Making Men Moral Civil Liberties and Public Morality [Paperback]

Contemporary liberal thinkers commonly suppose that there is something in principle unjust about the legal prohibition of putatively victimless crimes. Here Robert P. George defends the traditional justification of morals legislation against criticisms advanced by leading liberal theorists. He argues that such legislation can play a legitimate role in maintaining a moral environment conducive to virtue and inhospitable to at least some forms of vice. Among the liberal critics of morals legislation whose views George considers are Ronald Dworkin, Jeremy Waldron, David A.J. Richards, and Joseph Raz. He also considers the influential modern justification for morals legislation offered by Patrick Devlin as an alternative to the traditional approach. George closes with a sketch of a pluralistic perfectionist theory of civil liberties and public morality, showing that it is fully compatible with a defense of morals legislation.Making Men Moralwill interest legal scholars and political theorists as well as theologians and philosophers focusing on questions of social justice and political morality.

George is an accomplished controversialist; his arguments are always clear, sophisticated, and highly interesting.Making Men Moraldeserves the attention of moral, political, and legal theorists. --Choice

Making Men Moralis a strong defense of morals laws against arguments critical of traditional jurisprudence by contemporary liberal legal scholars. --Modern Age

...contains much erudition and wisdom worthy of study and reflection. --Modern Age

There is much to praise in George's book. --Ethics

This book is clear, incisive, and well argued. I highly recommend it. The Review of Metaphysics

Robert P. George, Associate Professor of Politics, Princeton University