Philosophical Problems of the Legal Sciences: 3800-FPNPP25-K-OG

What are the philosophical problems of legal sciences?

Philosophy of law, understood as the philosophy about law, problematizes its subject, and hence makes its aim - i.a. - answering questions about the nature of the phenomenon, which the law is, as well as about conditions and requirements of the philosophical reflection on law. Answers to these questions could be delivered from different methodological standpoints; during the classes we would like to present the approaches that are philosophical in origin, external to legal and empirical sciences. (However, some of them postulate a reduction of the philosophy of law [and often also the legal sciences themselves] to [other] empirical sciences). Some of the problems of the philosophy of law in this meaning (which will be the subject of the classes) are as follows: is the law as a phenomenon something irreducible to other phenomena (social, political etc.)? And if so, why and what is the place of the legal sciences among other sciences? What are the conditions of “doing” the legal sciences and the philosophy of law? What requirements shall the theory of law meet? What is the law as a matter of fact? What is the difference between law and custom (usage) and morality? Can the common ideas about law and popular theories concerning its nature withstand philosophical critique? Can philosophy justify the existence of law or rather does it deliver arguments against its occurrence in human society? Can one classify different legal orders as better or worse and if so, on what basis?

Why is it worth learning?

The problems indicated above are one of the most important from the perspective of the philosophy of law as well as the perspective of the legal sciences, and also cognate disciplines, as social philosophy, philosophy of politics, philosophy of culture, philosophy of science etc., and sciences (sociology, political science, cultural studies, anthropology, methodology of sciences etc.). Those problems are still explored in modern philosophy (i.e. since the end of the 17th century), not losing their topicality, but gaining the depth and breadth of understanding.

How will the classes be conducted?

Each of the meetings will take a form of a seminar (discussion group, discussion seminar). Instructors (or one of them) will introduce the participants to the subject of the meeting; after the introduction the discussion, concerning a text chosen (in regard to the conversations with the participants), announced and made available earlier, will be opened. Instructors will fulfill in the discussion the function of moderators and - if needed - either support the participants or indicate some of the worth mentioning aspects of the discussed problems.
Readings will be chosen during the course in regard to the expectations of the participants (in many cases after a consultation with them) and eventual problems which may emerge during succeeding discussions. Nevertheless, they will fall into the thematic areas presented in the following plan. The bibliography presented below, in the plan and under the rubric “Literatura” (“Literature”), is not an obligatory list of readings. The plan of the course is divided into 15 classes, but if the semester turns out to be irregularly short or long, the number of classes will be respectively reduced or increased.

Plan of the classes

1. Organizational meeting

2. The concept of labour and basic differentiations, part 1
What is labour? How does the labour connect with freedom and action?
Hannah Arendt, „Kondycja ludzka”.

3. The concept of labour and basic differentiations, part 2
What is labour? How does the labour connect with freedom and action?
Friedrich Georg Jünger, „Perfekcja techniki”.

4. The concept of labour and basic differentiations, part 3
What is labour? How does the labour connect with freedom and action?
Jan Szewczyk, „Filozofia pracy”.

5. Labour as the source of the property and social order
In what way can the labour justify the property? How does it form social and political relations?
John Locke, „Dwa traktaty o rządzie”.

6. Labour as the source of value
Where does the value of commodities come from? Is the labour the proper source of wealth?
Adam Smith, „Badania nad naturą i przyczynami bogactwa narodów”.

7. The ethics of labour and the spirit of capitalism
In what way became the labour the moral value? What is the basis of the ethos of modern labour?
Max Weber, „Etyka protestancka a duch kapitalizmu”.

8. Labour, solidarity and social order
What is the social function of the division of labour? How does the labour create (or destruct) the community?
Émile Durkheim, „O podziale pracy społecznej”.

9. A critical view on labour: nonsense, coercion, ideology
When becomes the work nonsensical? What holds in the ethics of work albeit its pathologies?
David Graeber, „Praca bez sensu”.

10. Labour and agency in late-modern capitalism
How do modern institutions and narratives form our notions on labour?
Elizabeth Anderson, “Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don’t Talk About It)”.
Raymond Geuss, „Okiem filozofa. Praca”.

11. Labour, status and social hierarchies
How does labour (and non-labour) build the hierarchies of prestige? What is the rôle of consumption and “leisure”
Thorstein Veblen, „Teoria klasy próżniaczej”.

12. The strike as the sanction used by workers against the employees
Can the worker effectively act on the employer? Can the strike be legitimized philosophically?
Georges Sorel, „Rozważania o przemocy”.

13. Workers’ rights as the effect of the moralization of capitalism
Is the market economy damned to the exploitation? Is this possible to widen the workers’ rights without the abolition of capitalism?
Axel Honneth, „Walka o uznanie”; „Das Recht der Freiheit”.

14. The cooperative as the model of the new economy. The society of workers as the solution alternative to the state of employers
Could the workers govern themselves? Is the division into workers and employers necessary?
Edward Abramowski, „Zagadnienia socjalizmu. Wybór pism”; „Braterstwo, solidarność, współdziałanie. Pisma spółdzielcze i stowarzyszeniowe”; „Kooperatywa. Polskie korzenie przedsiębiorczości społecznej”.

15. Closing meeting.

How will the participants benefit from taking part in the course?

The course will allow the participants to get acquainted with some of the most important questions and answers from the field of the philosophy of law, in particular with some of the most important questions and theories concerning the nature of law, methods of the legal sciences, relations of the philosophy of law and other areas of philosophy, and functions fulfilled by the law in the society. It will allow the participants to develop an ability to theorize and to broaden their knowledge of the philosophy of law. Moreover, problems brought up throughout the course belong to the - not the smallest, anyway - group of the most important questions of modernity, still waiting to be answered, and the process of answering which is progressing slowly and steadily.