Comments on: The fine texture: A response to Smith http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2009/03/09/the-fine-texture-a-response-to-smith/ Secularism, religion, and the public sphere Wed, 12 Jun 2013 22:07:41 +0000 hourly 1 By: Jon Rowe http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2009/03/09/the-fine-texture-a-response-to-smith/comment-page-1/#comment-5718 Jon Rowe Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:43:53 +0000 http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/?p=1354#comment-5718 And note that Smith skips over the fact, demonstrated incontrovertibly by Brian Tierney and Charles Reid, that in the canon laws of the twelfth century there was already a full-blown conceptual recognition of natural rights. Had those canon lawyers “absorbed the atomistic individualism of modern liberalism”? [Bold mine.]

Nope. Sorry, the word “incontrovertibly” is an error. The verdict is still out on Tierney’s claim. Robert Kraynak of Colgate for one disputes Tierney’s thesis. And he’s not alone.

]]>