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The "natural law" worldview developed over the course of almost two thousand years beginning with Plato and Aristotle and culminating with St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century. This tradition holds that the world is ordered, intelligible and good, that there are objective moral truths which we can know and that human beings can achieve true happiness only by following our inborn nature, which draws us toward our own perfection. Most accounts of the natural law are based on a God-centered understanding of the world.

After the Natural Law traces this tradition from Plato and Aristotle to Thomas Aquinas and then describes how and why modern philosophers such as Descartes, Locke and Hobbes began to chip away at this foundation. The book argues that natural law is a necessary foundation for our most important moral and political values – freedom, human rights, equality, responsibility and human dignity, among others. Without a theory of natural law, these values lose their coherence: we literally cannot make sense of them given the assumptions of modern philosophy.

Part I of the book traces the development of natural law theory from Plato and Aristotle through the crowning achievement of Thomas Aquinas. Part II explores how modern philosophers have systematically chipped away at the only coherent foundation for these values. As a result, our most important moral and political ideals today are incoherent. Modern political and moral thinkers have been led either to dilute the meaning of such terms as freedom or the moral good – or abandon these ideas altogether. Thus, modern philosophy and political thought are leading us either toward anarchy or totalitarianism.

The conclusion, entitled "Why God Matters", shows how even the philosophical assumptions of the natural law depend on a personal God.

Professor Hill joined the IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 2003. He holds a J.D. and Ph.D. in philosophy, both from Georgetown University. He has taught many of the courses in the first-year curriculum – Civil Procedure I and II, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Torts and Legal Writing – and several courses in the upper division including First Amendment, Jurisprudence and Bioethics.

Professor Hill has published five books, the most recent of which After the Natural Law: How the Classical Worldview Supports Our Modern Moral and Political Ideals was published by Ignatius Press in 2016.  The book traces the development of western philosophy from classical to modern times and argues that our most important moral and political principles -- freedom, responsibility, equality and human dignity – are incoherent without a foundation in natural law. His book, The Political Centrist (Vanderbilt, 2009), argues that liberalism and conservatism are meaningless labels and defends a centrist approach to such issues as the scope of government power, affirmative action, the death penalty and the debate over illegal immigration. He is also currently completing another book, Whatever Happened to Liberalism?: The Rise and Fall of Freedom,

Professor Hill has also published several articles, which have appeared in such venues as the New York University Law Review, the Cornell Law Review, the Iowa Law Review and the Georgetown Law Journal. His "intentional" theory of parenting in surrogate mother contracts, defended in the New York University Law Review article, was cited and adopted by the Supreme Court of California in Johnson v Calvert.  He is a member of the Bar of Illinois and of California.

Professor Hill also teaches classes in the Philosophy Department, including Philosophical Issues in Criminal Law and Philosophical Foundations of Modern Liberalism and Conservatism.

In his spare time, he enjoys music and plays blues and jazz piano.

Parking:

Parking is available for a nominal fee at the campus Gateway Garage, located on the corner of Michigan and California Streets (Address is 525 Blackford Street).

Please note that New York Street is a two-way street as of January 2016.

Please note that there may be construction on or near campus as Michigan Street is changed to a two-way street. Plan accordingly for possible delays resulting from this construction.

Parking is also available for a nominal fee at the Natatorium Garage two blocks west of the law school.

Special Accommodations:

Individuals with disabilities who need special assistance should call (317) 278-4789 no later than one week prior to the event. Special arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs.