Philosophy of Law
Kelly Dean Jolley
HC 6078
4-4344
jollekd@auburn.edu
Office Hours MWF 8-9am
The professor and student shall meet no fewer than three (3) hours a week as scheduled by their agreement.
Course Blog:
http://philoflawclassblogspot.com/
Course Description
The primary aim of the course is to acquaint the student with the philosophy of law and its central questions:
· What is a law?
· What is the source of law’s authority, of legal obligation?
· How is law related to morality?
· How is law related to politics?
· Is an unjust law really a law?
· What makes an action criminal?
Etc.
We will initially ask these questions while reflecting on a particular trial and its aftermath, the trial of Socrates. So we will begin by reading Plato’s Apology and Crito, as well as commentary on them by R. E. Allen. (Socrates’ trial will remain a focal point of the course from the first day to the last.) We will continue to ask the questions while reading from St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa.
After Aquinas, the course will fast-forward to contemporary discussions of the questions in H. L. A. Hart’s The Concept of Law and to R. Dworkin’s Law’s Empire. After mastering some of the details of Hart’s and Dworkin’s views, we will consider the nature of their disagreement—the famous Hart-Dworkin Debate.
The course will end by more closely considering the question of criminality. We will read J. Feinberg’s Harm to Others as we do so.
The course will require a lot of reading. It will also require that the student begin to develop a legal as well as a philosophical vocabulary. Course meetings will be lectures and directed discussion of the readings.
Informal lecture: I take the lead here. The point of the informal lectures is to bring into focus the particular issues of the assigned reading and to lay bear its argumentative structure. The student will be expected to have done this for himself before the lecture, and so to have done more than just to have “read over” the assigned reading—he will need to have read it and reflected on it.
Discussion: Student will take the lead here. The point of the discussions is to deepen understanding of the assigned readings, to consider problems or objections, to compare views, etc. The students will be expected to come to each discussion with written questions, problems, objections, or suggestions about useful relations between the assigned reading and other readings, etc
.
Assignments: Student grades will be a function of Four One-Minute Papers, a 5-6 pp. paper, and a final paper. (20%, 30%, 50%)
Course Requirements
For grade and credit in this course, the student must complete all the readings, make each meeting, and complete a 10-15pp paper on a topic either assigned by the professor or reached in agreeement between professor and student.
Attendance at meetings is mandatory. You have a one-absence grace; after that, any absence must be an excused absence. Two unexcused absences results in failure—no exceptions.
Students needing accomodations should arrange a meeting the first week of class. Come during office hours, or email for an alternate time. We wil discuss items needed in this class. For other questions, contact the Program for Students with Disabilities, 1244 Haley Center, 844-2096.
Schedule (specific daily assignments will be on the course blog):
Exemplary History and Background
Part One—The Philosopher, Philosophy, and the Law: The Trial of Socrates
R. E. Allen, Socrates and Legal Obligation
Apology, pp. 37-62
Irony and Rhetoric in Plato’s Apology, 3-16
Background, Legality and Historicity, 17-36
The Crito, 115-128
Analysis, 65-96
Assumpsit and Legal Obligation 97-113
Part Two—Conscience, Law, and Justice: St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Thomas, On Law, Morality and Politics
Conscience 1-9
Law 10-96
Justice 97-126
The Concept of Law
Obligation, Morality and Rules: H. L. A. Hart
H. L. A. Hart, The Concept of Law
Chap 1
Chap 2
Chap 3
Chap 5
Chap 6
Chap 7
Law’s Empire
TBA
The Hart-Dworkin Debate
Harm to Others
Criminal Conduct and Harm to Others: Joel Feinberg
Joel Feinberg, Harm to Others
General Introduction
Chap 1
Chap 2
Chap 3
Chap 4
