Davenant Discussion
Truth and Lies in Private and Public Life
With Dr. Christopher Tollefsen
Saturday, February 18th, 10am to 3pm
Registration: $25 (lunch included)
Natural law theorists have much to say about the virtues of truth and truthfulness, and the wrong of lying. In my talks, I focus on these virtues and wrongs first at the individual level: what reasons do individuals have to pursue truth in communication and avoid lies and dishonesty? And then in public life: To what extent are the principles of politics and just governance founded on truths? And, to what extent are concerns for truth and truthfulness an essential part of politics and just governance? I argue that both in our private and our public lives, we often fail to live up to the full requirements of the natural law.
SCHEDULE
10-10:30 AM: Mingle and Refreshments
10:30 AM: Introduction, Lecture & Discussion
12:00 PM: Lunch and continued fellowship
1:15 PM: Closing Lecture and Q&A
3:00 PM: Depart and optional tour of Davenant House property
Christopher Tollefsen is Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina. He is the author of Lying and Christian Ethics; Embryo: A Defense of Human Life (with Robert P. George); and The Way of Medicine: Ethics and the Healing Profession (with Farr Curlin). He has twice been a visiting fellow with the James Madison Program at Princeton University, and in 2019-20 served as a Commissioner on the Department of State’s Commission on Unalienable Human Rights.