I am not sure that the term "originalist" even makes any sense, at least with respect to democratic governance. Newtons laws of motion are still taught because they prove useful on an ongoing basis. Some of the same can be said of the principles of democracy we inherited, and since improved, from US founders. In hindsight, some of the pe…
I am not sure that the term "originalist" even makes any sense, at least with respect to democratic governance. Newtons laws of motion are still taught because they prove useful on an ongoing basis. Some of the same can be said of the principles of democracy we inherited, and since improved, from US founders. In hindsight, some of the personal beliefs ad decisions of some of the founders are now seen as objectionable, but that has no bearing on the fecundity of some of their thinking. As Stephen Hawking put it, Newton was not a nice man, but he nailed a lot of stuff that still works, as well as spinning some notions we have dropped since. Ever hear of Pangenesis ? It's a theory Darwin proposed that proved inadequate, even if his notion of evolution is still applied.
The person of Newton is not the source of authority for the validity of Newtonian (a subset of Einsteinian and quantum) physics. Species don't evolve just because Darwin said so. Newton's views have been updated, but a lot of his original work still stands. Why? Because we have not found anything better.
Yet, like the Scholastics faith in Aristotle, some see the person as a higher authority than tested principle. When people die, they stop growing, but testable observation and application need not
I am not sure that the term "originalist" even makes any sense, at least with respect to democratic governance. Newtons laws of motion are still taught because they prove useful on an ongoing basis. Some of the same can be said of the principles of democracy we inherited, and since improved, from US founders. In hindsight, some of the personal beliefs ad decisions of some of the founders are now seen as objectionable, but that has no bearing on the fecundity of some of their thinking. As Stephen Hawking put it, Newton was not a nice man, but he nailed a lot of stuff that still works, as well as spinning some notions we have dropped since. Ever hear of Pangenesis ? It's a theory Darwin proposed that proved inadequate, even if his notion of evolution is still applied.
The person of Newton is not the source of authority for the validity of Newtonian (a subset of Einsteinian and quantum) physics. Species don't evolve just because Darwin said so. Newton's views have been updated, but a lot of his original work still stands. Why? Because we have not found anything better.
Yet, like the Scholastics faith in Aristotle, some see the person as a higher authority than tested principle. When people die, they stop growing, but testable observation and application need not