Module PHL3061 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
PHL3061: Philosophy of Law
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
- To introduce you to a range of critical perspectives about the nature and justification of modern legal systems.
- To develop your capacities for philosophical analysis and reasoning.
- To encourage reflection on the moral, economic, and political basis of the modern state.
- To prepare you for a wide range of legal and political career paths by showing the relevance of their philosophical training to “real world” practical debates.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. demonstrate the ability to think critically and precisely about the place of law in its broader philosophical context; 2. demonstrate detailed understanding of the key issues in classic debates about the nature of law, the grounds of legal reasoning, and the justification of judicial punishment; |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. apply philosophical reasoning comprehensively to practical disputes outside of academia 4. understand in detail the integrated nature of ethics, political theory, law, and economics; |
| Personal and Key Skills | 5. communicate detailed and complex ideas in clear and precise written and verbal form; and 6. construct, evaluate, and criticise arguments in fine detail. |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Core readings:
Hans Kelsen, Introduction to the Problems of Legal Theory (extracts)
John Austin, The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (extracts)
H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law, 2nd Edition (extracts)
O.W. Holmes, “The Path of the Law”
Ronald Dworkin, Law’s Empire (extracts)
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (extracts)
John Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights (extracts)
Lon Fuller, The Morality of Law (extracts)
-- “The Case of the Speluncean Explorers”
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (extracts)
Saul Kripke, Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language (extracts)
Andre Marmor, “Constitutional Interpretation”
G.W.F. Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right (extracts)
J.S. Mill, On Liberty (extracts)
Jean Hampton, “The Moral Education Theory of Punishment”
Jeffrie Murphy, “Marxism and Retribution”
Anthologies & Textbooks:
Larry May & Jeff Brown (eds.), Philosophy of Law: Classic and Contemporary Readings
Dennis Patterson (ed.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory
Martin Golding & William Edmundon (eds.), The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory
Seán Coyle, Modern Jurisprudence: A Philosophical Guide
Andrei Marmor, Philosophy of Law
