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Brendan Patrick Purdy Subscribe

Brendan Patrick Purdy, PhD has degrees in philosophy, mathematics, and the mathematical behavioral sciences. He is currently in the Master's of Data Science program at the University of Notre Dame. He teaches mathematics at Moorpark College in Ventura County, California and is an independent statistical consultant.

March 9, 2020|Analytic Philosophy, Continental Philosophy, phenomenology, Scott Soames

Has Philosophy Lost Its Way?

by Brendan Patrick Purdy|

Scott Soames demonstrates how analytical philosophy shaped our world, but slights phenomenology and religion.

August 8, 2019|American wars, just war theory

A Moral History of Americans at War

by Brendan Patrick Purdy|

Memorial Day at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Point Loma, CA (David Fossler/Shutterstock.com)
Hall and Charles gives us the tools that we need to evaluate the difficult questions surrounding the decision to make war.

March 18, 2019|David Harsanyi, District of Columbia v. Heller, Samuel Colt, Second Amendment

Defending Guns: A Fading Freedom?

by Brendan Patrick Purdy|

Man firing AR-15 at range (Jonathan C. Wear / Shutterstock.com).
Americans desire to keep their guns, religion, and other rights because they are still Americans—attached to their liberties and willing to defend them.

July 16, 2018|constrained vision, Jerry Z. Muller, judgment, metrics, prudence, Thomas Sowell

Measurement versus Judgment: On Jerry Muller’s Tyranny of Metrics

by Brendan Patrick Purdy|

Under A Western Sky/Shutterstock.com
We use metrics to assess everything, but measurement does not always equal wisdom.

March 21, 2018|Assault Rifle, David French, Gun Control, Gun Violence Restraining Order, Jacob Sullum, RAND Corporation, Second Amendment

An Empirical Liberty Framework for Debating Gun Control

by Brendan Patrick Purdy|

Stephanie Frey / Shutterstock.com
For public debate to be productive, we need clear frameworks for analysis, and this is especially true of discussions about gun control.

Book Reviews

A Mirror of the 20th-Century Congress

by Joseph Postell

Wright undermined the very basis of his local popularity—the decentralized nature of the House—by supporting reforms that gave power to the party leaders.

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The Graces of Flannery O'Connor

by Henry T. Edmondson III

O'Connor's correspondence is a goldmine of piercing insight and startling reflections on everything from literature to philosophy to raising peacocks.

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Liberty Classics

Rereading Politica in the Post-Liberal Moment

by Glenn A. Moots

Althusius offers a rich constitutionalism that empowers persons to thrive alongside one another in deliberate communities.

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James Fenimore Cooper and the American Experiment

by Melissa Matthes

In The American Democrat, James Fenimore Cooper defended democracy against both mob rule and majority tyranny.

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Podcasts

Stuck With Decadence

A discussion with Ross Douthat

Ross Douthat discusses with Richard Reinsch his new book The Decadent Society.

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Can the Postmodern Natural Law Remedy Our Failing Humanism?

A discussion with Graham McAleer

Graham McAleer discusses how postmodern natural law can help us think more coherently about human beings and our actions.

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Did the Civil Rights Constitution Distort American Politics?

A discussion with Christopher Caldwell

Christopher Caldwell discusses his new book, The Age of Entitlement.

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America, Land of Deformed Institutions

A discussion with Yuval Levin

Yuval Levin pinpoints that American alienation and anger emerges from our weak political, social, and religious institutions.

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Recent Posts

  • The Just Restraint of the Vicious

    For some contemporary criminal justice reformers, devotion to ideology leads to illogical conclusions about human nature and character change.
    by Gerard T. Mundy

  • Too Immature to be Punished?

    When I look back on my own life, I think I knew by the age of ten that one should not strangle old ladies in their beds.
    by Theodore Dalrymple

  • A Badge of Discrimination

    The British National Health Service has spoken: Wear the badge or declare yourself to be a bigot.
    by Theodore Dalrymple

  • A Judicial Takeover of Asylum Policy?

    Thuraissigiam threatens to make both the law and the facts in every petition for asylum—and there are thousands of them—a matter for the courts.
    by Thomas Ascik

  • The Environmental Uncertainty Principle

    By engaging in such flagrant projection, the Times has highlighted once again the problem with groupthink in the climate discussion.
    by Paul Schwennesen

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About

Law & Liberty’s focus is on the classical liberal tradition of law and political thought and how it shapes a society of free and responsible persons. This site brings together serious debate, commentary, essays, book reviews, interviews, and educational material in a commitment to the first principles of law in a free society. Law & Liberty considers a range of foundational and contemporary legal issues, legal philosophy, and pedagogy.

The opinions expressed on Law & Liberty are solely those of the contributors to the site and do not reflect the opinions of Liberty Fund.
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