Jurisprudence (Philosophy of Law)

Catalog description

This course has us engaging in an inquiry into the nature of that most extraordinary human creation we know as law. The course will focus both on the legal ways-of-being and the lawful ways-of-acting that are characteristic of lawful states of affairs and on the extraordinary efficacy of constitutional provisions, statutes, judicial rulings, and other legal enactments. Students will be exposed to theorists in the natural law tradition (Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke, Finnis) and in the tradition of legal positivism (Austin, H.L.A. Hart, Kelsen, American Legal Realists). In the course of our inquiry we will take up alternative conceptions and uses of ‘rights’-talk and we will look to the basics of both purposive and textualist lawmaking methodologies. Grades will be given largely on the basis of a take-home exam or on an optional paper (on a topic selected in consultation with the instructor).