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Dr Lewis Ross LAK 401

This course is available on the BSc in Philosophy and Economics, BSc in Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (with a Year Abroad) and BSc in Politics and Philosophy. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

This half-unit course considers a range of philosophical issues raised by the law. No prior legal knowledge is required. The first half of the course discusses big picture questions about the purpose and defensibility of law—for example, scrutinising the obligation to obey the law, the justification of punishment, and the circumstances in which we can engage in civil disobedience. The second half of the course focuses on legal questions of philosophical interest. An indicative list includes: When should a court consider something proven? How should the law use algorithms? Should we defer to juries or professional judges? Does it make sense to treat a corporation as morally responsible? Throughout the course, we explore the connection between legal philosophy and other areas of philosophy—especially moral philosophy, political philosophy, and epistemology.

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the AT.

There will be a student-led group debate for which feedback will be provided.

It will also be compulsory for students to receive preliminary feedback on their summative essay plan through methods such as: submission of an essay plan, presentation to peers, discussion with class teacher.

Delmas, Candice (2018). A Duty to Resist: When Disobedience Should Be Uncivil. New York, USA: Oxford University Press.

Kropotkin, Petr (2015). The Conquest of Bread. Penguin.

Huemer, Michael (2012). The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Nagel, Thomas (1976) Moral Luck. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes. Vol. 50

Jorgensen, Renée (2020). The rational impermissibility of accepting (some) racial generalizations. Synthese 197 (6):2415-2431.

Hoskins, Zachary (2017). Punishment. Analysis 77 (3): 619–632.

Essay (100%, 3000 words) in the WT.

The course will be assessed by a summative essay of 3,000 words, due in WT.