Normative Theory
-
By Lawrence B. Solum Introduction Law students with a background in philosophy are sure to notice the strong influence of moral philosophy on legal thinking. Theories such as Kant’s moral philosophy have had a profound influence on the idea of fairness and on the conception of rights that is at the heart of deontological legal…
-
By Lawrence B. Solum Introduction One of the key ideas in contemporary economic theory in general and law and economics in particular is the social welfare function. Law students without a background in economics might be put off by the fact that social welfare functions are expressed in mathematical notation, but there is no reason…
-
By Lawrence B. Solum Introduction Recently, the Legal Theory Lexicon provided a very general entry on the topic of justice. The notion of justice can be analyzed in many ways, but one good place to start is with Aristotle. Aristotle divides the topic of justice into two main parts, corrective justice and distributive justice. Distributive…
-
By Lawrence B. Solum Introduction The connection between law and justice is a deep one. We have “Halls of Justice,” “Justices of the Supreme Court,” and “the administration of justice.” We know that “justice” is one of the central concepts of legal theory, but the concept of justice is also vague and ambiguous. This post…
-
By Lawrence B. Solum Introduction One of the most fundamental distinctions in legal theory is that between “positive legal theory” and “normative legal theory.” This post provides a very brief introduction to the distinction, aimed at law students (especially first years) with an interest in legal theory. The core idea of the distinction between positive…
-
Introduction Law students quickly learn that normative argument is an integral part of the law school experience. And sooner or later, they are likely to encounter what is called the fact-value distinction. Of course, the relationship between fact and value is a deep and complex philosophical topic. Even a survey of the basic topics would…
-
By Lawrence B. Solum Introduction The Legal Theory Lexicon already includes posts on Deontology and Utilitarianism–representing two important families of ethical theory. This week, the Lexicon provides an introduction to virtue ethics. As always, the Lexicon provides a quick and dirty summary with an eye to law students (especially first-year law students) with an interest…
-
By Lawrence B. Solum Introduction A prior Legal Theory Lexicon post explored utilitarianism, an approach to normative moral theory that has had an enormous influence on legal thought. This week, I take up one of utilitarianism’s main rivals, deontology. Deontological moral theories vary in myriad ways, but the focal point for deontology is the concept of duty with its…
-
By Lawrence B. Solum Introduction How should citizens in a modern pluralist democracy debate and discuss public affairs? What kinds of reasons are appropriate in the context of judicial opinions, legislative debate, or administrative decisionmaking? There is wide agreement that the government should not censor public debate about politics, at least not without very good…
-
By Lawrence B. Solum Introduction This installment of the Legal Theory Lexicon is a very brief introduction to utilitarian moral and political philosophy tailored to law students (especially first-year law students) with an interest in legal theory. Law students learn early on that classroom discussion of cases and statutes may begin with questions about what…