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Entry: A Neoconservative Categorical Imperative Link: http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/a_neoconservative_categorical_imperative#25829 Post contents: Kantian ethics always seemed kind of unpersuasive: even if the imperative can be applied, why bother. The social contract theorists, at least, had something to say about the way the world is by positing what people would be like without government; in other words, the "state of nature" is still here in the present, and thus it is ultimately an appeal to enlightened self-interest in either its Lockean or Kantian varieties. Allan Bloom's little anti-Rawls piece in "Giants and Dwarves" is good on this point. I've always found Catholic Social Contract stuff more persuasive as a moral frame-work with which to evaluate war, force, and violence. It's not overly individualist, it's not unrealistic, but it's not purely consequentialist either. Sent at: 2008 05 22