Philosophical Foundations of the Nature of Law

In recent years we have witnessed major developments in philosophical inquiry concerning the nature of law and, with the continuing development of international and transnational legal institutions, in the phenomenon of law itself. This volume gathers leading writers in the field to take stock of current debates on the nature of law and the aims and methods of legal philosophy. The volume covers four broad themes. The essays within the first theme address and develop the traditional debates between legal positivism, natural law theory, and Dworkinian interpretivism. Papers within the second theme focus on the power of coercion, often overlooked in contemporary legal philosophy. The third set of papers addresses the aims and methods of legal theory, and the role of conceptual analysis. The final section explores new methods and issues in the subject, and offers fresh starting points for future work in the field. Gathering many leading and up-and-coming writers in the subject, the volume offers a snapshot of the best current work in general jurisprudence.PART I. FURTHERING DEBATE BETWEEN THE LEADING THEORIES OF LAW ; 1. The Explanatory Indispensability of Weak Natural Law Theory ; 2. In Defense of Hart ; 3. Law's Authority Is Not a Claim to Preemption ; 4. The Normative Fallacy Regarding Law's Authority and Its Significance to Legal Philosophy ; 5. The Nature of Law and Legal Rationality: Towards an Integrative Jurisprudence ; PART II. THE POWER OF LEGAL SYSTEMS ; 6. Law as Power: Two Rules of Law Requirements ; 7. Hart and Austin Together Again for the First Time: Coercive Enforcement and the Theory of Legal Obligation ; 8. Law and the Entitlement to Coerce ; PART III. CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS ; 9. Farewell to Conceptual Analysis (in Jurisprudence) ; 10. What Do We Want Law to Be? Philosophical Analysis and the Concept of Law ; PART IV. NEW DIRECTIONS ; 11. Legal as a Thick Concept ; 12. Making Old Questions New: Law, Legal System, and State ; 13. Legal Disagreements and the Dual Nature of Law ; 14. One Right Answer? The Meta Edition