The Social and Political Thought of Benedict XVI

摘要

The other major source of Benedict's political thought is his defense of reason, which he sees as essential to democracy because of its role in grounding moral and political discourse, but also because of its ability to chasten the pretensions of the state. Benedict's discussion of reason's access to the moral foundations of political life has often been in terms of natural law, although he has also (in his celebrated public discussion with Habermas, for example) suggested limitations in the contemporary public saliency of this idea.