verified Ethics
Moral philosophy and principles of right conduct
format_quote Quotes
"A sum of money today is worth more than the same sum to be received in the future. This is not only the common estimation of men, but is grounded in reason: present goods are available for present needs; future goods must be awaited, and in the meantime their possession is uncertain."
menu_book Comentario Resolutorio de Cambios (Commentary on Exchange)
View Full Quote"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's."
menu_book Book of Exodus
View Full Quote"If we speak of human dignity, we must be able to say what it is grounded in. It cannot be grounded in mere membership in a biological species. It must be grounded in what is specifically human — in those capacities by which the human being rises above the rest of nature while remaining part of it."
menu_book What Is Distinctive to Man
View Full Quote"Ethics is not one capacity among others. It is the capacity that makes all others specifically human. To reason, to make art, to use language — all these can be done well or badly, and the judgment of well or badly is always already an ethical judgment."
menu_book What Is Distinctive to Man
View Full Quote"What is properly human is the capacity to step back from oneself — to take a distance from one's own drives, one's own history, one's own perspective — and to ask whether what one is doing is good. No animal can call itself into question."
menu_book What Is Distinctive to Man
View Full Quote"Religion is not a form of ethics. It is not morality applied to the relationship with God. Ethics deals with what I owe to other human beings; religion deals with what I owe — or rather, receive — from the principle of my existence itself."
menu_book On Religion
View Full Quote"The ethical life needs a ground that ethics alone cannot provide. What motivates me to be good — not merely to act well — cannot come from a moral law that I give to myself. It requires a relationship to something prior to me and greater than me."
menu_book On Religion
View Full Quote"Private ownership of goods is not contrary to natural law, but was introduced by human reason for the utility of human life. For natural law does not forbid private possession; rather, it requires that what is acquired by legitimate means be respected as belonging to its possessor."
menu_book De Iustitia et Iure (On Justice and Law)
View Full Quote"Not every kind or degree of wrong is sufficient justification for war. The degree of the punishment must be in proportion to the degree of the fault."
menu_book De Indis (On the Indians)
View Full Quoteauto_stories Books
Book of Exodus
The second book of the Bible, recounting the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt under Moses and the covenant at Mount Sinai. It contains the T...
Read MoreDe Indis (On the Indians)
Francisco de Vitoria's landmark 1532 lecture at the University of Salamanca, laying the groundwork for international law and natural rights theory....
Read MoreDe Iustitia et Iure (On Justice and Law)
Luis de Molina's six-volume masterwork on justice and law, completed in 1593. Molina's most enduring economic contribution is his clear formulation...
Read MoreDe Iustitia et Iure (On Justice and Law)
Domingo de Soto's systematic treatment of justice and law, published in 1553. Soto develops a rigorous natural law analysis of property rights, the...
Read MoreThe Ethics of Liberty
Comprehensive philosophical treatise establishing a natural rights foundation for libertarianism, deriving property rights from self-ownership and ...
Read MoreThe Ethics of Money Production
Analysis of the moral implications of money production, arguing that fiat money and fractional reserve banking involve moral hazards and violate pr...
Read MoreWhat Is Distinctive to Man
Brague's inquiry into what distinguishes the human being from all other animals. Drawing on philosophy, biology, and theology, he examines the capa...
Read MoreOn Religion
A philosophical examination of what religion actually is — its essence, structure, and necessity. Brague asks what distinguishes the religious rela...
Read MoreThe Virtue of Selfishness
Collection of essays arguing for rational egoism as a moral foundation, challenging conventional views on altruism and self-interest
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