San Diego Law Review Issue Search
| Volume | 42 |
|---|
| Month | August |
|---|
| Year | 2005 |
|---|
| Title | Natural Law and Evolutionary Conservatives: Comments on Janet Radcliffe Richards |
|---|
| Author(s) | Matt Zwolinski |
|---|
| First Page | 1,143 |
|---|
| Abstract | Even though social and political institutions continue to develop and evolve, natural law should not be abandoned. Instead social institutions should change to remedy or compensate for nature’s moral defects. The imperceptibility of justifications for marriage is a poor reason to think traditional, monogamous marriage has no justification and abandon it for another form. In response to Professor Radcliffe-Richards, this article recognizes traditional marriage’s emergence and continuance through the evolutionary process as evidence that marriage does a better job than any alternative institution. Any institution that emerges from a cultural evolution in peaceful, stable society has demonstrated its fitness. The author concludes that a version of conservatism exists that can bridge the gap between Mill and Stephen without abandoning a traditional view of marriage. |
|---|
