The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Posner, Richard A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Law and ethics.

Law--Philosophy.

Law.

Law--United States--Methodology.

Sociological jurisprudence.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (335 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Harvard University Press, 1999.

Summary:

Ambitious legal thinkers have become mesmerized by moral philosophy, believing that great figures in the philosophical tradition hold the keys to understanding and improving law and justice and even to resolving the most contentious issues of constitutional law. They are wrong, contends Richard Posner in this book. Posner characterizes the current preoccupation with moral and constitutional theory as the latest form of legal mystification—an evasion of the real need of American law, which is for a greater understanding of the social, economic, and political facts out of which great legal controversies arise. In pursuit of that understanding, Posner advocates a rebuilding of the law on the pragmatic basis of open-minded and systematic empirical inquiry and the rejection of cant and nostalgia—the true professionalism foreseen by Oliver Wendell Holmes a century ago. A bracing book that pulls no punches and leaves no pieties unpunctured or sacred cows unkicked, The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory offers a sweeping tour of the current scene in legal studies—and a hopeful prospect for its future.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

I The Wrong Turn

1 Moral Theory

2 Legal Theory, Moral Themes

II The Way Out

3 Professionalism

4 Pragmatism

Index

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Posner, Richard A. The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory

ISBN:

9780674042230

0674042239

OCLC:

1312726462