SLOUCHING TOWARDS GOMORRAH REVISITED

5 I have in my own writings, both before the publication of Slouching Towards Gomorrah and after, offered philosophical criticisms of what I regard as the illusion of moral neutrality,6 which is the centerpiece of much liberal and libertarian legal and political theory, and has been championed by the late John Rawls,7 Ronald Dworkin,8 and the late Robert Nozick.91 have tried to illustrate the many ways in which beliefs, attitudes, and choices are shaped in any society-not just in ours-by the framework of understandings and expectations that to a considerable extent constitute a society's public morality and would do so even in the strict libertarian's utopia.10 I have previously sought to show that the acts of private parties, even the apparently private acts of private parties, can and often do have public consequences; indeed, such private acts sometimes have extensive and profound public consequences.11 It will come as no surprise, men, that I found Judge Bork's refocusing of our attention on public morality to be valuable and even prophetic.