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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Is there a demarcation problem for religions?
So far, all of the philosophy of religion I have read focuses on the questions of God's existence and on the problem of evil. It seems to me that just as important would be the question of what a ...
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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 unauthorized downloading of music stealing?
On the one hand, when you download music you are merely making a copy of something. You aren't depriving someone of a physical object. You aren't really taking anything.
On the other hand, when you ...
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Innocent until proven guilty - why?
What is the philosophical basis for the notion that somebody is "innocent until proven guilty"?
This seems to imply that we can confidently assert that a person is innocent until proof to the ...
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What fallacy dismisses criticism of a bad law with "just don't break it"?
Let's say someone is criticizing the government for instituting some draconian policy, and/or for persecuting people for doing something minor. And the response is:"Just don't do it and you'll be fine"...
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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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Is there a term for the belief that "if it's legal, it's moral"?
Sometimes I hear arguments that seem to appeal to the fact that something is morally permissible because it is legally permitted. For example:
Abortion is moral because it's legally permitted. ...
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What are prominent attacks of Rawls' "veil of ignorance" argument? Which liberal philosophers have advanced it?
In John Rawls' A Theory of Justice, he argues that morally, society should be constructed politically as if we were all behind a veil of ignorance; that is, the rules and precepts of society should be ...
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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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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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Can any consensual activity be wrong?
What are the philosophical arguments / frameworks that view at least seemingly consensual activities (e.g incest, killing (assisted suicide or dueling), mutilation, gay sex ) involving one or more ...
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What philosophers argued that human rights can be forfeited?
I'm writing an argumentative paper on a controversial topic, and the stance I want to take is that there are certain actions that an individual can take (such as terrorism, child molestation) that ...
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What is the intrinsic difference between freedom of speech and freedom of deeds?
What are philosophical reasons for approving of freedom of speech but not of freedom of deeds? If teasing the others by speech is allowed, why not by deeds? If freedom of deeds is wrong, then why ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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