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"Rasmussen and Den Uyl have produced a work of political philosophy that no one who wishes to discuss liberalism can afford to bypass."
--Philosophy of the Social Sciences

“Liberalism, classical and modern, has been under extensive scrutiny by contemporary and earlier political philosophers. One of its most troublesome issues has been how the morality that ought to guide a great variety of individual conduct and the principles of politics of a just community are properly connected.

The authors of Norms of Liberty embark upon nothing less challenging than to answer this question and subject their answer to the most excruciating test they can devise including addressing virtually all the challengers of liberalism who have ever put pen to paper. . . . Here, in summary, is the great strength of this work: it spells out in extensive detail, and with all the nuances needed, just how a defensible, sensible, true morality and the politics of a fully free society are connected so that every major topic is adequately addressed in terms that fit the most reasonable, up-to-date understanding of the nature of human beings within the context of their proper, suitable communities. . . . In my view, Rasmussen and Den Uyl have produced a work of political philosophy that no one who wishes to discuss liberalism can afford to bypass.”
—Tibor R. Machan, Philosophy of the Social Sciences

“This is a fine piece of work in several dimensions. First, it is among the most comprehensive surveys of modern liberalism of which I am aware. Virtually every major contributor to thought on liberalism, for and against, from the 17th century forward is discussed in illuminating and intelligent ways. Second, the authors have a well-developed point of view about the liberal tradition, what it is and what it is not, how they think it can best be articulated and defended. There is no doubt that it is a major, significant contribution to the political philosophy of the liberal tradition. Here is a work that both synthesizes a wide range of the literature, offers original views of the subject, and provokes renewed discussion of just what the character of liberal thought is.”
—Timothy Fuller, Colorado College

“This book offers compelling arguments that liberalism in its pursuit of prosperity needn’t abandon itself to moral poverty. In its attempt to provide a new argument for the goodness of liberalism, Norms of Liberty summarizes and replies systematically and at length to criticisms of liberalism. It should be of interest to anyone who would like to see a novel defense both of liberty and virtue put forth in a clear and honest way.”
—Travis Cook, Review of Metaphysics

“[A] seminal contribution to liberal political thought that will be of significant interest to Thomists as well as other classically trained Aristotelians and natural law theorists.”
—Gavin T. Colvert, The Thomist

“The book gives a very interesting and well-articulated defense of liberalism.”
—Ronald Tinnevelt, Political Studies Review

Douglas B. Rasmussen

Douglas B. Rasmussen is Professor of Philosophy at St. John’s University.  He received his B.A. from the University of Iowa and his Ph.D. from Marquette University. He has served on the Steering Committee of the Ayn Rand Society and is a member of Executive Council of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.

He has been awarded grants and fellowships from the National Endowment to the Humanities and the Earhart Foundation and has been a Visiting Research Scholar at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, on two occasions.

His areas of research interest are epistemology, ontology, ethics, and political philosophy as well as the moral foundations of capitalism.

He has authored numerous articles in such journals as American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, American Philosophical Quarterly, International Philosophical Quarterly, The New Scholasticism, The Personalist, Public Affairs Quarterly, Social Philosophy & Policy, The Review of Metaphysics, and The Thomist, and in many scholarly anthologies.

He guest edited TELEOLOGY & THE FOUNDATION OF VALUE—the January 1992 (Volume 75, No. 1) issue of The Monist.

He is coauthor (with Douglas J. Den Uyl) of Liberty and Nature: An Aristotelian Defense of Liberal Order (1991); Liberalism Defended: The Challenge of Post-Modernity (1997); and Norms of Liberty: A Perfectionist Basis for Non-Perfectionist Politics (2005). 

He is coeditor (with Den Uyl) of The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand(1984). Currently, he is working on two book projects (with Den Uyl): “The Perfectionist Turn: From Metanorms to Metaphysics” and “The Illiberality of Human Capabilities Liberalism.”

He received the Medal for Outstanding Faculty Achievement from St. John’s University, Honors Convocation, June 1994. Recently, his co-authored book, Norms of Liberty, was the subject of a new book, Reading Rasmussen and Den Uyl: Critical Essays on "Norms of Liberty" (2008), edited by Aeon J. Skoble.

Dr. Rasmussen is currently working on two books:  The Perfectionist Turn and The Illiberality of Human Capabilities Liberalism.

Douglas J. Den Uyl

Douglas J. Den Uyl (born 1950) is Vice President of Educational Programs at Liberty Fund.

Den Uyl earned his B.A. from Kalamazoo College, his MA from the University of Chicago, and his PH.D. from Marquette University. Den Uyl's areas of scholarly interest include the history of ideas, moral and political theory, and has published essays or books on Spinoza, Smith, Shaftesbury, Mandeville and others. He taught Philosophy and was Department Chair and Full Professor at Bellarmine College (now Bellarmine University) before coming to Liberty Fund  He is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society.

Dr. Den Uyl has contributed articles to journals such as Journal of the History of Philosophy, Social Philosophy and Policy, and Journal of Applied Philosophy.

Den Uyl is the author of The Virtue of Prudence (1991), The Fountainhead: An American Novel (1999), and God, Man, & Well-Being: Spinoza's Modern Humanism (2008).

Den Uyl coauthored (with Douglas B. Rasmussen) several books: Liberty and Nature: An Aristotelian Defense of Liberal Order (1991); Liberalism Defended: The Challenge of Post-Modernity (1997); and Norms of Liberty: A Perfectionist Basis for Non-Perfectionist Politics (2005). He also co-edited (with Rasmussen) The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand (1984).

A collection of scholarly essays about Rasmussen and Den Uyl's Norms of Liberty, Reading Rasmussen and Den Uyl: Critical Essays on "Norms of Liberty", edited by Aeon J. Skoble, was published in 2008.