Questions tagged [philosophy-of-law]
Philosophy of law (or legal philosophy) is concerned with providing a general philosophical analysis of law and legal institutions. (ref. [IEP](https://iep.utm.edu/law-phil/)
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Does impersonation heighten the evil of an immoral behaviour, perhaps similarly to illegality?
Does impersonation heighten the evil of an immoral behaviour, perhaps similarly to illegality? I tend to think of just laws doing exactly that, and suspect that impersonating, e.g. by identity theft, ...
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Should we sometimes let a criminal confess in exchange for no penalties [closed]
Let us assume there is a murder case. The court after investigation sentences a man, who in reality is not a murderer, to death. An innocent person is going to be executed while the real criminal is ...
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Why "guilty" or "not guilty" but not "guilty" or "innocent"?
Why do some courts (like those in America) decide through the dictum "guilty"(g) or "not guilty"(~g) instead of using the term "innocent"(i) for "not guilty"(~g)...
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Would reincarnated prisoners be morally obligated to finish their sentence?
For context, this question came from discussions around some sentence lengths seen in the US prison system - where individuals can end up being sentenced for terms far exceeding their possible natural ...
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Why is it that the precedent of breaking a bad law might weaken the force, and lead to discretionary violation of those which are good?
It's an opinion expressed by Thomas Paine in his book 'Rights of Man'.
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On a reductionist/functionalist account of consciousness, would we have ethical obligations toward robots?
If consciousness arises from specific functions instantiated by physical systems, consider a robot with functions mirroring those found in carbon-based life, particularly in humans. Would this imply ...
user66156
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When is a legal failing an injustice?
When is a legal failing, failing to apply the law, an injustice?
Some serious crimes, rape and murder being the most obvious, might well be injustices when not punished, simply becasue justice surely ...
user67675
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Seeking references on the ontological basis of 'cultural appropriation' to cure my confusion
Disclaimer: Cultural appropriation is an emotionally charged topic and is criticized by a number of intellectuals, and my intent is to determine the philosophical grounding of the topic through vetted ...
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Is the Law of Excluded Middle an allowed argument in court?
Is the Law of Excluded Middle a valid deduction rule in court? If not, is it reasonable to say that all arguments in court must be "constructive in nature"?
As an example, consider this ...
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Could law be written in formal logic?
I essentially have two questions:
Could law be written in formal logic?
If that's indeed possible, should it be?
I see possible drawbacks being:
Difficulty to express certain concepts, I can't ...
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Has anyone tried the Rearden defense?
My question requires some context – please bear with me.
In Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged, industrialist Hank Rearden violates the so-called 'fair share' law by doing business with another character. ...
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When is someone culpable for being tricked
Hypothetical and odd scenario. Person A is tricked into thinking person B is threatening them, and so destroys both their lives. Person A can very easily check if it's real, but refuses to. Person B ...
user67675
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Does choice exist?
I've been thinking about a few legal quotes that have initiated my investigation into whether or not choice actually exists:
A "universal and persistent" foundation stone in our system of ...
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Is it possible to punish acts without punishing the actor?
A common argument to say that one should take downvotes as judge of content quality, not character, but it seems apparent to me that to judge quality is to judge character. I explain my argument below....
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Why is it justified to break a "bad" law because it's bad?
Consider for example Piracy. Many people justify piracy of academic books by certain popular publisher based on the fact that these publishers don't give any money to the people who actually create ...
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Should I ever be influenced by an argument that I can't understand?
[Edit: Please read the whole question, or at least the new "N.b" paragraph, that I added just now to the end of the question, before attempting to answer it.]
I'm asking this because ...
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What are philosophical arguments for the position that Intelligent Design is nothing but "Creationism in disguise"?
I would like to start this question quoting one of the comments to this answer to the question Does Intelligent Design (ID) entail an infinite regress of designers, and if so, is that problematic?.
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user66156
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Philosophy of the "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine
I'm looking for reference works in the fields of the Philosophy of Law and Political Science on the subject of the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree doctrine: the view that certain products of a legal/...
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Besides state punishment, are there any other reasons why one should not do crimes?
Committing crime can result in punishment by the judiciary.
Assuming extreme skepticism and that there is no flawless proof of an absolute goodness, are there any reasons that why one should not do ...
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Can a trier-of-fact in a U.S.-based criminal trial overcome the observer's paradox in order to represent itself as an impartial trier-of-fact? [closed]
This post is to ask the entitled question, "Can a trier-of-fact in a U.S.-based criminal trial overcome the observer's paradox in order to represent itself as an impartial trier-of-fact?" I ...
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Do judges violate due process in their efforts to make a logical connection between would-be evidence and facts in question?
Note: I had this post with a question that follows, but then I reformed the question again. I've used ChatGPT to help me research this issue, and I think it has been somewhat helpful.
For anyone ...
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Jurisprudence and logic: Is it a necessary criterion for a claim to be declared sound that there be no evidence to the contrary as to its soundness?
So, I've been generating various arguments (such as related to the synthesis of legal arguments), and I have been doing my best to figure out how to declare that a particular claim is not sound. For ...
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do courts or judges ever have an ethical responsibility to interpret a law a certain way?
assuming courts have the power to interpret a law as they see fit (subject to removal of judges through various procedures) do they have an ethical responsibility to interpret a law a certain way even ...
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Can non-agents be moral or immoral?
Human children and non-human animals are denied moral status or equal consideration with human adults due to their lack of consciousness, reason or autonomy
They are not moral agents or subjects of ...
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(philosophy of law) how broadly can statutes be interpreted by courts? [closed]
In constitutions and legal systems like that of America , Australia and India (and other states with separation of powers), if a statute has more than one possible interpretation, then can and should ...
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Why is consent important?
We cannot see or feel consent. Why is it important when its existence cannot be proven?
The importance of consent seems to rely on the principle of respect for autonomy or self-determination; for one ...
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What do atheists (atheistic philosophers) think about the Spirit of Law? [closed]
I thought that spirit is something belongs to the god's nature or to God. How I should to understand the existence of the Spirit of Law? Are the laws the documents, rules and instructions written on ...
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Why is the rule of the law so easily damaged or broken?
Why is the rule of law so difficult to keep once established? Is it because of the limitation of law, or something to do with human emotions and behavior? We cannot break laws of nature, but law made ...
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what does "universal experience of a transcendental subject" mean?
I've been reading Bourdieu, P. (1986). The force of law: Toward a sociology of the juridical field. Hastings LJ, 38, 805. and encountered the concept on page 819.
The tendency to conceive of the ...
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How have successful governments legislated morality?
In what ways has law fostered a culture of clear morality? Are there objective measurements to state what would be beneficial to the people which laws are meant for? I'm very interested in ways that ...
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Has there ever been a society with merged ethics and law?
The so-called ethics-law divide is pervasive in most cultures nowadays. Not all unethical acts are punishable by the state or defined in its positive law, and occasionally societies formally ban ...
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Should our morals be encoded in laws, and if not, what should?
Laws, to some degree, encode what society finds acceptable and moral(?).
Personal ethical values however often conflict with each other - take as example the topic of abortion in the US, and the topic ...
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Are crimes worse just because they are crimes (with an example from sexual assault)
I apologise if this needs a TRIGGER WARNING,
I in no way whatsoever wish to trivialise anyone's experiences or moral guilt.
Clearly, not every law is moral and not every moral obligation is legally ...
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How do proponents of the New Natural Law Theory (NNLT), such as John Finnis & Germain Grisez, define natural law?
I looked in the main books of NNLT, namely Natural Law and Natural Rights by John Finnis and The Way of the Lord Jesus by Germain Grisez, but I did not find a definition of natural law.
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Objectiv requirements for human rights/natural rights
Some ethical problems I've run into while writing a story set in a near future where general artificial intelligence, mind upload and radical genetic engineering are a thing.
If you could scan someone'...
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Formal definition of "natural" and "naturalness" for the ethics and moral philosophy of "natural law"?
Every object is the combinatorial combination of atoms (or quarks/gluons/leptons if we dive deeper to the elements). Is there formal definition which combinations of atoms are "natural" and ...
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In which part of his treatise on law does Thomas Aquinas provide rules for ranking basic goods?
I know that it provides such rules as I read it in an article but there was no reference to this statement.
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Fallacy of division in an old book
I have identified a fallacy of division in an old book written in Spanish and I would like you to confirm if it is indeed a logical fallacy. The underlined part of the image contains the argument that ...
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Are 'fearless' people a threat to society?
In childhood we are all told legends and myths about different heroes. Most of the time they are portrayed as fearless characters who doesn’t fear anything and sacrifice themselves for their people ...
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When consent changes: can "consent" after the fact be valid?
There are many avenues of exploring consent in philosophy. For instance, in the philosophy of sexuality (IEP), consent is tremendously important. So too, in the intersection of morality and bioethics (...
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What are the "crimes of passion and crimes of logic"?
There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The boundary between them is not clearly defined.
Albert Camus
What does Albert Camus mean by "crimes of passion and crimes of logic" in his
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If Free Will Is Proven Illusory, Is There a Case for Suppressing the Finding?
NOTE: This question does not assume the existence or non-existence of free will.
Dan Dennett, Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University, states that when "...neuroscientists who've been going ...
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Is Group Suffering Worse than Individual Suffering?
There are two jails. Both employ torture of prisoners as a means to gain confessions.
Jail A has one prisoner. One guard tortures him.
Jail B has 1000 prisoners, all of whom are also tortured, each ...
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Is there a philosophical justification for the dichotomy in discimination law?
In the UK, and in many other countries, it is illegal to discriminate on certain personal characteristics in many circumstances, including employment and accommodation. These characteristics include ...
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In a Just Society, are there any Moral, Illegal Actions
Imagine a perfect legal system, whatever that looks like to you. I don't care what it is, just put it in your head.
There are plenty of examples of moral, legal action that can happen under this ...
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Comparing Albert Camus and Karl Marx
My brother is lawyer. He likes reading philosophy and writing about law. He wants to find a source about a conflict ideas of revolution as you know Albert Camus and Karl Marx have. He wants to write ...
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"Inference to the Best Explanation if the Best is Sufficiently Good"
The reliability of Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE) is sometimes contested because it may end up recommending the best of a bad lot, which might require a modification of IBE (e.g. contra ...
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How would an philosopher and scientist solve the following kidnapping - scenario?
I would like to hear your opinion as philosophers and scientists regarding how you would solve the problem of proof in the following scenario:
"Plato" who has dementia and a damaged left ...
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Do penalties keep people from committing crimes?
I'm very skeptical about the statement that penalties prevent people from committing crimes. There are obviously no facts to back this up (or are there?).
I often hear though that it's better not to ...
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If a crime physically cannot be committed again, would applying "Reform instead of Punishment" be necessary?
I think there are 3 main arguments for the imprisonment of criminals:
A) criminals can be locked away for a temporary or indefinite amount of time so they cannot commit another crime again
B) ...
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