Professor Jaffa and That Old-Time Religion

George Anastapalo, in Original Intent & the Framers of the Constitution (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 1994).

Excerpt:

Mr. Jaffa, even when he is mistaken in the theoretician’s (to be distinguished from the ideologue’s) emphasis that he evidently cannot help but place upon practical arguments, continues to challenge his readers.  A critical difference between him and me has to do, it seems, with the status of that moderation which prudence both depends upon and promotes.  Perhaps an even more critical difference between us, which I can do no more than touch upon here, is implicit in my opinion that however sensible it is to approach moral and political decisions in a thoughtful manner, the highest activity of the human mind is not ultimately devoted either to the moral virtues or to statesmanship (vital though they may be to a good life) but rather to philosophy and perhaps to theology.

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