Legal Philosophy

Introduction

Chapter 1  Justice

1    Ends

a. Judgment

b. Desert

c. Truth

2 Means

a. Adjudication

b. Impartiality

c. Equality

3 Individuals

a. The individual’s good

b. Rights

c. Status

4 Collectives

a. The common good

b. The rule of law

c. Authority

5    Philosophy and justice

a. Meta-theory

b. Scepticism

c. Pragmatism

Questions

Concepts and methods

§    Theorising

Further reading

Chapter 2  Person

1    Facts and values

a. Humans and persons

b. Science and facts

c. Humanity and human nature

2    Aristotle

a. The human species

b. Political animals

c. The situated person

3    Humanism

a. Humanity and persons

b. Liberty

c. Fraternity and equality

4    Feminism

a. The second sex

b. Nature as ideology

c. Identity politics

5    Freedom

a. Freedom as liberty

b. Freedom as rationality

c. Freedom as autonomy

Questions

Concepts and methods

§    Ideas and ideology

Further reading

Chapter 3  Good

1    The good

a. The human good

b. A good life and justice

c. Happiness and harmony

2    Plato

a. The good and the individual

b. The good and the state

c. Contemporary Platonism

3    Natural law

a. Early natural law

b. Natural law and religion

c. Modern natural law

4    Utilitarianism

a. Hedonism

b. Utilitarianism

c. Variants of utilitarianism

5    Place and property

a. Property

b. Environment

c. Capability

Questions

Concepts and methods

§ Values

Further reading

Chapter 4  Right

1    Right

a. Right and truth

b. Right answers

c. Right as justice

2    Right as correspondence

a. Kant: right as duty

b. Hegel: right made social

c. Marx: right made material

3    Right as coherence

a. Hobbes: right as contract

b. Mill: right as liberty

c. Rawls: right as fairness

4    Rights

a. Hohfeld: distinguishing rights

b. Dworkin: rights as trumps

c. Nozick: rights as constraints

5    Human rights

a. From natural rights to human rights

b. Particularity versus universality

c. Human rights and liberalism

Questions

Concepts and methods

§ Logic

Further reading

Chapter 5  Rule

1    Rules

a. Rules as commands

b. Forms and functions of rules

c. Formalism and anti-formalism

2    Positivism

a. Origins of positivism

b. Logical positivism

c. Legal positivism

3    Hart

a. The concept of law

b. Primary and secondary rules

c. Hart and his critics

4    Wittgenstein

a. Rules and sense

b. Rule scepticism

c. Anti scepticism

5    Disobedience

a. The Socratic paradox

b. The authority of legal systems

c. The authority of individual laws

Questions

Concepts and methods

§ Rules and exceptions

Further reading

Chapter 6  Norm

1    Norms and normativity

a. Law as 'binding'

b. Normativity and the jurisprudential schools

c. Classifying norms

2    Kelsen

a. Kelsen’s critical project

b. A pure theory of law

c. The Grundnorm

3 Law and social norms

a. Law and history

b. Law and sociology

c. Law and economics

4 Realism

a. Realism and normativity

b. Scandinavian realism

c. American realism

5    Force and power

a. Norms and repression

b. The force of law

c. Critical legal studies

Questions

Concepts and methods

§ Critique

Further reading

Chapter 7  Law

1 Foundations

a. Transcendent

b. Immanent

c. Self-subsisting

2 Forms

a. Historical and territorial

b. Ahistorical and atopic

c. Diachronic

3 Functions

a. Constitute

b. Regulate

c. Justify

Questions

Concepts and methods

§ Knowledge