Philosophy of Law
The Fundamentals
Fundamentals of Philosophy
1. Auflage August 2006
232 Seiten, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
The Philosophy of Law is a broad-reaching text that guides
readers through the basic analytical and normative issues in the
field, highlighting key historical and contemporary thinkers and
offering a unified treatment of the various issues in the
philosophy of law.
* * Enlivened with numerous, everyday examples to illustrate
various concepts of law.
* Employs the idea of three central commonplaces about law - that
law is a social matter, that law is authoritative, and that law is
for the common good - to organize seemingly disparate topics and to
bring rival views into contention with each other.
* The first volume in the Fundamentals of Philosophy
series, in which leading philosophers explore the fundamental
issues and core problems in the major sub-disciplines of
philosophy.
Introduction.
0.1 Philosophy, the Familiar, and the Unfamiliar.
0.2 What Are Our Commonplaces About Law?.
0.3 The Course of Our Inquiry.
For Further Reading.
Chapter 1: Analytical Fundamentals: The Concept of Law.
1.1 The Question, and its Importance.
1.2 Basic Austinianism.
1.3 Positivist Lessons.
1.4 Hartian Positivism.
1.5 Interlude: Hard and Soft Positivisms.
1.6 Natural Law Theory.
1.7 Fuller's Procedural Natural Law Theory.
1.8 Aquinas's Substantive Natural Law Theory.
1.9 A Suggested Resolution.
Appendix: Why is it Called "Natural Law
Theory"?.
For Further Reading.
Chapter 2: Normative Fundamentals: The Basic Roles of
Paradigmatic Legal Systems.
2.1 What are the Basic Roles of Paradigmatic Legal Systems?.
2.2 The Role of Subject.
2.3 The Role of Legislator.
2.4 The Role of Judge.
For Further Reading.
Chapter 3: The Aims of Law.
3.1 The Aims of Law and the Common Good.
3.2 The Harm-to-others Principle.
3.3 Challenges to the Harm-to-others Principle: Types of
Harm.
3.4 Challenges to the Harm-to-others Principle: The Party
Armed.
3.5 Morals Legislation.
For Further Reading.
4 The Nature and Aims of the Criminal Law.
4.1 Types of Legal Norms.
4.2 Crime and Punishment.
4.3 Two Normative Theories of Punishment.
4.4 Justification and Excuse.
For Further Reading.
5 The Nature and Aims of Tort Law.
5.1 Torts and Crimes.
5.2 Torts and Damages.
5.3 Economic and Justice Accounts of Negligence Torts.
5.4 Elements of the Negligence Tort.
5.5 Damages.
5.6 Intentional Torts and Torts of Strict Liability.
For Further Reading.
6 Challenging the Law.
6.1 Putting Legal Roles to the Question.
6.2 Against the Role of Subject: Philosophical Anarchism.
6.3 Against the Role of Legislator: Marxism / Feminist Legal
Theory / Critical Race Theory.
6.4 Against the Role of Judge: American Legal Realism / Critical
Legal studies.
For Further Reading.
Index.
theorist of his generation, and this wide-ranging, learned, and
lucid introduction to legal philosophy will be the text of choice
for any student or philosopher who wants a philosophically
sophisticated survey of the major topics that, at the same time,
makes clear the continuing attraction of the natural law
tradition."
Brian Leiter, University of Texas at Austin
"Murphy executes a masterly and enlightening challenge to
fashionable claims that 'all is not well' with the law
and its philosophy. Fully accessible to general audiences, his book
will also inform and engage the specialist reader."
William A. Edmundson, Georgia State University
"Philosophy of Law itself is a well designed book on
several levels ... Murphy hooks you from the start."
Stuart Hannabuss, Aberdeen Buisness School, Robert Gordon
University
"A concise, well balanced, and articulate discussion. The
author has the capacity to present complex material with ease to
its audience... A highly captivating interpretation of the
philosophy of law"
Internet Law Book Reviews
Georgetown University, where he works in moral, political, and
legal philosophy. He is the author of Natural Law and Practical
Rationality (2001), An Essay on Divine Authority (2002), and
Natural Law in Jurisprudence and Politics (2006), and the editor of
Alasdair MacIntyre (2003).
