Questions tagged [philosophy-of-law]
Philosophy of law (or legal philosophy) is concerned with providing a general philosophical analysis of law and legal institutions. (ref. [IEP](https://iep.utm.edu/law-phil/)
169 questions
3
votes
3
answers
452
views
What determines your “awareness” when it comes to being criminally responsible for murder?
I recently came across an (admittedly) infuriating case in Canada where a person stabbed, dismembered, and literally cannibalized a man in a bus. He was later deemed not criminally responsible since ...
- 2,684
1
vote
0
answers
38
views
Does Hobbes believe that law is simply what an authority commands we ought to do?
I am currently reading about the differences between Spinoza and Hobbes on the subject of Divine Law, and I have a question about Hobbes’ views in this context.
Note that I am aware that both Spinoza ...
- 121
0
votes
2
answers
134
views
AI Safety - Elon Musk - You have to create a maximally truth-seeking AI that loves humanity. Did philosophers develop these ideas for human ethics?
https://youtu.be/mofEOSUkMpA?t=373
Elon Musk is an advocate for free speech. Free speech includes the liberty to lie to each other with punishment reserved for actionable fraud claims and perjury. ...
- 3,198
1
vote
1
answer
44
views
Is the law of self-preservation a Divine law in Hobbes's view?
I am currently reading about Spinoza's notion of Divine Law in the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus and its relation to Hobbes' account of the ‘Fundamental Law of Nature' in De Cive II. While I have a ...
- 121
1
vote
1
answer
107
views
In a democracy, what are the philosophical justifications for protection of minorities?
Democracy is characterised as rule by the people or rule by the majority. However, it has long been recognised that the majority cannot, without good reason, infringe the rights of minorities. Free ...
- 3,025
4
votes
5
answers
364
views
How can moral responsibility be attributed for civilian casualties in war?
If we allocate the direct moral responsibility for the killing of non-military actors, either incidentally or intentionally, to people who most immediately committed the act of killing (squeezing a ...
- 3,924
-2
votes
2
answers
237
views
Are social media an example of Harry Frankfurt's "bullshit"?
Harry Frankfurt in On Bullshit, states that bullshitters care not for truth. It seems that so-called social media, or antisocial media, care not for truth. It directs attention to lies and matters out ...
- 3,025
1
vote
4
answers
143
views
Is it ethical to punish the buyers of sex but not the vendors? [closed]
In Sweden, it is illegal to buy sexual services, but there are not punitive measures against those who sell sexual services. This is to curb the incidence of prostitution in society without punishing ...
- 3,924
0
votes
0
answers
29
views
Is Plato's Political Philosophy of the Best Regime in The Laws or The Republic?
Cornel West argues in his Gifford Lectures (2024) the following:
Plato's Laws is in many ways superior to The Republic. Yet it is often told that The Laws represents the "second" best or ...
- 2,241
0
votes
0
answers
18
views
How can a term for a moral concept be "used as a shorthand for one or more concepts which do have a legal meaning"?
Aren't the sentences in bold contradictory? If "There is no legal concept of ownership", then how can Ownership be "used as a shorthand for one or more concepts which do have a legal ...
- 108
4
votes
4
answers
128
views
How's Ownership a "moral concept", BUT NOT a legal concept?
I'm assuming that "moral concept" means concept in morality, ethics? What does it mean for any concept (let alone Ownership) to be moral, but NOT legal? Please explain the sentences in bold ...
- 108
0
votes
0
answers
25
views
Is this a good model for how people coexist with each other?
A model for how people coexist with each other.
I recently read these two books by David Graeber and I've been dipping lightly into related topics of philosophy and sociology.
Debt: The First 5,000 ...
- 121
6
votes
2
answers
152
views
Does epistemology categorize knowledge into 5 categories, like Justice Peter Gibson did?
Is Justice Peter Gibson partaking in epistemology below? He graduated in 1955 from Oxford in Literae Humaniores that offers philosophy, before he became a justice. But he's not a professional ...
- 63
0
votes
0
answers
67
views
Does impersonation heighten the evil of an immoral behaviour, perhaps similarly to illegality?
Does impersonation heighten the evil of an immoral behaviour, perhaps similarly to illegality might? I tend to think of just laws doing exactly that, and suspect that impersonating, e.g. by identity ...
user71399
-1
votes
1
answer
76
views
Should we sometimes let a criminal confess in exchange for no penalties [closed]
Let us assume there is a murder case. The court after investigation sentences a man, who in reality is not a murderer, to death. An innocent person is going to be executed while the real criminal is ...
12
votes
7
answers
11k
views
Why "guilty" or "not guilty" but not "guilty" or "innocent"?
Why do some courts (like those in America) decide through the dictum "guilty"(g) or "not guilty"(~g) instead of using the term "innocent"(i) for "not guilty"(~g)...
- 378
2
votes
3
answers
113
views
Which are or were those ideas considered "natural rights"?
Before the appearence of the idea of "human rights" after the second world war (though some says not the term but a similar term and a similar idea, "rights of the man" appeared ...
- 807
7
votes
4
answers
337
views
Would reincarnated prisoners be morally obligated to finish their sentence?
For context, this question came from discussions around some sentence lengths seen in the US prison system - where individuals can end up being sentenced for terms far exceeding their possible natural ...
- 81
0
votes
1
answer
43
views
Why is it that the precedent of breaking a bad law might weaken the force, and lead to discretionary violation of those which are good?
It's an opinion expressed by Thomas Paine in his book 'Rights of Man'.
- 349
3
votes
5
answers
641
views
On a reductionist/functionalist account of consciousness, would we have ethical obligations toward robots?
If consciousness arises from specific functions instantiated by physical systems, consider a robot with functions mirroring those found in carbon-based life, particularly in humans. Would this imply ...
user66156
3
votes
3
answers
173
views
When is a legal failing an injustice?
When is a legal failing, failing to apply the law, an injustice?
Some serious crimes, rape and murder being the most obvious, might well be injustices when not punished, simply becasue justice surely ...
user67675
4
votes
1
answer
201
views
Seeking references on the ontological basis of 'cultural appropriation' to cure my confusion
Disclaimer: Cultural appropriation is an emotionally charged topic and is criticized by a number of intellectuals, and my intent is to determine the philosophical grounding of the topic through vetted ...
- 35.5k
4
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Is the Law of Excluded Middle an allowed argument in court?
Is the Law of Excluded Middle a valid deduction rule in court? If not, is it reasonable to say that all arguments in court must be "constructive in nature"?
As an example, consider this ...
- 157
24
votes
12
answers
6k
views
Could law be written in formal logic?
I essentially have two questions:
Could law be written in formal logic?
If that's indeed possible, should it be?
I see possible drawbacks being:
Difficulty to express certain concepts, I can't ...
- 341
2
votes
2
answers
208
views
Has anyone tried the Rearden defense?
My question requires some context – please bear with me.
In Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged, industrialist Hank Rearden violates the so-called 'fair share' law by doing business with another character. ...
- 863
4
votes
6
answers
458
views
When is someone culpable for being tricked
Hypothetical and odd scenario. Person A is tricked into thinking person B is threatening them, and so destroys both their lives. Person A can very easily check if it's real, but refuses to. Person B ...
user67675
3
votes
4
answers
348
views
Does choice exist?
I've been thinking about a few legal quotes that have initiated my investigation into whether or not choice actually exists:
A "universal and persistent" foundation stone in our system of ...
1
vote
1
answer
98
views
Is it possible to punish acts without punishing the actor?
A common argument to say that one should take downvotes as judge of content quality, not character, but it seems apparent to me that to judge quality is to judge character. I explain my argument below....
- 2,336
4
votes
7
answers
3k
views
Why is it justified to break a "bad" law because it's bad?
Consider for example Piracy. Many people justify piracy of academic books by certain popular publisher based on the fact that these publishers don't give any money to the people who actually create ...
- 2,336
9
votes
8
answers
5k
views
Should I ever be influenced by an argument that I can't understand?
[Edit: Please read the whole question, or at least the new "N.b" paragraph, that I added just now to the end of the question, before attempting to answer it.]
I'm asking this because ...
7
votes
7
answers
3k
views
What are philosophical arguments for the position that Intelligent Design is nothing but "Creationism in disguise"?
I would like to start this question quoting one of the comments to this answer to the question Does Intelligent Design (ID) entail an infinite regress of designers, and if so, is that problematic?.
...
user66156
2
votes
0
answers
79
views
Philosophy of the "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine
I'm looking for reference works in the fields of the Philosophy of Law and Political Science on the subject of the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree doctrine: the view that certain products of a legal/...
- 121
13
votes
11
answers
4k
views
Besides state punishment, are there any other reasons why one should not do crimes?
Committing crime can result in punishment by the judiciary.
Assuming extreme skepticism and that there is no flawless proof of an absolute goodness, are there any reasons that why one should not do ...
- 233
-2
votes
3
answers
141
views
Can a trier-of-fact in a U.S.-based criminal trial overcome the observer's paradox in order to represent itself as an impartial trier-of-fact? [closed]
This post is to ask the entitled question, "Can a trier-of-fact in a U.S.-based criminal trial overcome the observer's paradox in order to represent itself as an impartial trier-of-fact?" I ...
0
votes
5
answers
967
views
Do judges violate due process in their efforts to make a logical connection between would-be evidence and facts in question?
Note: I had this post with a question that follows, but then I reformed the question again. I've used ChatGPT to help me research this issue, and I think it has been somewhat helpful.
For anyone ...
-1
votes
2
answers
71
views
Jurisprudence and logic: Is it a necessary criterion for a claim to be declared sound that there be no evidence to the contrary as to its soundness?
So, I've been generating various arguments (such as related to the synthesis of legal arguments), and I have been doing my best to figure out how to declare that a particular claim is not sound. For ...
-1
votes
1
answer
75
views
do courts or judges ever have an ethical responsibility to interpret a law a certain way?
assuming courts have the power to interpret a law as they see fit (subject to removal of judges through various procedures) do they have an ethical responsibility to interpret a law a certain way even ...
- 163
4
votes
5
answers
1k
views
Can non-agents be moral or immoral?
Human children and non-human animals are denied moral status or equal consideration with human adults due to their lack of consciousness, reason or autonomy
They are not moral agents or subjects of ...
- 2,009
0
votes
4
answers
114
views
(philosophy of law) how broadly can statutes be interpreted by courts? [closed]
In constitutions and legal systems like that of America , Australia and India (and other states with separation of powers), if a statute has more than one possible interpretation, then can and should ...
- 163
1
vote
6
answers
1k
views
Why is consent important?
We cannot see or feel consent. Why is it important when its existence cannot be proven?
The importance of consent seems to rely on the principle of respect for autonomy or self-determination; for one ...
- 2,009
0
votes
2
answers
121
views
What do atheists (atheistic philosophers) think about the Spirit of Law? [closed]
I thought that spirit is something belongs to the god's nature or to God. How I should to understand the existence of the Spirit of Law? Are the laws the documents, rules and instructions written on ...
- 615
5
votes
8
answers
605
views
Why is the rule of the law so easily damaged or broken?
Why is the rule of law so difficult to keep once established? Is it because of the limitation of law, or something to do with human emotions and behavior? We cannot break laws of nature, but law made ...
- 1,982
4
votes
4
answers
177
views
what does "universal experience of a transcendental subject" mean?
I've been reading Bourdieu, P. (1986). The force of law: Toward a sociology of the juridical field. Hastings LJ, 38, 805. and encountered the concept on page 819.
The tendency to conceive of the ...
- 41
0
votes
1
answer
71
views
How have successful governments legislated morality?
In what ways has law fostered a culture of clear morality? Are there objective measurements to state what would be beneficial to the people which laws are meant for? I'm very interested in ways that ...
- 11
2
votes
2
answers
215
views
Has there ever been a society with merged ethics and law?
The so-called ethics-law divide is pervasive in most cultures nowadays. Not all unethical acts are punishable by the state or defined in its positive law, and occasionally societies formally ban ...
- 259
1
vote
3
answers
358
views
Should our morals be encoded in laws, and if not, what should?
Laws, to some degree, encode what society finds acceptable and moral(?).
Personal ethical values however often conflict with each other - take as example the topic of abortion in the US, and the topic ...
- 2,843
-1
votes
2
answers
137
views
Are crimes worse just because they are crimes (with an example from sexual assault)
I apologise if this needs a TRIGGER WARNING,
I in no way whatsoever wish to trivialise anyone's experiences or moral guilt.
Clearly, not every law is moral and not every moral obligation is legally ...
user62133
0
votes
1
answer
86
views
How do proponents of the New Natural Law Theory (NNLT), such as John Finnis & Germain Grisez, define natural law?
I looked in the main books of NNLT, namely Natural Law and Natural Rights by John Finnis and The Way of the Lord Jesus by Germain Grisez, but I did not find a definition of natural law.
- 21
0
votes
8
answers
200
views
Objectiv requirements for human rights/natural rights
Some ethical problems I've run into while writing a story set in a near future where general artificial intelligence, mind upload and radical genetic engineering are a thing.
If you could scan someone'...
- 167
0
votes
0
answers
76
views
Formal definition of "natural" and "naturalness" for the ethics and moral philosophy of "natural law"?
Every object is the combinatorial combination of atoms (or quarks/gluons/leptons if we dive deeper to the elements). Is there formal definition which combinations of atoms are "natural" and ...
- 179