Uncovering the Constitution's Moral Design by Paul R. DeHart

by Paul R. DeHart

Rejecting the standard approach of the intellectual historian, DeHart applies the method of inference to the best explanation to ascertaining our Constitution s moral meaning. He distinguishes the Constitution s intention from the subjective intentions of the framers, teasing out presuppositions that the document makes about the nature of sovereignty, the common good, natural law, and natural rights. He then argues that the Constitution constrains popular sovereignty in a way that entails a real common good, transcendent of human willing and promotive of human well being; but he points out that while the Constitution presupposes a real common good, it also implies a natural law that prescribes the common good. In critiquing previous attempts at describing and evaluating the Constitution s normative framework, DeHart demonstrates that the Constitution s moral framework corresponds largely to classical moral theory.

Hardcover

First published October 28, 2007

About the author

Paul R. DeHart is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Texas State University, where he has taught since 2009. Prior to that, he taught at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee from 2005-2009. He has also taught at the University of Texas at Austin and at Texas Lutheran. Dr. DeHart holds a B.A. in political science and philosophy (with a minor in classical, vocal performance) from Houghton College. After Houghton, he commenced doctoral work in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. There, he studied political philosophy, American institutions and processes, and public law. He holds an MA (2000) and a Ph.D. (2005) from the University of Texas at Austin. In 2006, DeHart published his first article (“The Dangerous Life: Natural Justice and the Rightful Subversion of the State” in the journal Polity. In 2007, he published his first book, Uncovering the Constitution’s Moral Design. DeHart received a Summer Stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2008 for a project entitled “Covenantal Realism: Political Obligation after the Fall of Conventional Social Contract Theory.” That research contributed to three subsequent articles—“Covenantal Realism: The Self-Referential Incoherency of Conventional Social Contract Theory and the Necessity of Consent,” “Fractured Foundations: The Contradiction between Locke’s Ontology and His Moral Philosophy,”; and “Leviathan Leashed: On the Incoherence of Absolute Sovereign Power,” —and a book chapter, “Reason and Will in Natural Law,” which appeared in an anthology published by Lexington Books. Most recently, DeHart is editor (with Carson Holloway) of Political Philosophy and the Claims of Faith. He is currently working on a book manuscript tentatively titled Covenantal Realism: Natural Law, Covenant, and the Foundations of Political Authority. Dr. DeHart teaches undergraduate courses as well as MA courses—mostly on American political thought, the American founding, the roots (or foundations) of American constitutionalism, and social contract theory. He also teaches courses on the Supreme Court and the judicial process and constitutional law. He is married to Robyn DeHart, an award-winning author of several historical romance novels And he is the father of two beautiful daughters.