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Philosophy of Law

            Philosophy is the discipline that asks the fundamental questions of all areas of the human experience. Philosophy of law, which is sometimes known as jurisprudence, asks fundamental questions about the social practice of law. Philosophy of law asks not only what the nature of law is, but also its connection to morality and the interpretation of the law's meaning. There is no clearer evidence of this then in the practice of the writ of certiorari (judicial review) where the laws of the United States are interpreted by Supreme Court justices to see if the law in question is in agreement with the constitution.
             The interpretation of the law by judges is purely their philosophical view of the law. The perception of the nature of law is influenced by philosophical arguments and theories and is perceived differently depending on ones own philosophy. If you hold natural law theorists to be true then you believe that law has a deep seeded root in morality, where as legal positivist believe that any connection between morality and the law is merely coincidental and that law is not bound by morality. Another question raised about the very nature of law is whether there is a moral obligation to obey the law. Those who are traditional believe that everyone has a moral obligation to obey the law. Anarchy theorists on the other hand believe that there is no obligation to obey any law that a person deems to be wrong. These theories and arguments make the philosophy of law directly relevant to the nature of law.
            


Essays Related to Philosophy of Law

1. MF Global Missing Hundreds of Millions of Customer Money

... redeem themselves, MF Global, headed by Jon S. Corzine, the former New Jersey governor, attempted to seek an agreement to sell a majority share of the company to a rival brokerage firm. Unfortunately for the company, the deal fell through, and they were forced to file for bankruptcy instead. ... running for re-election in New Jersey's elections for governor. As a former executive at Goldman Sachs, Corzine utilized his previous experience of increasing the worth of a company through investments by immediately launching into a bold campaign to boost profits by placing risky bets with the...

  • Word Count: 812
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. John Locke and Liberal Political Philosophy

John Locke is one of the founders of "liberal" political philosophy, the philosophy of individual rights and limited government. This is the philosophy on which the American Constitution and all western political systems today are based. In the Second Treatise of Government, Locke's most important political work, he uses natural law to ground his philosophy. But there are many different interpretations of the natural law, from the Ciceronian to the ... ? Some argue that this is a misguided question. They say that Locke's political philosophy is not based on natural law at all, but instead on n...

  • Word Count: 550
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3. Logic, Ethics and Philosophy

... can be divided into two parts descriptive and normative. Descriptive statements assert a fact without evaluation. Normative statements make value judgments. Social and political philosophy value judgments in the state and society. Aesthetics is the philosophy of art and beauty. The philosopher as a physician Philosophical questions aren't simple at all but very complex. When trying to solve philosophical questions you have ... faces two problems. First it would make the goodness of God redundant and second it makes morality arbitrary. In dealing with The Natural Law theory the most influ...

  • Word Count: 2506
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4. Logic, Ethics and Philosophy

... can be divided into two parts descriptive and normative. Descriptive statements assert a fact without evaluation. Normative statements make value judgments. Social and political philosophy value judgments in the state and society. Aesthetics is the philosophy of art and beauty. The philosopher as a physician Philosophical questions aren't simple at all but very complex. When trying to solve philosophical questions you have ... faces two problems. First it would make the goodness of God redundant and second it makes morality arbitrary. In dealing with The Natural Law theory the most influ...

  • Word Count: 2506
  • Approx Pages: 10

5. The Illusion of Utopia

... like Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu and Jean Jacques Rousseau dreamed of recreating the best aspects of former political systems through improving people. Condorcet was even more flowing with confidence in people, and made additions to the philosophy of his Enlightenment counterparts. The views of these thinkers were greatly influenced by political predecessors from three countries and influenced three ... or blank slate) for the natural man was greatly influential in that it meant that man makes his own destiny. Locke wanted to combine natural law and utilitarian philos...

  • Word Count: 14382
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6. William of ockham

... court of law. Rather the donation amounts only to a kind of permission that restores the original natural (not legal) right of use in the Garden of Eden As stated above, Ockham was one of the first medieval philosophers who proposed the separation of the church and of the state. Thus there are elements in his ecclesiology and political philosophy that anticipate the views of Locke, ... never intended to write his "political- writings for the purpose of contributing something to political philosophy but he instead intends his writings to oust a pseudo-pope from office. His premises were d...

  • Word Count: 4607
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7. Philosophy

... philosophers is that he felt one must live in moderation in order to be just and remain to be just. This thought of giving up some of our passions goes against most of Liberalism and the Modern and Post-Modern eras of philosophy. The later tried to protect passions and used passion to show a driving force for action in conjunction with reason. Also in contrast ... later intellectuals such as Martin Luther to question the authority of the church and cause decay of the Holy Roman Empire. Influenced by Aristotle, Aquinas brought more credence to the rule of law by stating the "Natural Law,...

  • Word Count: 2968
  • Approx Pages: 12
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8. Mahatma Gandhi - Visionary of Equality

... inequality. While fighting discrimination in South Africa, Gandhi came up with his own philosophy, Satyagraha. This literally means "truth force"." However in this sense "truth " could mean "natural right ". Satyagraha is a form of nonviolent resistance. A person who practices Satyagraha would resist injustice by refusing to cooperate with an unjust law. When resisting and injustice , they would not get angry, would put up freely ... with physical assault, and would not use foul language to disrespect their opponent. The overall goal of this form of protest was to correct the unjust law...

  • Word Count: 1010
  • Approx Pages: 4
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9. Social And Political Bases Of Terrorism

... and his misguided philosophy was, any type of tactic regardless of innocent bystanders or moral boundaries is right and proper through the act of Jihad. Reviving the use of Jihad by enforcing Ancient Sacred Terror was the premise of his pamphlet. David C. Rapoport states it well in his essay Sacred Terror that Al-Jihad's ultimate objective is a world governed by the Islamic sacred law or Shar'ia ... (Rapoport, gtd in Reich 109). The group's philosophy of reviving Islam through the return of Jihad -is the essential ... means for reviving Islam, making it the responsibility of all able-b...

  • Word Count: 1827
  • Approx Pages: 7
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  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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