Allan C. Hutchinson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195343250
- eISBN:
- 9780199867752
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343250.003.0009
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
This chapter pulls together the main threads of the argument presented in the book and defends this proposed revitalization of legal theory as an adjunct location of democratic politics more ...
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This chapter pulls together the main threads of the argument presented in the book and defends this proposed revitalization of legal theory as an adjunct location of democratic politics more generally. After tackling the contested relationship between philosophical pragmatism and political democracy, it defends strong democracy as an institutional complement to the experimentalist bent of pragmatic theorizing. It then rounds out the defense of the political province of democratic legal theory by brief reference to the literary insights of George Eliot's Middlemarch.Less
This chapter pulls together the main threads of the argument presented in the book and defends this proposed revitalization of legal theory as an adjunct location of democratic politics more generally. After tackling the contested relationship between philosophical pragmatism and political democracy, it defends strong democracy as an institutional complement to the experimentalist bent of pragmatic theorizing. It then rounds out the defense of the political province of democratic legal theory by brief reference to the literary insights of George Eliot's Middlemarch.
Jules Coleman
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199264124
- eISBN:
- 9780191707698
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199264124.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
This book expands the argument introduced in the Clarendon Lectures in Law presented at Oxford University in the fall of 1998. It introduces and attempts to sustain two different kinds of arguments; ...
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This book expands the argument introduced in the Clarendon Lectures in Law presented at Oxford University in the fall of 1998. It introduces and attempts to sustain two different kinds of arguments; the aim is not only to defend a range of views of substantive issues in legal theory, but also to vindicate by example a certain methodological approach to such issues — an approach whose fundamental commitments are those of philosophical pragmatism. The book advances three main theses. Part I defends the view that the core of tort law is best understood as embodying the principle of corrective justice. Part II defends a version of inclusive legal positivism. Part III defends what has been called ‘descriptive jurisprudence’.Less
This book expands the argument introduced in the Clarendon Lectures in Law presented at Oxford University in the fall of 1998. It introduces and attempts to sustain two different kinds of arguments; the aim is not only to defend a range of views of substantive issues in legal theory, but also to vindicate by example a certain methodological approach to such issues — an approach whose fundamental commitments are those of philosophical pragmatism. The book advances three main theses. Part I defends the view that the core of tort law is best understood as embodying the principle of corrective justice. Part II defends a version of inclusive legal positivism. Part III defends what has been called ‘descriptive jurisprudence’.
Brian Z. Tamanaha
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198298250
- eISBN:
- 9780191685392
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198298250.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
Drawing on philosophical pragmatism, the author formulates a framework for a realistic approach to socio-legal theory. The strengths of this approach are contrasted with that of the major schools of ...
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Drawing on philosophical pragmatism, the author formulates a framework for a realistic approach to socio-legal theory. The strengths of this approach are contrasted with that of the major schools of socio-legal theory by application to core issues in this area. Thus the author explores the problematic state of socio-legal studies, the relationship between behaviour and meaning, the notion of legal ideology, the problem of indeterminacy in rule following and application, and the structure of judicial decision making. These issues are tackled in a clear and concise fashion while articulating a social theory of law that draws equally from legal theory and socio-legal theory.Less
Drawing on philosophical pragmatism, the author formulates a framework for a realistic approach to socio-legal theory. The strengths of this approach are contrasted with that of the major schools of socio-legal theory by application to core issues in this area. Thus the author explores the problematic state of socio-legal studies, the relationship between behaviour and meaning, the notion of legal ideology, the problem of indeterminacy in rule following and application, and the structure of judicial decision making. These issues are tackled in a clear and concise fashion while articulating a social theory of law that draws equally from legal theory and socio-legal theory.
Sidney A. Shapiro and Joseph P. Tomain
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199965540
- eISBN:
- 9780199360833
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199965540.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
Chapter 1 opens Part I of the book and explains the relationship among these ideas. The goal of the chapter is to show that an active government contributes to a democratic society. The chapter ...
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Chapter 1 opens Part I of the book and explains the relationship among these ideas. The goal of the chapter is to show that an active government contributes to a democratic society. The chapter explores the fundamental principles of American philosophical pragmatism such as instrumentalism that reveals that pragmatism rejects dogma and ideology. American pragmatism is also experimental and is guided by a goal to solve problems with regulatory structures that work. In order to determine which regulatory tools should be adopted and implemented, those proposals must be discussed widely in “communities of inquiry.” Such communities constitute the democratic nature of American pragmatism. The progressive strain in American pragmatism is based upon the idea that new regulatory forms, new ideas, and new institutions are essential ingredients to a better future.Less
Chapter 1 opens Part I of the book and explains the relationship among these ideas. The goal of the chapter is to show that an active government contributes to a democratic society. The chapter explores the fundamental principles of American philosophical pragmatism such as instrumentalism that reveals that pragmatism rejects dogma and ideology. American pragmatism is also experimental and is guided by a goal to solve problems with regulatory structures that work. In order to determine which regulatory tools should be adopted and implemented, those proposals must be discussed widely in “communities of inquiry.” Such communities constitute the democratic nature of American pragmatism. The progressive strain in American pragmatism is based upon the idea that new regulatory forms, new ideas, and new institutions are essential ingredients to a better future.
Sidney A. Shapiro and Joseph P. Tomain
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199965540
- eISBN:
- 9780199360833
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199965540.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law
In the last thirty years, as a result of a neoliberal ideology that extolled so-called free markets and demonized government, America has lost its grasp on its core principle – democracy. Democracy, ...
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In the last thirty years, as a result of a neoliberal ideology that extolled so-called free markets and demonized government, America has lost its grasp on its core principle – democracy. Democracy, the ability of all Americans to participate freely and equally in the political and economic affairs of the country, suffered demonstrable losses. Economically, over the period, the vast majority of Americans have been made worse off as a result of the largest redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top in American history. Politically, partisan gridlock and sound-bite politics have hampered efforts to seek fairer taxes, responsive and effective regulation, reliable health care, and better education, among other needs. This book explores this last generation of neoliberal government and concludes that those democratic losses can be regained. We know from experience that philosophical pragmatism and political progressivism express the country's creedal democratic values. More simply, our country's political commitment to expanding liberty, equality, and distributive fairness – bedrock values of modern democracy – is historically embedded and has yielded measurable gains. Democracy, American-style, outlawed legally sanctioned racism and sexism, fashioned the American Dream, and created the middle class, among other gains, while at the same time the United States became a global leader in economic and military power. More particularly, those gains were realized through an active, robust, and participatory government. As in the past, a sound regulatory state, while not perfect and in need of reform, is the vehicle to achieve the Constitution's goal of “a more perfect union.”Less
In the last thirty years, as a result of a neoliberal ideology that extolled so-called free markets and demonized government, America has lost its grasp on its core principle – democracy. Democracy, the ability of all Americans to participate freely and equally in the political and economic affairs of the country, suffered demonstrable losses. Economically, over the period, the vast majority of Americans have been made worse off as a result of the largest redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top in American history. Politically, partisan gridlock and sound-bite politics have hampered efforts to seek fairer taxes, responsive and effective regulation, reliable health care, and better education, among other needs. This book explores this last generation of neoliberal government and concludes that those democratic losses can be regained. We know from experience that philosophical pragmatism and political progressivism express the country's creedal democratic values. More simply, our country's political commitment to expanding liberty, equality, and distributive fairness – bedrock values of modern democracy – is historically embedded and has yielded measurable gains. Democracy, American-style, outlawed legally sanctioned racism and sexism, fashioned the American Dream, and created the middle class, among other gains, while at the same time the United States became a global leader in economic and military power. More particularly, those gains were realized through an active, robust, and participatory government. As in the past, a sound regulatory state, while not perfect and in need of reform, is the vehicle to achieve the Constitution's goal of “a more perfect union.”
