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Legal Positivism
In jurisprudence (also known as legal philosophy), legal positivism is the theory that the existence of the law and its content depend on social facts, such as acts of legislation, judicial decisions, and customs, rather than on morality. This contrasts with theories such as natural law, which hold that law is necessarily connected to morality in such a way that any law that contradicts morality lacks legal validity. Thomas Hobbes defined law as the command of the sovereign. This idea was elaborated in the 18th and 19th centuries by legal philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham and John Austin (legal philosopher), John Austin, who argued that a law is valid not because it is intrinsically moral or just, but because it comes from the sovereign, is generally obeyed by the people, and is backed up by sanctions. Hans Kelsen developed legal positivism further by separating law not only from morality, as the early positivists did, but also from empirical facts, introducing the concept of a N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values; and the relationship between law and other fields of study, including Law and economics, economics, Applied ethics, ethics, Legal history, history, Sociology of law, sociology, and political philosophy. Modern jurisprudence began in the 18th century and was based on the first principles of natural law, Civil law (legal system), civil law, and the law of nations. Contemporary philosophy of law addresses problems internal to law and legal systems and problems of law as a social institution that relates to the larger political and social context in which it exists. Jurisprudence can be divided into categories both by the type of question scholars seek to answer and by the theories of jurisprudence, or schools of thought, regarding how those ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Leiter
Brian Leiter (; born 1963) is an American philosopher and legal scholar who is Karl N. Llewellyn Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School and founder and Director of Chicago's Center for Law, Philosophy & Human Values. A review in ''Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews'' described Leiter as "one of the most influential legal philosophers of our time", while a review in ''The Journal of Nietzsche Studies'' described Leiter's book ''Nietzsche on Morality'' (2002) as "arguably the most important book on Nietzsche's philosophy in the past twenty years." Leiter taught from 1995 to 2008 at the University of Texas School of Law, where he was the founder and director of the Law and Philosophy Program. He joined the University of Chicago faculty in 2008. His scholarly writings have been primarily in legal philosophy and Continental philosophy, especially Nietzsche and Marx. He has also been a visiting professor at universities in the United States and Europe, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auguste Comte
Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte (; ; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher, mathematician and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term. Comte's ideas were also fundamental to the development of sociology, with him inventing the very term and treating the discipline as the crowning achievement of the sciences. Influenced by Henri de Saint-Simon, Comte's work attempted to remedy the social disorder caused by the French Revolution, which he believed indicated an imminent transition to a new form of society. He sought to establish a new social doctrine based on science, which he labeled ''positivism''. He had a major impact on 19th-century thought, influencing the work of social thinkers such as John Stuart Mill and George Eliot. His concept of ''Sociology'' and social evolutionism set the tone for early social theorists and anthropologists s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Hume
David Hume (; born David Home; – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beginning with '' A Treatise of Human Nature'' (1739–40), Hume strove to create a naturalistic science of man that examined the psychological basis of human nature. Hume followed John Locke in rejecting the existence of innate ideas, concluding that all human knowledge derives solely from experience. This places him with Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and George Berkeley as an empiricist. Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. Hume argued that inductive reasoning and belief in causality cannot be justified rationally; instead, they result from custom and mental habit. We never actually perceive that one event causes another but only experience ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Berkeley
George Berkeley ( ; 12 March 168514 January 1753), known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland), was an Anglo-Irish philosopher, writer, and clergyman who is regarded as the founder of "immaterialism", a philosophical theory he developed which was later referred to as "subjective idealism" by others. As a leading figure in the empiricism movement, he was one of the most cited philosophers of Age of Enlightenment, 18th-century Europe, and his works had a profound influence on the views of other thinkers, especially Immanuel Kant and David Hume. Interest in his ideas increased significantly in the United States during the early 19th century, and as a result, the University of California, Berkeley, as well as the city of Berkeley, California, were both named after him. In 1709, Berkeley published his first major work ''s:An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision, An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision'', in which he discussed the limitations of huma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism". Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, Locke is equally important to social contract theory. His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American Revolutionaries. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the United States Declaration of Independence. Internationally, Locke's political-legal principles continue to have a profound influence on the theory and practice of limited representative government and the protection of basic right ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empiricism
In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empiricists argue that empiricism is a more reliable method of finding the truth than purely using logical reasoning, because humans have cognitive biases and limitations which lead to errors of judgement. Empiricism emphasizes the central role of empirical evidence in the formation of ideas, rather than innate ideas or traditions. Empiricists may argue that traditions (or customs) arise due to relations of previous sensory experiences. Historically, empiricism was associated with the " blank slate" concept (''tabula rasa''), according to which the human mind is "blank" at birth and develops its thoughts only through later experience. Empiricism in the philosophy of science emphasizes evidence, especi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radbruch Formula
The Radbruch formula (German: ''Radbruchsche Formel'') is a legal theory which was first formulated in a 1946 essay by the German law professor and politician Gustav Radbruch. According to the theory, a judge who encounters a conflict between a statute and what he perceives as just, has to decide against applying the statute ifand only ifthe legal concept behind the statute in question seems either "unbearably unjust" or in "deliberate disregard" of human equality before the law. Radbruch's formula is rooted in the situation of a civil law system. It is believed to be a reaction to Radbruch's experience of the judiciary in Nazi Germany and has been applied in the decision of courts in the Federal Republic of Germany numerous times. Some authors regard his 1946 essay ''Gesetzliches Unrecht und übergesetzliches Recht'' ("Statutory Lawlessness and Supra-Statutory Law"), which first included his theory, as one of the most influential German legal-philosophical writings of the 20th c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gustav Radbruch
Gustav Radbruch (; 21 November 1878 – 23 November 1949) was a German legal scholar and politician. He served as Federal Ministry of Justice (Germany), Minister of Justice of Germany during the early Weimar Republic, Weimar period. Radbruch is also regarded as one of the most influential legal philosophers of the 20th century. Life Born in Free City of Lübeck, Lübeck, Radbruch studied law in University of Munich, Munich, University of Leipzig, Leipzig and University of Berlin, Berlin. He passed his first bar exam ("Staatsexamen") in Berlin in 1901, and the following year he received his doctorate with a dissertation on "The Theory of Adequate Causation". This was followed in 1903 by his qualification to teach criminal law in University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg. In 1904, he was appointed Professor of criminal and trial law and legal philosophy at Heidelberg. In 1914 he accepted a call to a professorship in University of Königsberg, Königsberg, and later that year assumed a p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Political Obligation
During the Enlightenment period, the concept of political obligation developed more and more as philosophers started to question where the authority and political legitimacy of state power came from. Thomas Hobbes argued that individuals should give up their rights to a sovereign (ruler) for order and stability. On the other hand, John Locke emphasized that governments are only legitimate if they protect an individuals natural rights to life, liberty, and property. Locke was more in favor of individual rights and protections. Also, citizens have the right to revolt if those rights are violated. This debate between absolute authority and control of power is still very relevant in discussions today around political philosophy. Current-day scholars like Richard Dagger and David Lefkowitz have contributed to the field by analyzing the ethical approaches of political obligation. This just raises questions about consent, fairness, and political participation in democratic systems. The conv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legal Realism
Legal realism is a naturalistic approach to law; it is the view that jurisprudence should emulate the methods of natural science; that is, it should rely on empirical evidence. Hypotheses must be tested against observations of the world. Legal realists believe that legal science should only investigate law with the value-free methods of natural sciences, rather than through philosophical inquiries into the nature and meaning of the law that are separate and distinct from the law as it is actually practiced. Indeed, legal realism asserts that the law cannot be separated from its application, nor can it be understood outside of its application. As such, legal realism emphasizes law as it actually exists, rather than law as it ought to be. Locating the meaning of law in places such as legal opinions issued by judges and their deference to or dismissal of precedent and the doctrine of ''stare decisis'', it stresses the importance of understanding the factors involved in judicial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legal Formalism
Legal formalism is both a descriptive theory of how judges decide cases and a Normative, normative theory of how judges should decide Legal case, cases. In its descriptive sense, formalists maintain that judges reach their decisions by applying uncontroversial principles to the Trier of fact, facts; formalists believe that there is an underlying logic to the many legal principles that may be applied in different cases. These principles, they claim, are straightforward and can be readily discovered by anyone with some legal expertise. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., by contrast, believed that "The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience". The formalist era is generally viewed as having existed from the 1870s to the 1920s, but some scholars deny that legal formalism ever existed in practice. The ultimate goal of legal formalism would be to describe the underlying principles in a single and determinate system that could be applied mechanically ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
