Tag: Sexual Ethics

Topics

Books

Social Cohesion and the Legal Enforcement of Morality

– American Journal of Jurisprudence 35:1 (1990).
IN SEPTEMBER OF 1957, THE COMMITTEE on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution, chaired by Sir John Wolfenden, issued its Report recommending to the British Parliament that “homosexual… More

Can Sex Be Reasonable?

– Columbia Law Review 93:3 (April, 1993).
In his Introduction to Sex and Reason, Richard A. Posner says that his “ambition is to present a theory of sexuality that both explains the principal regularities in the practice of… More

Natural Law, Liberalism, and Morality

– Oxford University Press, 1996.
Description from Publisher: This work brings together leading defenders of Natural Law and Liberalism for a series of frank and lively exchanges touching upon critical issues of… More

Marriage and the Illusion of Moral Neutrality

– In T. William Boxx and Gary Quinlivan (eds.), The Political Order and Culture: Towards the Renewal of Civilization (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998). Reprinted in Christopher Wolfe (ed.), Homosexuality and American Public Life (Spence Publishing Co., 1998); Kenneth D. Whitehead (ed.), Marriage and the Common Good (St. Augustine’s Press, 2001); Francis Beckwith (ed.), Do the Right Thing (Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, 2001); and Lynn D. Wardle, Mark Strasser, and David Orgon Coolidge (eds.), Marriage and Same Sex Unions (Praeger, 2003).

In Defense of Natural Law

– Oxford University Press, 1999.
Description from Publisher: In Making Men Moral, his 1995 book, George questioned the central doctrines of liberal jurisprudence and political theory. In his new work he extends his… More

The Concept of Public Morality

– American Journal of Jurisprudence 45:1 (2000). Reprinted in Craig Steven Titus (ed.), The Person and the Polis (Institute for the Psychological Sciences Press, 2006).
Public morality, like public health and safety, is a concern that goes beyond considerations of law and public policy. Public morals are affected, for good or ill, by the activities of… More

The 28th Amendment

– National Review, July 23, 2001.
Marriage is so central to the well-being of children-and society as a whole-that it was, until recently, difficult to imagine that it might be necessary to mount a national political… More

Dualistic Delusions

– First Things, February 2005, with Patrick Lee.
Disputes about metaphysical issues rarely make the newspapers. The ancient argument about the nature and identity of the human person, however, turns out to be highly relevant to issues… More

The Bad Decision that Started It All

– National Review, July 18, 2005, with David L. Tubbs.
Forty years ago, in Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down state laws forbidding the sale, distribution, and use of contraceptives on the basis of a… More

The Meaning of Marriage: Family, State, Market and Morals

– With Jean Bethke Elshtain, eds. Spence Publishing, 2006.
Description from Publisher: The movement for same-sex marriage has triggered an unprecedented crisis in the social norms and laws governing marriage. All great civilizations have sought to… More

Body-Self Dualism in Contemporary Ethics and Politics

– With Patrick Lee. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Description from Publisher: This book treats the question of what a human person is and the ethical and political controversies of abortion, hedonism and drug-taking, euthanasia, and sex… More

Gay Marriage, Democracy, and the Courts

– Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2009.
Excerpt: We are in the midst of a showdown over the legal definition of marriage. Though some state courts have interfered, the battle is mainly being fought in referenda around the… More

Not a Victimless Crime

– National Review, August 10, 2009, with Donna Hughes.
iny Rhode Island prides itself on its history and charm. But since it decriminalized prostitution in 1980, it has become a haven for something decidedly uncharming: the trafficking of girls… More

What’s Sex Got to Do With It: Sexual Ethics and the Meaning of Marriage

– Love and Fidelity Network's Second Annual National Conference on Sexuality, Integrity, and the University, November 13, 2009, YouTube.
Summary: Today’s dominant views on sex and relationships often create a disconnect between sex and marriage. George contends that such views misrepresent the nature of sex and marriage by… More

Matters of Principle: The Cost of Pornography

– American Principles in Action, published December 18, 2009, YouTube.
American Principles Project Founder, Robert George, discusses the social costs of pornography and why the cultural influence of porn calls for principled action.

What is Marriage?

– Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 34:1 (Winter, 2010), with Sherif Girgis and Ryan T. Anderson.
What is marriage? Consider two competing views: Conjugal View: Marriage is the union of a man and a woman who make a permanent and exclusive commitment to each other of the type that is… More

What is Marriage?

– Keynote address at The Wheatley Institution Conference on Defense of the Family: Natural Law Perspectives, Brigham Young University, January 27, 2011, YouTube.

Does Sex Ed Undermine Parental Rights?

– New York Times, October 18, 2011, with Melissa Moschella.
IMAGINE you have a 10- or 11-year-old child, just entering a public middle school. How would you feel if, as part of a class ostensibly about the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, he… More

What Is Marriage?: Man and Woman: A Defense

– With Sherif Girgis and Ryan T. Anderson. Encounter Books, 2012.
Description from the Publisher: Until yesterday, no society had seen marriage as anything other than a conjugal partner­ship: a male-female union. What Is Marriage? identifies and defends… More

The Undermining of the Family: A Long-term Project

– Can Do Australia's Voice, published on August 14, 2012, YouTube.
Professor Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, visited Sydney recently as keynote speaker at the John Paul II Leaders Forum. Praised by US… More

What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense

– The Wheatley Institution, April 10, 2013, YouTube.
Lecture entitled, “What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense” given by Sherif Girgis, Ryan Anderson, and Robert George at The Wheatley Institution on April 10, 2013.

Conjugal Union: What Marriage Is and Why It Matters

– With Patrick Lee. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Description from the Publisher: This book defends the conjugal view of marriage. Patrick Lee and Robert P. George argue that marriage is a distinctive type of community: the union of a man… More

Faith, Sex, and Freedom

– Speech at Love and Fidelity Network's Seventh Annual National Conference on Sexuality, Integrity, and the University, Princeton University, November 8, 2014, YouTube.
Professor George will discuss the threats posed by the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships as “marriages,” especially when combined with “Sexual Orientation and… More

Consequences of an Idea: The Social Cost of Redefining Marriage

– AWC Family Foundation Lecture at Hillsdale College, June 23, 2015, YouTube.
Advocates of redefining marriage assured the public that their proposal would injure no one’s rights or interests. Today it is clear that this is the very reverse of the truth. What are… More

Essays

Social Cohesion and the Legal Enforcement of Morality

– American Journal of Jurisprudence 35:1 (1990).
IN SEPTEMBER OF 1957, THE COMMITTEE on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution, chaired by Sir John Wolfenden, issued its Report recommending to the British Parliament that “homosexual… More

Can Sex Be Reasonable?

– Columbia Law Review 93:3 (April, 1993).
In his Introduction to Sex and Reason, Richard A. Posner says that his “ambition is to present a theory of sexuality that both explains the principal regularities in the practice of… More

Natural Law, Liberalism, and Morality

– Oxford University Press, 1996.
Description from Publisher: This work brings together leading defenders of Natural Law and Liberalism for a series of frank and lively exchanges touching upon critical issues of… More

Marriage and the Illusion of Moral Neutrality

– In T. William Boxx and Gary Quinlivan (eds.), The Political Order and Culture: Towards the Renewal of Civilization (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998). Reprinted in Christopher Wolfe (ed.), Homosexuality and American Public Life (Spence Publishing Co., 1998); Kenneth D. Whitehead (ed.), Marriage and the Common Good (St. Augustine’s Press, 2001); Francis Beckwith (ed.), Do the Right Thing (Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, 2001); and Lynn D. Wardle, Mark Strasser, and David Orgon Coolidge (eds.), Marriage and Same Sex Unions (Praeger, 2003).

In Defense of Natural Law

– Oxford University Press, 1999.
Description from Publisher: In Making Men Moral, his 1995 book, George questioned the central doctrines of liberal jurisprudence and political theory. In his new work he extends his… More

The Concept of Public Morality

– American Journal of Jurisprudence 45:1 (2000). Reprinted in Craig Steven Titus (ed.), The Person and the Polis (Institute for the Psychological Sciences Press, 2006).
Public morality, like public health and safety, is a concern that goes beyond considerations of law and public policy. Public morals are affected, for good or ill, by the activities of… More

The 28th Amendment

– National Review, July 23, 2001.
Marriage is so central to the well-being of children-and society as a whole-that it was, until recently, difficult to imagine that it might be necessary to mount a national political… More

Dualistic Delusions

– First Things, February 2005, with Patrick Lee.
Disputes about metaphysical issues rarely make the newspapers. The ancient argument about the nature and identity of the human person, however, turns out to be highly relevant to issues… More

The Bad Decision that Started It All

– National Review, July 18, 2005, with David L. Tubbs.
Forty years ago, in Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down state laws forbidding the sale, distribution, and use of contraceptives on the basis of a… More

The Meaning of Marriage: Family, State, Market and Morals

– With Jean Bethke Elshtain, eds. Spence Publishing, 2006.
Description from Publisher: The movement for same-sex marriage has triggered an unprecedented crisis in the social norms and laws governing marriage. All great civilizations have sought to… More

Body-Self Dualism in Contemporary Ethics and Politics

– With Patrick Lee. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Description from Publisher: This book treats the question of what a human person is and the ethical and political controversies of abortion, hedonism and drug-taking, euthanasia, and sex… More

Gay Marriage, Democracy, and the Courts

– Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2009.
Excerpt: We are in the midst of a showdown over the legal definition of marriage. Though some state courts have interfered, the battle is mainly being fought in referenda around the… More

Not a Victimless Crime

– National Review, August 10, 2009, with Donna Hughes.
iny Rhode Island prides itself on its history and charm. But since it decriminalized prostitution in 1980, it has become a haven for something decidedly uncharming: the trafficking of girls… More

What’s Sex Got to Do With It: Sexual Ethics and the Meaning of Marriage

– Love and Fidelity Network's Second Annual National Conference on Sexuality, Integrity, and the University, November 13, 2009, YouTube.
Summary: Today’s dominant views on sex and relationships often create a disconnect between sex and marriage. George contends that such views misrepresent the nature of sex and marriage by… More

Matters of Principle: The Cost of Pornography

– American Principles in Action, published December 18, 2009, YouTube.
American Principles Project Founder, Robert George, discusses the social costs of pornography and why the cultural influence of porn calls for principled action.

What is Marriage?

– Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 34:1 (Winter, 2010), with Sherif Girgis and Ryan T. Anderson.
What is marriage? Consider two competing views: Conjugal View: Marriage is the union of a man and a woman who make a permanent and exclusive commitment to each other of the type that is… More

What is Marriage?

– Keynote address at The Wheatley Institution Conference on Defense of the Family: Natural Law Perspectives, Brigham Young University, January 27, 2011, YouTube.

Does Sex Ed Undermine Parental Rights?

– New York Times, October 18, 2011, with Melissa Moschella.
IMAGINE you have a 10- or 11-year-old child, just entering a public middle school. How would you feel if, as part of a class ostensibly about the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, he… More

What Is Marriage?: Man and Woman: A Defense

– With Sherif Girgis and Ryan T. Anderson. Encounter Books, 2012.
Description from the Publisher: Until yesterday, no society had seen marriage as anything other than a conjugal partner­ship: a male-female union. What Is Marriage? identifies and defends… More

The Undermining of the Family: A Long-term Project

– Can Do Australia's Voice, published on August 14, 2012, YouTube.
Professor Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, visited Sydney recently as keynote speaker at the John Paul II Leaders Forum. Praised by US… More

What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense

– The Wheatley Institution, April 10, 2013, YouTube.
Lecture entitled, “What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense” given by Sherif Girgis, Ryan Anderson, and Robert George at The Wheatley Institution on April 10, 2013.

Conjugal Union: What Marriage Is and Why It Matters

– With Patrick Lee. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Description from the Publisher: This book defends the conjugal view of marriage. Patrick Lee and Robert P. George argue that marriage is a distinctive type of community: the union of a man… More

Faith, Sex, and Freedom

– Speech at Love and Fidelity Network's Seventh Annual National Conference on Sexuality, Integrity, and the University, Princeton University, November 8, 2014, YouTube.
Professor George will discuss the threats posed by the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships as “marriages,” especially when combined with “Sexual Orientation and… More

Consequences of an Idea: The Social Cost of Redefining Marriage

– AWC Family Foundation Lecture at Hillsdale College, June 23, 2015, YouTube.
Advocates of redefining marriage assured the public that their proposal would injure no one’s rights or interests. Today it is clear that this is the very reverse of the truth. What are… More

Commentary

Social Cohesion and the Legal Enforcement of Morality

– American Journal of Jurisprudence 35:1 (1990).
IN SEPTEMBER OF 1957, THE COMMITTEE on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution, chaired by Sir John Wolfenden, issued its Report recommending to the British Parliament that “homosexual… More

Can Sex Be Reasonable?

– Columbia Law Review 93:3 (April, 1993).
In his Introduction to Sex and Reason, Richard A. Posner says that his “ambition is to present a theory of sexuality that both explains the principal regularities in the practice of… More

Natural Law, Liberalism, and Morality

– Oxford University Press, 1996.
Description from Publisher: This work brings together leading defenders of Natural Law and Liberalism for a series of frank and lively exchanges touching upon critical issues of… More

Marriage and the Illusion of Moral Neutrality

– In T. William Boxx and Gary Quinlivan (eds.), The Political Order and Culture: Towards the Renewal of Civilization (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998). Reprinted in Christopher Wolfe (ed.), Homosexuality and American Public Life (Spence Publishing Co., 1998); Kenneth D. Whitehead (ed.), Marriage and the Common Good (St. Augustine’s Press, 2001); Francis Beckwith (ed.), Do the Right Thing (Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, 2001); and Lynn D. Wardle, Mark Strasser, and David Orgon Coolidge (eds.), Marriage and Same Sex Unions (Praeger, 2003).

In Defense of Natural Law

– Oxford University Press, 1999.
Description from Publisher: In Making Men Moral, his 1995 book, George questioned the central doctrines of liberal jurisprudence and political theory. In his new work he extends his… More

The Concept of Public Morality

– American Journal of Jurisprudence 45:1 (2000). Reprinted in Craig Steven Titus (ed.), The Person and the Polis (Institute for the Psychological Sciences Press, 2006).
Public morality, like public health and safety, is a concern that goes beyond considerations of law and public policy. Public morals are affected, for good or ill, by the activities of… More

The 28th Amendment

– National Review, July 23, 2001.
Marriage is so central to the well-being of children-and society as a whole-that it was, until recently, difficult to imagine that it might be necessary to mount a national political… More

Dualistic Delusions

– First Things, February 2005, with Patrick Lee.
Disputes about metaphysical issues rarely make the newspapers. The ancient argument about the nature and identity of the human person, however, turns out to be highly relevant to issues… More

The Bad Decision that Started It All

– National Review, July 18, 2005, with David L. Tubbs.
Forty years ago, in Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down state laws forbidding the sale, distribution, and use of contraceptives on the basis of a… More

The Meaning of Marriage: Family, State, Market and Morals

– With Jean Bethke Elshtain, eds. Spence Publishing, 2006.
Description from Publisher: The movement for same-sex marriage has triggered an unprecedented crisis in the social norms and laws governing marriage. All great civilizations have sought to… More

Body-Self Dualism in Contemporary Ethics and Politics

– With Patrick Lee. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Description from Publisher: This book treats the question of what a human person is and the ethical and political controversies of abortion, hedonism and drug-taking, euthanasia, and sex… More

Gay Marriage, Democracy, and the Courts

– Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2009.
Excerpt: We are in the midst of a showdown over the legal definition of marriage. Though some state courts have interfered, the battle is mainly being fought in referenda around the… More

Not a Victimless Crime

– National Review, August 10, 2009, with Donna Hughes.
iny Rhode Island prides itself on its history and charm. But since it decriminalized prostitution in 1980, it has become a haven for something decidedly uncharming: the trafficking of girls… More

What’s Sex Got to Do With It: Sexual Ethics and the Meaning of Marriage

– Love and Fidelity Network's Second Annual National Conference on Sexuality, Integrity, and the University, November 13, 2009, YouTube.
Summary: Today’s dominant views on sex and relationships often create a disconnect between sex and marriage. George contends that such views misrepresent the nature of sex and marriage by… More

Matters of Principle: The Cost of Pornography

– American Principles in Action, published December 18, 2009, YouTube.
American Principles Project Founder, Robert George, discusses the social costs of pornography and why the cultural influence of porn calls for principled action.

What is Marriage?

– Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 34:1 (Winter, 2010), with Sherif Girgis and Ryan T. Anderson.
What is marriage? Consider two competing views: Conjugal View: Marriage is the union of a man and a woman who make a permanent and exclusive commitment to each other of the type that is… More

What is Marriage?

– Keynote address at The Wheatley Institution Conference on Defense of the Family: Natural Law Perspectives, Brigham Young University, January 27, 2011, YouTube.

Does Sex Ed Undermine Parental Rights?

– New York Times, October 18, 2011, with Melissa Moschella.
IMAGINE you have a 10- or 11-year-old child, just entering a public middle school. How would you feel if, as part of a class ostensibly about the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, he… More

What Is Marriage?: Man and Woman: A Defense

– With Sherif Girgis and Ryan T. Anderson. Encounter Books, 2012.
Description from the Publisher: Until yesterday, no society had seen marriage as anything other than a conjugal partner­ship: a male-female union. What Is Marriage? identifies and defends… More

The Undermining of the Family: A Long-term Project

– Can Do Australia's Voice, published on August 14, 2012, YouTube.
Professor Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, visited Sydney recently as keynote speaker at the John Paul II Leaders Forum. Praised by US… More

What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense

– The Wheatley Institution, April 10, 2013, YouTube.
Lecture entitled, “What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense” given by Sherif Girgis, Ryan Anderson, and Robert George at The Wheatley Institution on April 10, 2013.

Conjugal Union: What Marriage Is and Why It Matters

– With Patrick Lee. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Description from the Publisher: This book defends the conjugal view of marriage. Patrick Lee and Robert P. George argue that marriage is a distinctive type of community: the union of a man… More

Faith, Sex, and Freedom

– Speech at Love and Fidelity Network's Seventh Annual National Conference on Sexuality, Integrity, and the University, Princeton University, November 8, 2014, YouTube.
Professor George will discuss the threats posed by the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships as “marriages,” especially when combined with “Sexual Orientation and… More

Consequences of an Idea: The Social Cost of Redefining Marriage

– AWC Family Foundation Lecture at Hillsdale College, June 23, 2015, YouTube.
Advocates of redefining marriage assured the public that their proposal would injure no one’s rights or interests. Today it is clear that this is the very reverse of the truth. What are… More

Multimedia

Social Cohesion and the Legal Enforcement of Morality

– American Journal of Jurisprudence 35:1 (1990).
IN SEPTEMBER OF 1957, THE COMMITTEE on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution, chaired by Sir John Wolfenden, issued its Report recommending to the British Parliament that “homosexual… More

Can Sex Be Reasonable?

– Columbia Law Review 93:3 (April, 1993).
In his Introduction to Sex and Reason, Richard A. Posner says that his “ambition is to present a theory of sexuality that both explains the principal regularities in the practice of… More

Natural Law, Liberalism, and Morality

– Oxford University Press, 1996.
Description from Publisher: This work brings together leading defenders of Natural Law and Liberalism for a series of frank and lively exchanges touching upon critical issues of… More

Marriage and the Illusion of Moral Neutrality

– In T. William Boxx and Gary Quinlivan (eds.), The Political Order and Culture: Towards the Renewal of Civilization (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998). Reprinted in Christopher Wolfe (ed.), Homosexuality and American Public Life (Spence Publishing Co., 1998); Kenneth D. Whitehead (ed.), Marriage and the Common Good (St. Augustine’s Press, 2001); Francis Beckwith (ed.), Do the Right Thing (Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, 2001); and Lynn D. Wardle, Mark Strasser, and David Orgon Coolidge (eds.), Marriage and Same Sex Unions (Praeger, 2003).

In Defense of Natural Law

– Oxford University Press, 1999.
Description from Publisher: In Making Men Moral, his 1995 book, George questioned the central doctrines of liberal jurisprudence and political theory. In his new work he extends his… More

The Concept of Public Morality

– American Journal of Jurisprudence 45:1 (2000). Reprinted in Craig Steven Titus (ed.), The Person and the Polis (Institute for the Psychological Sciences Press, 2006).
Public morality, like public health and safety, is a concern that goes beyond considerations of law and public policy. Public morals are affected, for good or ill, by the activities of… More

The 28th Amendment

– National Review, July 23, 2001.
Marriage is so central to the well-being of children-and society as a whole-that it was, until recently, difficult to imagine that it might be necessary to mount a national political… More

Dualistic Delusions

– First Things, February 2005, with Patrick Lee.
Disputes about metaphysical issues rarely make the newspapers. The ancient argument about the nature and identity of the human person, however, turns out to be highly relevant to issues… More

The Bad Decision that Started It All

– National Review, July 18, 2005, with David L. Tubbs.
Forty years ago, in Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down state laws forbidding the sale, distribution, and use of contraceptives on the basis of a… More

The Meaning of Marriage: Family, State, Market and Morals

– With Jean Bethke Elshtain, eds. Spence Publishing, 2006.
Description from Publisher: The movement for same-sex marriage has triggered an unprecedented crisis in the social norms and laws governing marriage. All great civilizations have sought to… More

Body-Self Dualism in Contemporary Ethics and Politics

– With Patrick Lee. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Description from Publisher: This book treats the question of what a human person is and the ethical and political controversies of abortion, hedonism and drug-taking, euthanasia, and sex… More

Gay Marriage, Democracy, and the Courts

– Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2009.
Excerpt: We are in the midst of a showdown over the legal definition of marriage. Though some state courts have interfered, the battle is mainly being fought in referenda around the… More

Not a Victimless Crime

– National Review, August 10, 2009, with Donna Hughes.
iny Rhode Island prides itself on its history and charm. But since it decriminalized prostitution in 1980, it has become a haven for something decidedly uncharming: the trafficking of girls… More

What’s Sex Got to Do With It: Sexual Ethics and the Meaning of Marriage

– Love and Fidelity Network's Second Annual National Conference on Sexuality, Integrity, and the University, November 13, 2009, YouTube.
Summary: Today’s dominant views on sex and relationships often create a disconnect between sex and marriage. George contends that such views misrepresent the nature of sex and marriage by… More

Matters of Principle: The Cost of Pornography

– American Principles in Action, published December 18, 2009, YouTube.
American Principles Project Founder, Robert George, discusses the social costs of pornography and why the cultural influence of porn calls for principled action.

What is Marriage?

– Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 34:1 (Winter, 2010), with Sherif Girgis and Ryan T. Anderson.
What is marriage? Consider two competing views: Conjugal View: Marriage is the union of a man and a woman who make a permanent and exclusive commitment to each other of the type that is… More

What is Marriage?

– Keynote address at The Wheatley Institution Conference on Defense of the Family: Natural Law Perspectives, Brigham Young University, January 27, 2011, YouTube.

Does Sex Ed Undermine Parental Rights?

– New York Times, October 18, 2011, with Melissa Moschella.
IMAGINE you have a 10- or 11-year-old child, just entering a public middle school. How would you feel if, as part of a class ostensibly about the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, he… More

What Is Marriage?: Man and Woman: A Defense

– With Sherif Girgis and Ryan T. Anderson. Encounter Books, 2012.
Description from the Publisher: Until yesterday, no society had seen marriage as anything other than a conjugal partner­ship: a male-female union. What Is Marriage? identifies and defends… More

The Undermining of the Family: A Long-term Project

– Can Do Australia's Voice, published on August 14, 2012, YouTube.
Professor Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, visited Sydney recently as keynote speaker at the John Paul II Leaders Forum. Praised by US… More

What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense

– The Wheatley Institution, April 10, 2013, YouTube.
Lecture entitled, “What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense” given by Sherif Girgis, Ryan Anderson, and Robert George at The Wheatley Institution on April 10, 2013.

Conjugal Union: What Marriage Is and Why It Matters

– With Patrick Lee. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Description from the Publisher: This book defends the conjugal view of marriage. Patrick Lee and Robert P. George argue that marriage is a distinctive type of community: the union of a man… More

Faith, Sex, and Freedom

– Speech at Love and Fidelity Network's Seventh Annual National Conference on Sexuality, Integrity, and the University, Princeton University, November 8, 2014, YouTube.
Professor George will discuss the threats posed by the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships as “marriages,” especially when combined with “Sexual Orientation and… More

Consequences of an Idea: The Social Cost of Redefining Marriage

– AWC Family Foundation Lecture at Hillsdale College, June 23, 2015, YouTube.
Advocates of redefining marriage assured the public that their proposal would injure no one’s rights or interests. Today it is clear that this is the very reverse of the truth. What are… More

Teaching

Social Cohesion and the Legal Enforcement of Morality

– American Journal of Jurisprudence 35:1 (1990).
IN SEPTEMBER OF 1957, THE COMMITTEE on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution, chaired by Sir John Wolfenden, issued its Report recommending to the British Parliament that “homosexual… More

Can Sex Be Reasonable?

– Columbia Law Review 93:3 (April, 1993).
In his Introduction to Sex and Reason, Richard A. Posner says that his “ambition is to present a theory of sexuality that both explains the principal regularities in the practice of… More

Natural Law, Liberalism, and Morality

– Oxford University Press, 1996.
Description from Publisher: This work brings together leading defenders of Natural Law and Liberalism for a series of frank and lively exchanges touching upon critical issues of… More

Marriage and the Illusion of Moral Neutrality

– In T. William Boxx and Gary Quinlivan (eds.), The Political Order and Culture: Towards the Renewal of Civilization (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998). Reprinted in Christopher Wolfe (ed.), Homosexuality and American Public Life (Spence Publishing Co., 1998); Kenneth D. Whitehead (ed.), Marriage and the Common Good (St. Augustine’s Press, 2001); Francis Beckwith (ed.), Do the Right Thing (Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, 2001); and Lynn D. Wardle, Mark Strasser, and David Orgon Coolidge (eds.), Marriage and Same Sex Unions (Praeger, 2003).

In Defense of Natural Law

– Oxford University Press, 1999.
Description from Publisher: In Making Men Moral, his 1995 book, George questioned the central doctrines of liberal jurisprudence and political theory. In his new work he extends his… More

The Concept of Public Morality

– American Journal of Jurisprudence 45:1 (2000). Reprinted in Craig Steven Titus (ed.), The Person and the Polis (Institute for the Psychological Sciences Press, 2006).
Public morality, like public health and safety, is a concern that goes beyond considerations of law and public policy. Public morals are affected, for good or ill, by the activities of… More

The 28th Amendment

– National Review, July 23, 2001.
Marriage is so central to the well-being of children-and society as a whole-that it was, until recently, difficult to imagine that it might be necessary to mount a national political… More

Dualistic Delusions

– First Things, February 2005, with Patrick Lee.
Disputes about metaphysical issues rarely make the newspapers. The ancient argument about the nature and identity of the human person, however, turns out to be highly relevant to issues… More

The Bad Decision that Started It All

– National Review, July 18, 2005, with David L. Tubbs.
Forty years ago, in Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down state laws forbidding the sale, distribution, and use of contraceptives on the basis of a… More

The Meaning of Marriage: Family, State, Market and Morals

– With Jean Bethke Elshtain, eds. Spence Publishing, 2006.
Description from Publisher: The movement for same-sex marriage has triggered an unprecedented crisis in the social norms and laws governing marriage. All great civilizations have sought to… More

Body-Self Dualism in Contemporary Ethics and Politics

– With Patrick Lee. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Description from Publisher: This book treats the question of what a human person is and the ethical and political controversies of abortion, hedonism and drug-taking, euthanasia, and sex… More

Gay Marriage, Democracy, and the Courts

– Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2009.
Excerpt: We are in the midst of a showdown over the legal definition of marriage. Though some state courts have interfered, the battle is mainly being fought in referenda around the… More

Not a Victimless Crime

– National Review, August 10, 2009, with Donna Hughes.
iny Rhode Island prides itself on its history and charm. But since it decriminalized prostitution in 1980, it has become a haven for something decidedly uncharming: the trafficking of girls… More

What’s Sex Got to Do With It: Sexual Ethics and the Meaning of Marriage

– Love and Fidelity Network's Second Annual National Conference on Sexuality, Integrity, and the University, November 13, 2009, YouTube.
Summary: Today’s dominant views on sex and relationships often create a disconnect between sex and marriage. George contends that such views misrepresent the nature of sex and marriage by… More

Matters of Principle: The Cost of Pornography

– American Principles in Action, published December 18, 2009, YouTube.
American Principles Project Founder, Robert George, discusses the social costs of pornography and why the cultural influence of porn calls for principled action.

What is Marriage?

– Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 34:1 (Winter, 2010), with Sherif Girgis and Ryan T. Anderson.
What is marriage? Consider two competing views: Conjugal View: Marriage is the union of a man and a woman who make a permanent and exclusive commitment to each other of the type that is… More

What is Marriage?

– Keynote address at The Wheatley Institution Conference on Defense of the Family: Natural Law Perspectives, Brigham Young University, January 27, 2011, YouTube.

Does Sex Ed Undermine Parental Rights?

– New York Times, October 18, 2011, with Melissa Moschella.
IMAGINE you have a 10- or 11-year-old child, just entering a public middle school. How would you feel if, as part of a class ostensibly about the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, he… More

What Is Marriage?: Man and Woman: A Defense

– With Sherif Girgis and Ryan T. Anderson. Encounter Books, 2012.
Description from the Publisher: Until yesterday, no society had seen marriage as anything other than a conjugal partner­ship: a male-female union. What Is Marriage? identifies and defends… More

The Undermining of the Family: A Long-term Project

– Can Do Australia's Voice, published on August 14, 2012, YouTube.
Professor Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, visited Sydney recently as keynote speaker at the John Paul II Leaders Forum. Praised by US… More

What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense

– The Wheatley Institution, April 10, 2013, YouTube.
Lecture entitled, “What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense” given by Sherif Girgis, Ryan Anderson, and Robert George at The Wheatley Institution on April 10, 2013.

Conjugal Union: What Marriage Is and Why It Matters

– With Patrick Lee. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Description from the Publisher: This book defends the conjugal view of marriage. Patrick Lee and Robert P. George argue that marriage is a distinctive type of community: the union of a man… More

Faith, Sex, and Freedom

– Speech at Love and Fidelity Network's Seventh Annual National Conference on Sexuality, Integrity, and the University, Princeton University, November 8, 2014, YouTube.
Professor George will discuss the threats posed by the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships as “marriages,” especially when combined with “Sexual Orientation and… More

Consequences of an Idea: The Social Cost of Redefining Marriage

– AWC Family Foundation Lecture at Hillsdale College, June 23, 2015, YouTube.
Advocates of redefining marriage assured the public that their proposal would injure no one’s rights or interests. Today it is clear that this is the very reverse of the truth. What are… More