On the Relative Importance of Death: COVID-19 and the Hierarchy of Goods

October 26, 2020 | by Thomas Joseph White, O.P.

If the state seeks to protect the human body, it should do so in view of a more ultimate flourishing of the whole human person, for the sake of a civic society that promotes the free pursuit of spiritual goods. In a public health crisis, the ways we pursue these goods can be altered temporarily, but if the alterations threaten to radically alter the long-term pursuit of these goods, we must question these new policies.