The problem proposed for discussion in this paper is, it seems to me-though I suppose I am egotistical to say it-the core problem of this symposium. It is all very well, of course, and most desirable that some agreement be reached as to what constitutes the obscene, and that a set of standards be evolved which will both safeguard the community and, at the same time, preserve individual freedom and the due process of the law, upon which, to a large measure, the protection of the civil society depends. But such safeguards and procedures will be but ephemeral things if they do not rest on some permanent basis of moral principle. So, too, must individual freedom, if it is not to be a thing protected today and endangered tomorrow, find its stability on the moral basis of the dignity of man. Hence, in trying to formulate moral principles by which the obscene can be determined, we are at the nub of the whole matter. If, perhaps, I do not quite succeed in setting that nub forth in the clear light and with the persuasive force which it is capable of sustaining, let it be said at once that that is not because of the inexplicable density of the subject, but rather because of the fact that I am not a theologian in the sense of being engaged full-time in theological teaching or research, and second, because of the contributing factor that I shall, to some extent, be speaking a language that may be somewhat opaque to many readers. I shall try, however, to avoid, as far as I may, any moralese-the professional jargon of the textbooks-and to phrase my observations in the language of ordinary life. That the editors of this symposium have been very much alive to the timeliness of the problem is perhaps demonstrated by the fact that last summer (June 28-30, I954), the Catholic Theological Society of America, meeting in convention in Montreal, devoted one of its panel sessions to a discussion of this very topic, Moral Principles for Discerning the Obscene. I was honored to be invited to read the paper and lead the ensuing discussion; and I should like to assure those readers who entertain the notion that Catholic theologians confine their discussions to fine-spun elucubrations concerning angels and needle-points that they would have been agreeably surprised at the practical nature of the two-hour question-and-answer period that followed the reading of the paper. The panel and its conclusions are reported in full in the proceedings of the Ninth Annual Convention;' and some of this present paper will be in the nature of an expansion of what is contained in that report. CATHOLIC THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, PROCEEDINGS OF THE NINTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 127-39 (I954). *S.T.L. I935, Woodstock College (Md.); Ph.D. 1941, Cambridge University. Literary Editor, America, National Catholic weekly, since I940. Author, TENETS FOR READERS AND REVIEWERS (1942); MYSTERIES' END (I945); NORMS FOR THE NOVEL (1953); Editor, THE GREAT BOOKS: A CHRISTIAN APPRAISAL (4 volumes, 1947-1952); FIFTY YEARS OF THE AMERICAN NOVEL (1951).