The branch of philosophy that asks what law is and how it functions as a normative institution, rather than addressing specific legal questions bound to one jurisdiction. Its foundational question, simply, is what is law, and it presupposes that law has identifiable characteristics that philosophical analysis can uncover. A central dispute divides legal positivists, who hold that legal validity depends on social facts alone, from natural law theorists, who hold that a norm's moral content partly determines whether it counts as law at all.
Facts
Central QuestionWhat is law, and what, if anything, is the relationship between law and morality? 1 Key DebateLegal positivism against natural law theory: whether the grounds of legality are exclusively social facts, such as legislation and custom, as positivists argue, or partly moral in nature, so that a sufficiently unjust rule fails to count as law at all, as natural law theorists argue. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that the claim that the moral content of norms partly determines their legality has been fiercely challenged by the legal positivism tradition. 1 Disputed
Key DebateWhether there is a moral duty to obey an unjust law: legal positivists such as H.L.A. Hart separate a law's validity from its morality and treat obedience as a further question, while natural law theorists hold that a sufficiently unjust rule fails to bind in conscience at all. 2 Debates over civil disobedience, from Thoreau through the twentieth century civil rights movement, kept this question live outside the seminar room as well as inside it. Connections
Associated With
Source Law, Philosophy of: The Nature of Law (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Source Law, Philosophy of: The Nature of Law (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Source Philosophy of Sport (Wikipedia)
Includes
Source Wikipedia: Andrei Marmor
Source Averroes (Wikipedia)
Source Encyclopedia.com (Columbia Encyclopedia): Hagerstrom, Axel
Source Cicero (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Eugenio Bulygin
Source Wikipedia: Jeffrey Goldsworthy
Source Jurgen Habermas (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Larry Laudan
Source Wikipedia: Miguel Reale
Source Scott Hershovitz (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Law, Philosophy of: The Nature of Law (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyIntroduction
what is law?
Section 1.1
the claim that the moral content of norms partly determines their legality has been fiercely challenged by the legal positivism tradition
- Associated With: Hugo Grotius
- Associated With: John Rawls
View the Source 2. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Informations.v. Legal PositivismView the Source Philosophy of Law (Wikipedia)
WikipediaDefinition and scopeQuote, Definition and scope
Jurisprudence, also known as legal theory or legal science, is the philosophy of law.
Philosophy of Sport (Wikipedia)
WikipediaAssociated With: Philosophy of Sport, Lead sectionQuote, Associated With: Philosophy of Sport, Lead section
These issues cover many areas, but fall primarily into five philosophical categories: metaphysics, ethics and moral philosophy, philosophy of law, political philosophy and aesthetics.
Jurgen Habermas (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Jürgen Habermas, Infobox: main_interestsQuote, Includes: Jürgen Habermas, Infobox: main_interests
Epistemology critical social theory political theory philosophy of law Rationalization (sociology), rationalization pragmatics pragmatism
Cicero (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Cicero, Infobox: main_interestsQuote, Includes: Cicero, Infobox: main_interests
Political philosophy, Politics, Philosophy of law, law, rhetoric, theology, ethics, epistemology
Wikipedia: Eugenio Bulygin
Includes: Eugenio Bulygin, Infobox: main_interestsQuote, Includes: Eugenio Bulygin, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of law
Wikipedia: Larry Laudan
Includes: Larry Laudan, Infobox: main_interestsQuote, Includes: Larry Laudan, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy of science, epistemology, philosophy of law
Wikipedia: Jeffrey Goldsworthy
WikipediaIncludes: Jeffrey Goldsworthy, LeadQuote, Includes: Jeffrey Goldsworthy, Lead
Jeffrey Denys Goldsworthy is an Australian academic and legal philosopher.
Scott Hershovitz (Wikipedia)
Includes: Scott Hershovitz, LeadQuote, Includes: Scott Hershovitz, Lead
Scott Hershovitz is an American philosopher of law who is the Thomas G. and Mabel Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan as well as the Director for the Law and Ethics Program.. He is a co-editor of Legal Theory and has published two books: Nasty, Brutish, and Short: Adventures in Philosophy with Kids and Law Is a Moral Practice.
Averroes (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Averroes, Infobox: main_interestsQuote, Includes: Averroes, Infobox: main_interests
Islamic theology, philosophy, Islamic jurisprudence, medicine, astronomy, physics, linguistics
Wikipedia: Andrei Marmor
WikipediaIncludes: Andrei Marmor, LeadQuote, Includes: Andrei Marmor, Lead
He is known for his works on philosophy of law.
Wikipedia: Miguel Reale
Includes: Miguel Reale, Infobox: main_interestsQuote, Includes: Miguel Reale, Infobox: main_interests
Philosophy, law, politics, poetry, education
Encyclopedia.com (Columbia Encyclopedia): Hagerstrom, Axel
Encyclopedia.com (Columbia Encyclopedia)Includes: Axel Hagerstrom, Late career, philosophy of lawQuote, Includes: Axel Hagerstrom, Late career, philosophy of law
Near the end of his career Hägerstrom's interest was in practical philosophy, particularly the philosophy of morals, religion, and law.
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