...

This course is an introduction to philosophical debates about the nature, source, and authority of law. The fundamental question we will explore is “what is law?” but we will also consider how natural law theorists, positivists, realists, and critical legal scholars answer questions such as: Are there different kinds of law? Is law based on universal principles or does it depend on context? What is the relationship between law and justice? What is the source of law? Who is authorized to interpret law and what are the principles of its interpretation? When and why is punishment justified? When and why should individual rights be limited?

PSC

...

Instructor: Dennis Rasmussen

Class #: 20649

Offered: M/W 2:15 pm – 3:35 pm

Frequency Offered: Special Offering

Prerequisites: None

Course Description

This course will examine the creation of the basic framework for America’s government and laws, the U.S. Constitution. The first half of the course will focus on the debates at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, which formulated and proposed the Constitution, and the second half will focus on the ratification debates between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists in 1787-88. A study of these debates allows us to see the choices that were made—as well as the arguments behind the choices that were made—in the creation of the world’s longest-lasting and most influential national constitution.

PSC 382 m001 Contemporary Political Philosophy

...