- Philosophy of Law

Catalog description

What is the nature of law? What is its purpose? Am I obligated to obey the law? Why? What is the relationship between law and justice? Believe it or not, these are live questions! In this course, we will consider these questions and dive into some of the answers that have been given to them. We'll subject the views on offer to critical scrutiny, compare them to competing views, and try to make sense of our own relationships to the law along with what we think those relationships ought to be like. Readings will include scholarly articles and book excerpts from a variety of disciplines as well as briefs, news articles, decisions, and case descriptions from legal cases, both real and imagined. Questions in analytic jurisprudence include: What does it mean for something to be a law? Why are some things a matter of law, while others are not? What is the relationship between law and morality? Is the law exhausted by the meaning of words in constitutions and statutes? Questions of normative jurisprudence concern the proper content of law, such as, what should the law permit, prohibit, and promote? The course concludes with an emphasis on questions about the enforcement of law: how should society respond when someone breaks the law?