In these Holmes Lectures, delivered a century after the publication of
Oliver Wendell Holmes's great essay The Path of the Law, Judge Posner
argues for an essentially Holmesian conception of the proper relation
s among modern normative moral philosophy (''academic moralism''), mor
ality, and law Academic moralism, he argues, lacks either the intellec
tual cogency or the emotional power to change people's beliefs or beha
vior; the power to do so resides in ''moral entrepreneurs,'' which aca
demic moralists emphatically are not. Academic moralism's lack of coge
ncy disqualifies it to guide judicial decisionmaking even -in fact, es
pecially -in cases involving controversial moral issues, such as abort
ion and euthanasia as the Supreme Court has recognized.