Details
- Explores issues where law, morality and politics meet, and discuss some of the key challenges facing liberal democracies
- Provides a theoretic response to contemporary constitutionalism and Dworkin's conception of law, by discussing modern law from the pluralist perspective
Law in the Age of Pluralism contains a collection of essays on the intersection of legal and political philosophy. Written within the analytical tradition in jurisprudence, the collection covers a wide range of topics, such as the nature of law and legal theory, the rule of law, the values of democracy and constitutionalism, moral aspects of legal interpretation, the nature of rights, economic equality, and more.
The essays in this volume explore issues where law, morality and politics meet, and discuss some of the key challenges facing liberal democracies. Marmor posits that a liberal state must first and foremost respect people's personal autonomy and their differing, though reasonable, conceptions of the good and the just. This basic respect for pluralism is shown to entail a rather skeptical attitude towards grand theories of law and state, such as contemporary constitutionalism or Dworkin's conception of 'law as integrity'. The values of pluralism and respect for autonomy, however, are also employed to justify some of the main aspects of a liberal state, such as the value of democracy, the rule of law, and certain conceptions of equality. The essays are organized in three groups: the first considers the rule of law, democracy and constitutionalism. The second group consists of several essays on the nature of law, legal theory, and their relations to morality. Finally, the collection concludes with essays on the nature of rights, the limits of rights discourse, and the value of economic equality.
Introduction - Acknowledgements
I. The Rule of Law and the Rule of the Many - Ch.1 The Rule of Law and Its Limits - Ch. 2 Should We Value Legislative Integrity? - Ch. 3 Authority, Equality and Democracy - Ch. 4 Are Constitutions Legitimate?
II.Legal Theory, Law, and Morality - Ch. 5 Legal Positivism: Still Descriptive and Morally Neutral - Ch. 6 How Law is Like Chess - Ch. 7 Should Like Cases Be Treated Alike? - Ch. 8 The Immorality of Textualism
III.Rights and Equality - Ch. 9 On The Limits of Rights - Ch. 10 Do We Have A Right To Common Goods? - Ch. 11 On The Right to Private Property and Entitlement to One's Income - Ch. 12 The Intrinsic Value of Economic Equality
Bibliography - Index
Andrei Marmor, Director, USC Center of Law and Philosophy
"These essays deepen and expand the positivist approach to legal theory for which Marmor is known, while illuminating a wide range of topics in political and legal philosophy. All of them bear the hallmark of Marmor's style, combining rigorous and careful book argumentation with a cool, unsentimental approach to contemporary issues. This volume advances the current state of discussion on an impressive number of different fronts." - Martin Stone, Professor of Law at Cardozo Law School"
"Andrei Marmor is one of the most able scholars now writing in legal and political philosophy, and a worthy addition to the tradition established by H. L. A. Hart and Joseph Raz. This book offers valuable new insights on legal positivism, the rule of law, constitutional theory, democratic theory, and many other topics. Marmor combines fresh ideas and rigorous analysis in a way few others can match. In particular, he offers a novel perspective on the way that value pluralism changes the way we need to think about both law and politics. In this thought-provoking book, he revisits many of the foundational questions of democracy. To every inquiry, Marmor brings sharp analysis, wide reading, and an open mind. His work on the nature of law and constitutional theory, in particular, reshape those debates for all who come after." - Brian Bix, Frederick W. Thomas Professor of Law and Philosophy, University of Minnesota"
