy between faith and reason, these essays brilliantly reveal in a variety of contexts how faith can purify reason and reason can fortify faith."

—Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law, Emerita, Harvard Universityand Former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See

"Robert George is perhaps the greatest living philosopher in the United States. His work is indispensable, his wisdom incontestable."

—Ben Shapiro, co-founder of The Daily Wire 

"With characteristic perspicacity and grace, Professor George clarifies the most pressing debates of our age. Even those readers most keen to disagree with him will delight in this masterclass on how to think. He offers piercing insight on matters ranging from the nature of body and soul to Scruggs-style banjo. This book is a powerful resource for anyone curious about what it means to be human."

—Michael Knowles, #1 national bestselling author of Speechless

From the Publisher