Kelley Adresses Hartford Federalist Society

On November 7, David Kelley addressed the Federalist Society in Hartford, Connecticut, about the terrorist attacks of September 11. Martha Dean, Esq., a TOC member and head of the society's Hartford chapter, invited Kelley to speak on the theme of his commentary, "The Assault on Civilization," which may be found on TOC's Web site and in the October Navigator.

The terrorists, Kelley observed, represent a fundamentalist Islamic sect. Despite the political grievances they cite as rationalizations, their deepest motive is opposition to the values of modern civilization: reason, individualism, the pursuit of happiness, freedom, and progress. Kelley explained that these values were first promulgated in the Enlightenment, which represented a radical break with the past because it created an essentially secular civilization; and that Islamic fundamentalists are only one of many movements that have opposed these values. "The current war against terrorism," he concluded, "is only one battle in a larger, longer-term war—a philosophical and cultural war for modernity."

The Federalist Society is a national legal organization of conservatives and libertarians dedicated to reforming the current legal order. Founded in 1982, the society now has scores of local chapters and a membership of over 25,000 law students, attorneys, law professors, and judges.

Kelley had also been planning to speak at the Medical University of South Carolina's annual conference, scheduled for September 14-15. This year's topic was the AIDS/HIV epidemic, and Kelley was invited to explain how basic principles of political philosophy apply to the field of health care. However, because of travel and other problems created by the terrorist attacks of September 11, the conference has been rescheduled for January 11-12. The conference, which is open to the public, will publish its proceedings in a professional journal of health policy. For further information about the conference, call Sharon Kest at 1-800-792-5278 or e-mail values@musc.edu.