Legal philosophy

the most important controversies

Cees Maris

Frans Jacobs

pp. 1-41

in: Cees Maris, Frans Jacobs (eds), Law, order and freedom, Berlin, Springer, 2012

Abstract

Chapter 1 lists and discusses the central problems of legal philosophy such as the following: What is law, and why should one follow its rules? What is the connection between law and morality, particularly justice, on the one hand, and between law and power on the other? What does justice entail? The chapter furthermore discusses the various philosophical accounts of these central problems, that is, natural law, legal positivism, and their critics. This includes a discussion of (legal) philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Habermas, Austin, Hart, Dworkin and Kennedy, some of whom are discussed in greater detail in subsequent chapters. The chapter also seeks answers to the question whether the debate between natural law and legal positivism is still relevant today, especially in democratic constitutional states which have incorporated the Enlightenment values, that is, liberty, equality, and (to a lesser degree) fraternity.

Cited authors

Aristoteles

Plato

Habermas Jürgen