Study

This seminar will introduce students to four interrelated topics at the foundation of law and morality: (1) metaethics, which analyzes the content of moral statements and the nature of moral facts; (2) the structure of morality, namely the debate between “consequentialists” and “deontologists”; (3) the nature of law, specifically whether law in a given legal system is derivable from a rule of recognition, or whether law instead is a synthesis of enacted legal texts and other legal materials with a positivist pedigree and moral principles; and (4) the moral authority of law, namely whether individuals have a conclusive or at least prima facie moral duty to obey the law. Readings will be drawn from foundational texts by H.LA. Hart, Ronald Dworkin, and Shelly Kagan.

This seminar will introduce students to four interrelated topics at the foundation of law and morality: (1) metaethics, which analyzes the content of moral statements and the nature of moral facts; (2) the structure of morality, namely the debate between “consequentialists” and “deontologists”; (3) the nature of law, specifically whether law in a given legal system is derivable from a rule of recognition, or whether law instead is a synthesis of enacted legal texts and other legal materials with a positivist pedigree and moral principles; and (4) the moral authority of law, namely whether individuals have a conclusive or at least prima facie moral duty to obey the law. Readings will be drawn from foundational texts by H.LA. Hart, Ronald Dworkin, and Shelly Kagan.

Syllabus: 715-01-Spring2025-syllabus.pdf201.63 KB