On Philosophy in American Law

by Francis J. Mootz III

Overview

In recent years there has been tremendous growth of interest in the connections between law and philosophy, but the diversity of approaches that claim to be working at the intersection of philosophy and law might suggest that this area of inquiry is so fractured as to be incoherent. This volume gathers 38 leading scholars working in law and philosophy to provide focused and straightforward articulations of the role that philosophy might play at this juncture of American legal history. The volume marks the 75th anniversary of Karl Llewellyn’s essay “On Philosophy in American Law,” in which he rehearsed the broad development of American jurisprudence, diagnosed its contemporary failings, and then charted a productive path opened by the variegated scholarship that claimed to initiate a realistic approach to law and legal theory. The essays are written in the spirit of Llewellyn’s article: they are succinct and direct arguments about the potential for bringing law and philosophy together.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521883689
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/23/2009
Pages:	332
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Francis J. Mootz III is the author of Rhetorical Knowledge in Legal Practice and Critical Legal Theory (2006) and Law, Rhetoric and Hermeneutics (2010). He is editor of Gadamer and Law (2007) and Nietzsche and Law (2008, with Peter Goodrich). He is also the author of a law casebook, Commercial Transactions: Sales, Leases, and Computer Information, 2nd edition (2008, with David Frisch and Peter Alces). He has published numerous articles in a variety of journals, including law reviews and peer-reviewed journals. Professor Mootz is a regular presenter at academic symposia focusing on issues of legal theory. He is a member of the editorial advisory board of the interdisciplinary journals Law, Culture and the Humanities and International Journal for the Semiotics of Law and is a member of the Organizing Committee of the Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities. He is an active member of the Association of American Law Schools, the North American Society for Philosophical Hermeneutics, the Law and Society Association, the Society for Ricoeur Studies and the Rhetoric Society of America. He currently is the William S. Boyd Professor of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Prior to accepting this appointment, he was the Samuel Weiss Distinguished Faculty Scholar and Professor of Law at the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University.

Table of Contents

Part I. Karl Llewellyn and the Course of Philosophy in American Law: 1. On philosophy in American law K. N. Llewellyn; 2. Law in life, life in law: Llewellyn's legal realism revisited Jan M. Broekman; 3. On realism's own 'hangover' of natural law philosophy: Llewellyn Avec Dooyeweerd and David S. Claudill; 4. On the instrumental view of law in American legal culture Brian Z. Tamanaha; 5. When things went terribly, terribly wrong Steven L. Winter; 6. The mechanics of perfection: philosophy, theology and the perfection of American law Larry Cata Backer; Part II. Philosophical Perspectives on Law: 7. Toward normative jurisprudence Robin West; 8. Critical legal theory today Jack M. Balkin; 9. Reviving the subject of law Penelope Pether; 10. Law and creativity George H. Taylor; 11. The stories of American law Robert L. Hayman, Jr and Nancy Levit; Part III. Areas of Philosophy and Their Relationship to Law: 12. On philosophy in American law: analytical legal philosophy Brian H. Bix; 13. Political philosophy and prosecutorial power Austin Sarat and Connor Clarke; 14. On (moral) philosophy and American legal scholarship Matthew D. Adler; 15. The aretaic turn in American philosophy of law Lawrence B. Solum; 16. On continental philosophy in American jurisprudence Adam Thurschwell; 17. Psychoanalysis as the jurisprudence of freedom Jeanne L. Schroeder and David Gray Carlson; Part IV. Philosophical Examinations of Legal Issues: 18. Law as premise Frank I. Michelman; 19. Doing justice to justice: Paul Ricoeur on justice David Fisher; 20. Love is all you need: freedom of thought versus freedom of action Eugene Garver; 21. Legal philosophy over the next century (while we wait for the personal rocket transportation we were promised) R. George Wright; 22. Atmospherics: abortion law and philosophy Anita L. Allen; Part V. Law, Rhetoric and Practice Theory: 23. Foundationalism and ground truth in American legal philosophy: classical rhetoric, realism and pragmatism Eileen A. Scallen; 24. The irrelevance of contemporary academic philosophy for law: recovering the rhetorical tradition Francis J. Mootz III; 25. Dicta Peter Goodrich; 26. Recent and future concepts of law: from conceptual analysis to a practice theory of law Dennis Patterson; 27. The tasks of a philosophy of law Robert P. Burns; Part VI. Questioning the Relationship between Philosophy and American Law: 28. Law and philosophy at odds Larry Alexander and Emily Sherwin; 29. Jurisprudence: beyond extinction? Steven D. Smith; 30. It is what it is Pierre Schlag; 31. Philosophy? In American law? Philippe Nonet; Part VII. Commentaries: 32. Optimism and pessimism in American legal philosophy Carlos Ball; 33. The jurisprudential moment Marianne Constable; 34. Fresh looks, philosophy in action and American law Michael Sullivan.