bad morals vs. bad metaphysics

I've already posted a few times on Alvaro de Silva's compilation of G.K. Chesterton quotes on "men and women, children, sex, divorce, marriage and the family" (the subtitle of his 1990 book, Brave New Family).

For those who enjoy Chesterton (or want to become acquainted with him) &/or are interested in those topics (among others, including contraception and eugenics), the edited volume is well worth your money and time.

In his intro, de Silva opens by noting that family is "recalled as obsessively as the name of a lost paradise, a bad joke, or an obscenity. Perhaps today the family is all three: something lost, laughed about and abused." He then points to a Chesterton quote that ends with the exhortation to value the family "from the hearthstone to the headstone". From there, he invokes Brave New World with its perverse views of family (along with so much else)-- presumably the reason for the title he chose.

Later in his intro, de Silva quotes Charles Williams-- "Adultery is bad morals but divorce is bad metaphysics"-- before noting that "The consequences of false metaphysics are worse and beyond the ugly results of bad morals."