Phi 213—Philosophy of Law
Spring 2013—Glen Helman

E-mail: helmang@wabash.edu

Office: Center 214, (765) 361-6334

My posted hours currently are 10-11 Monday and 2-3 Thursday (but this can change). In addition, you stand a good chance of finding me in my office whenever I am on campus and not teaching. My other classes meet at 11:20 and 2:10 MWF for the full semester and also at 1:10 MWF for the first half. On Tues. and Thurs., I usually arrive between 9 and 10, and I tend to leave every day between 5 and 6. (While I am in my office most noon hours, the noon hour is also a common time for meetings and other events, as is the afternoon after 4.)

Home: 1110 W. Main St., (765) 362-0428

This is your best bet evenings and weekends, but I’m sometimes in my office then.

Cell phone: (765) 366-0791

Texts

In the bookstore:

On JSTOR:

In PDF format (to be available on the website and Moodle):

Grading

Requirements: (1) Two papers (the first paper 2-3 pp. and the second paper c. 6-7 pp.) on topics arising from the texts you read; in both cases, I will suggest the form of the paper but you will have substantial freedom in choosing the topic. (2) Two tests (at midsemester and during exam week, including both short and longer essay questions on key concepts from the course. (3) Attendance and participation in class (which may include completion of occasional brief writing assignments). Your final grade will be based on these in the following way: 15%, and 35% for the papers, 15% and 20% for the tests, and 15% for class participation.

Attendance and due dates: As part of my evaluation of your participation, I will be keeping a record of your attendance. You will be automatically excused if you notify me in advance that you will miss a class (e-mail or voice-mail messages are fine). After the fact, you will be excused if you give me a good reason or a dean’s excuse. Due dates for the papers are subject to negotiation. In each case I have set a default due date for the class (2/6 and 4/12) and but I am willing to set individual due dates (within reason) for those who find the default dates inconvenient. My policy on missed deadlines is similar to that on missed classes: I’ll re-negotiate the deadline (again within reason) if I hear in advance, but after the fact I’ll expect an excuse. Unexcused missed deadlines will have an effect on your participation grade.

Calendar

The assignments below are approximate and tentative. The reading guide for each class will give full details of the assignment and sometimes include passages that are part of your assignment.

1/14		some ideas of natural law
1/16	Aquinas	sels. from Summa Theologiæ I-II qq. 90, 91, 94-97
1/18	Austin	The Province of Jurisprudence Determined, lecture I
1/21		ibid., lecture I cont’d and selections from lecture V
1/23		ibid., selections from lecture VI
1/25	Holmes	“The Path of the Law” (on JSTOR at 1322028)
1/28	Hart	The Concept of Law, ch. 3 §1
1/30		ibid., ch. 3 §3, ch. 4 §1
2/1		ibid., ch. 5
2/4		ibid., ch. 6 §§1-2
2/6	ppr1 due	ibid., ch. 7 §1
2/8		ibid., §§2-3
2/11		ibid., ch. 9 §1 pp. 192f, §2, §3 (vi), note to p. 208 (on pp. 303f)
2/13	Dworkin	“The Model of Rules,” §§I-III (on JSTOR at 1598947)
2/15		ibid., §§IV-V (on JSTOR at 1598947)
2/18		“Hard Cases,” §§I-II (on JSTOR at 1340249)
2/20		ibid., §§III-IV.A.1 (on JSTOR at 1340249)
2/22		ibid., §§IV.A.2-B.1 (on JSTOR at 1340249)
2/25		ibid., §§B.2-3 (on JSTOR at 1340249)
2/27		ibid., §V (on JSTOR at 1340249)
3/1	test 1
spring break
3/11	Hart	The Concept of Law, ch. 8, §1
3/13	Hohfeld	“Some Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning,” pp. 16-20, 28-44 (on JSTOR at 785533)
		ibid., pp. 44-59 (on JSTOR at 785533)
3/18	Rawls	“Two Concepts of Rules,” §§I-II (on JSTOR at 2182230)
3/20		ibid., §§III-IV (on JSTOR at 2182230)
3/22	Mill	sels. from On Liberty
3/25	Ferzan	“Justifying Self-Defense,” intro. and §I (on JSTOR at 30040369, pp. 711-728)
3/27		ibid., §§II-III.B (on JSTOR at 30040369, pp. 728-739)
3/29		ibid., §§III.C-IV (on JSTOR at 30040369, pp. 739-749)
4/1	Fletcher	“Fairness and Utility in Tort Theory,” §§I-II.A (on JSTOR at 1339623, pp. 537-551)
4/3		ibid., §§II.B-III (on JSTOR at 1339623, pp. 551-564)
4/5		ibid., §§IV-V (on JSTOR at 1339623, pp. 564-573)
4/8	Shiffrin & Shavell	Shiffrin, “‘Could’ Breach of Contract Be Immoral?” intro. and §I (on JSTOR at 40380343, pp. 1551-1563)
4/10		Shiffrin, §II and concl. (on JSTOR at 40380343, pp. 1563-1568); and Shavell, “Why Breach of Contract May Not Be Immoral Given the Incompleteness of Contracts,” intro. and §I (on JSTOR at 40380344, pp. 1569-1575)
4/12	ppr2 due	Shavell, §§II and concl. (on JSTOR at 40380344, pp. 1575-1581)
4/15	Grotius	sels. from Grotius on the Rights of War and Peace: An Abridged Translation.
4/17	Hart	The Concept of Law, ch. X §§ 1-3
4/19		ibid., §§ 4-5
4/22	Altman & Wellman	“A Defense of International Criminal Law,” intro. and §§I-III (on JSTOR at 10.1086/422895, pp. 35-51)
4/24		ibid., §§IV-V (on JSTOR at 10.1086/422895, pp. 51-62)
4/26		ibid., §§VI-VII (on JSTOR at 10.1086/422895, pp. 62-67)
5/1	test 2 (Wed., 9:00 a.m.)