Philosophy of Law 2200-1A133
The course in legal philosophy is aimed at enabling law students to recognize and understand main theoretical approaches to law as an element of contemporary societies. Despite its theoretical characteristic, the topics discussed during the course touched upon many practical aspects of day-to-day lawyer’s work, be it a legal advisors or judge’s work. Legal interpretation, the role of judges and reasons to obey the law are amongst the issues that seem indispensable for every professional lawyer involved in argumentation in the area of civil, criminal or constitutional law.
The course is divided in two parts. In the first part students are being made familiar with main schools in legal philosophy, as it has developed over ages. Amongst others, natural law philosophy, legal positivism, legal realism, hermeneutic approach to law including the theory of law as interpretative, argumentative theories, discourse theories and postmodern theories of law are discussed in this part of the course. The idea behind that first part of the course is to give students an overview of the subject and help to deploy particular philosophical approaches while discussing the topics, identified in the second part of the course. Amongst those topics one may find discussion s on the role of language in law, strategies of legal interpretation and the ideal of the rule of law.
The more detailed program of the course is presented below:
1. Introduction to legal philosophy
Part I - Schools
2. Natural law theory
3. Legal positivism – introduction
4. Legal positivism - approaches
5. Critics of legal positivism
6. Hermeneutical theory of law
7. Argumentative theory of law
8. New schools in legal philosophy (postmodern philosophy of law, Critical legal studies)
Part II – Topics
9. Law and Language
10. Legal interpretation and Legal Reasoning
11. Judges and courts in democracy
12. Justice
13. Freedom, Liberty, Moralism and Paternalism
14. The Ideal of the Rule of Law
During the course students are supposed to read and analyse several philosophical papers. Their familiarity with the papers is an important factor that will contribute to understanding of the issues discussed during the course and the overall value of the course.
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
After completing the course student will be able to identify and differentiate main approaches represented In contemporary legal philosophy. They will be able to deploy arguments concerning important topics in legal philosophy (e.g. the relationship between law and morality, legal interpretation issues) to defend their position both in academic and in practical discussions. The course will develop students analytical skills and their ability to participate in argumentation processes they may be involved in in their future professional life.
Assessment criteria
ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN CLASSES, ABILITY TO ANALYSE LEGAL PHILOSOPHY TEXT AND PAPERS
Bibliography
1. Robert Alexy: Rights, Legal Reasoning and Rational Discourse, "Ratio Juris" vol. 5, no. 2, July 1992.
2. Hans Kelsen: Introduction to the Problems of Legal Theory, Clarendon Press, Oxford,
3. Gustav Radbruch: Five minutes of Legal Philosophy (various editions);
4. Herbert L.A. Hart: The Concept of Law, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1994;
5. Ronald Dworkin: Taking Rights Seriously, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1978;
6. Ronald Dworkin, Laws Empire (Cambridge, Mass., 1986
7. Lon L. Fuller: The Morality of Law, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1964,
8. John Finnis: Natural Law and Natural Rights, Oxford University Press, 1984;
9. John Rawls: Theory of Justice, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1972 (1980), page 253;
10.Chaim Perelman: Law and Rhetoric, in: Justice, law and argument. Essays on moral and legal reasoning (with intr. by H. J. Berman), Dordrecht - Boston, 1980;
11.Lech Morawski: Hard Positivism, Soft Positivism and Dead Positivism, "Ius et Lex" No. (I) 1/2004, "Ius et Lex" Foundation, Warsaw, pages 155-157, 160-166.
12.Tomasz Gizbert-Studnicki, Krzysztof Płeszka: Polish Legal Theory. An Attempted Overview, "European Journal of Law, Philosophy and Computer Science", Vol. 2;
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: