venerdì 24 giugno 2011
giovedì 16 giugno 2011
Law and judicial duty
Philip Hamburger
Philip Hamburger's Law and Judicial Duty traces the early history of what is today called “judicial review.” Working from previously unexplored evidence, Hamburger questions the very concept of judicial review. Although decisions holding statutes unconstitutional are these days considered instances of a distinct judicial power of review, Hamburger shows that they were once understood merely as instances of a broader judicial duty. The book's focus on judicial duty overturns the familiar debate about judicial power. The book is therefore essential reading for anyone concerned about the proper role of the judiciary. Hamburger lays the foundation for his argument by explaining the common law ideals of law and judicial duty. He shows that the law of the land was understood to rest on the authority of the lawmaker and that what could not be discerned within the law of the land was not considered legally binding. He then shows that judges had a duty to decide in accord with the law of the land. These two ideals-law and judicial duty-together established and limited what judges could do. By reviving an understanding of these common law ideals, Law and Judicial Duty calls into question the modern assumption that judicial review is a power within the judges' control. Indeed, the book shows that what is currently considered a distinct power of review was once understood as a matter of duty-the duty of judges to decide in accord with the law of the land. The book thereby challenges the very notion of judicial review. It shows that judges had authority to hold government acts unconstitutional, but that they enjoyed this power only to the extent it was required by their duty. In laying out the common law ideals, and in explaining judicial review as an aspect of judicial duty, Law and Judicial Duty reveals a very different paradigm of law and of judging than prevails today. The book, moreover, sheds new light on a host of misunderstood problems, including intent, manifest contradiction, the status of foreign and international law, the cases and controversies requirement, and the authority of judicial precedent.
Religious freedom and the constitution
Christopher L. Eisgruber, Lawrence G. Sager
Anteprima del libro
Religion has become a charged token in a politics of division. In disputes about faith-based social services, public money for religious schools, the Pledge of Allegiance, Ten Commandments monuments, the theory of evolution, and many other topics, angry contestation threatens to displace America's historic commitment to religious freedom. Part of the problem, the authors argue, is that constitutional analysis of religious freedom has been hobbled by the idea of "a wall of separation" between church and state. That metaphor has been understood to demand that religion be treated far better than other concerns in some contexts, and far worse in others. Sometimes it seems to insist on both contrary forms of treatment simultaneously. Missing has been concern for the fair and equal treatment of religion. In response, the authors offer an understanding of religious freedom called Equal Liberty.
Equal Liberty is guided by two principles. First, no one within the reach of the Constitution ought to be devalued on account of the spiritual foundation of their commitments. Second, all persons should enjoy broad rights of free speech, personal autonomy, associative freedom, and private property. Together, these principles are generous and fair to a wide range of religious beliefs and practices.
With Equal Liberty as their guide, the authors offer practical, moderate, and appealing terms for the settlement of many hot-button issues that have plunged religious freedom into controversy. Their book calls Americans back to the project of finding fair terms of cooperation for a religiously diverse people, and it offers a valuable set of tools for working toward that end.
Christopher L. Eisgruber, Lawrence G. Sager
Anteprima del libro
Religion has become a charged token in a politics of division. In disputes about faith-based social services, public money for religious schools, the Pledge of Allegiance, Ten Commandments monuments, the theory of evolution, and many other topics, angry contestation threatens to displace America's historic commitment to religious freedom. Part of the problem, the authors argue, is that constitutional analysis of religious freedom has been hobbled by the idea of "a wall of separation" between church and state. That metaphor has been understood to demand that religion be treated far better than other concerns in some contexts, and far worse in others. Sometimes it seems to insist on both contrary forms of treatment simultaneously. Missing has been concern for the fair and equal treatment of religion. In response, the authors offer an understanding of religious freedom called Equal Liberty.
Equal Liberty is guided by two principles. First, no one within the reach of the Constitution ought to be devalued on account of the spiritual foundation of their commitments. Second, all persons should enjoy broad rights of free speech, personal autonomy, associative freedom, and private property. Together, these principles are generous and fair to a wide range of religious beliefs and practices.
With Equal Liberty as their guide, the authors offer practical, moderate, and appealing terms for the settlement of many hot-button issues that have plunged religious freedom into controversy. Their book calls Americans back to the project of finding fair terms of cooperation for a religiously diverse people, and it offers a valuable set of tools for working toward that end.
The Decline and Fall of the American Republic
Bruce A. Ackerman
Bruce Ackerman shows how the institutional dynamics of the last half-century have transformed the American presidency into a potential platform for political extremism and lawlessness. Watergate, Iran-Contra, and the War on Terror are only symptoms of deeper pathologies. Ackerman points to a series of developments that have previously been treated independently of one another—from the rise of presidential primaries, to the role of pollsters and media gurus, to the centralization of power in White House czars, to the politicization of the military, to the manipulation of constitutional doctrine to justify presidential power-grabs. He shows how these different transformations can interact to generate profound constitutional crises in the twenty-first century—and then proposes a series of reforms that will minimize, if not eliminate, the risks going forward.
The book aims to begin a new constitutional debate. Americans should not suppose that Barack Obama’s centrism and constitutionalism will typify the presidencies of the twenty-first century. We should seize the present opportunity to confront deeper institutional pathologies before it is too late.
Bruce A. Ackerman
Bruce Ackerman shows how the institutional dynamics of the last half-century have transformed the American presidency into a potential platform for political extremism and lawlessness. Watergate, Iran-Contra, and the War on Terror are only symptoms of deeper pathologies. Ackerman points to a series of developments that have previously been treated independently of one another—from the rise of presidential primaries, to the role of pollsters and media gurus, to the centralization of power in White House czars, to the politicization of the military, to the manipulation of constitutional doctrine to justify presidential power-grabs. He shows how these different transformations can interact to generate profound constitutional crises in the twenty-first century—and then proposes a series of reforms that will minimize, if not eliminate, the risks going forward.
The book aims to begin a new constitutional debate. Americans should not suppose that Barack Obama’s centrism and constitutionalism will typify the presidencies of the twenty-first century. We should seize the present opportunity to confront deeper institutional pathologies before it is too late.
Experiments in ethics
Anthony Appiah
Anteprima del libro
In the past few decades, scientists of human nature-including experimental and cognitive psychologists, neuroscientists, evolutionary theorists, and behavioral economists-have explored the way we arrive at moral judgments. They have called into question commonplaces about character and offered troubling explanations for various moral intuitions. Research like this may help explain what, in fact, we do and feel. But can it tell us what we ought to do or feel? In Experiments in Ethics, the philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah explores how the new empirical moral psychology relates to the age-old project of philosophical ethics.
Some moral theorists hold that the realm of morality must be autonomous of the sciences; others maintain that science undermines the authority of moral reasons. Appiah elaborates a vision of naturalism that resists both temptations. He traces an intellectual genealogy of the burgeoning discipline of "experimental philosophy," provides a balanced, lucid account of the work being done in this controversial and increasingly influential field, and offers a fresh way of thinking about ethics in the classical tradition.
Appiah urges that the relation between empirical research and morality, now so often antagonistic, should be seen in terms of dialogue, not contest. And he shows how experimental philosophy, far from being something new, is actually as old as philosophy itself. Beyond illuminating debates about the connection between psychology and ethics, intuition and theory, his book helps us to rethink the very nature of the philosophical enterprise.
Anthony Appiah
Anteprima del libro
In the past few decades, scientists of human nature-including experimental and cognitive psychologists, neuroscientists, evolutionary theorists, and behavioral economists-have explored the way we arrive at moral judgments. They have called into question commonplaces about character and offered troubling explanations for various moral intuitions. Research like this may help explain what, in fact, we do and feel. But can it tell us what we ought to do or feel? In Experiments in Ethics, the philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah explores how the new empirical moral psychology relates to the age-old project of philosophical ethics.
Some moral theorists hold that the realm of morality must be autonomous of the sciences; others maintain that science undermines the authority of moral reasons. Appiah elaborates a vision of naturalism that resists both temptations. He traces an intellectual genealogy of the burgeoning discipline of "experimental philosophy," provides a balanced, lucid account of the work being done in this controversial and increasingly influential field, and offers a fresh way of thinking about ethics in the classical tradition.
Appiah urges that the relation between empirical research and morality, now so often antagonistic, should be seen in terms of dialogue, not contest. And he shows how experimental philosophy, far from being something new, is actually as old as philosophy itself. Beyond illuminating debates about the connection between psychology and ethics, intuition and theory, his book helps us to rethink the very nature of the philosophical enterprise.
mercoledì 15 giugno 2011
Nella camera degli sposi:
Tomás Sánchez, il matrimonio, la sessualità :
secoli XVI- XVII
Fernanda Alfieri
Titolo Nella camera degli sposi: Tomás Sánchez, il matrimonio, la sessualità : secoli XVI- XVII
Volume 55 di Istituto storico italo-germ. Monografie
Volume 55 di Annali dell'Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento: Monografie / Fondazione Bruno Kessler
Autore Fernanda Alfieri
Editore Il mulino, 2010
ISBN 8815138102, 9788815138101
Tomás Sánchez, il matrimonio, la sessualità :
secoli XVI- XVII
Fernanda Alfieri
Titolo Nella camera degli sposi: Tomás Sánchez, il matrimonio, la sessualità : secoli XVI- XVII
Volume 55 di Istituto storico italo-germ. Monografie
Volume 55 di Annali dell'Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento: Monografie / Fondazione Bruno Kessler
Autore Fernanda Alfieri
Editore Il mulino, 2010
ISBN 8815138102, 9788815138101
Reshaping the Work-Family Debate:
Why Men and Class Matter
Joan Williams
Anteprima del libro
The United States has the most family-hostile public policy in the developed world. Despite what is often reported, new mothers don’t “opt out” of work. They are pushed out by discriminating and inflexible workplaces. Today’s workplaces continue to idealize the worker who has someone other than parents caring for their children.
Conventional wisdom attributes women’s decision to leave work to their maternal traits and desires. In this thought-provoking book, Joan Williams shows why that view is misguided and how workplace practice disadvantages men—both those who seek to avoid the breadwinner role and those who embrace it—as well as women. Faced with masculine norms that define the workplace, women must play the tomboy or the femme. Both paths result in a gender bias that is exacerbated when the two groups end up pitted against each other. And although work-family issues long have been seen strictly through a gender lens, we ignore class at our peril. The dysfunctional relationship between the professional-managerial class and the white working class must be addressed before real reform can take root.
Contesting the idea that women need to negotiate better within the family, and redefining the notion of success in the workplace, Williams reinvigorates the work-family debate and offers the first steps to making life manageable for all American families.
Why Men and Class Matter
Joan Williams
Anteprima del libro
The United States has the most family-hostile public policy in the developed world. Despite what is often reported, new mothers don’t “opt out” of work. They are pushed out by discriminating and inflexible workplaces. Today’s workplaces continue to idealize the worker who has someone other than parents caring for their children.
Conventional wisdom attributes women’s decision to leave work to their maternal traits and desires. In this thought-provoking book, Joan Williams shows why that view is misguided and how workplace practice disadvantages men—both those who seek to avoid the breadwinner role and those who embrace it—as well as women. Faced with masculine norms that define the workplace, women must play the tomboy or the femme. Both paths result in a gender bias that is exacerbated when the two groups end up pitted against each other. And although work-family issues long have been seen strictly through a gender lens, we ignore class at our peril. The dysfunctional relationship between the professional-managerial class and the white working class must be addressed before real reform can take root.
Contesting the idea that women need to negotiate better within the family, and redefining the notion of success in the workplace, Williams reinvigorates the work-family debate and offers the first steps to making life manageable for all American families.
The birthright lottery:
citizenship and global inequality
Ayelet Shachar
Anteprima del libro
The vast majority of the global population acquires citizenship purely by accidental circumstances of birth. There is little doubt that securing membership status in a given state bequeaths to some a world filled with opportunity and condemns others to a life with little hope. Gaining privileges by such arbitrary criteria as one’s birthplace is discredited in virtually all fields of public life, yet birthright entitlements still dominate our laws when it comes to allotting membership in a state.
In The Birthright Lottery, Ayelet Shachar argues that birthright citizenship in an affluent society can be thought of as a form of property inheritance: that is, a valuable entitlement transmitted by law to a restricted group of recipients under conditions that perpetuate the transfer of this prerogative to their heirs. She deploys this fresh perspective to establish that nations need to expand their membership boundaries beyond outdated notions of blood-and-soil in sculpting the body politic. Located at the intersection of law, economics, and political philosophy, The Birthright Lottery further advocates redistributional obligations on those benefiting from the inheritance of membership, with the aim of ameliorating its most glaring opportunity inequalities.
citizenship and global inequality
Ayelet Shachar
Anteprima del libro
The vast majority of the global population acquires citizenship purely by accidental circumstances of birth. There is little doubt that securing membership status in a given state bequeaths to some a world filled with opportunity and condemns others to a life with little hope. Gaining privileges by such arbitrary criteria as one’s birthplace is discredited in virtually all fields of public life, yet birthright entitlements still dominate our laws when it comes to allotting membership in a state.
In The Birthright Lottery, Ayelet Shachar argues that birthright citizenship in an affluent society can be thought of as a form of property inheritance: that is, a valuable entitlement transmitted by law to a restricted group of recipients under conditions that perpetuate the transfer of this prerogative to their heirs. She deploys this fresh perspective to establish that nations need to expand their membership boundaries beyond outdated notions of blood-and-soil in sculpting the body politic. Located at the intersection of law, economics, and political philosophy, The Birthright Lottery further advocates redistributional obligations on those benefiting from the inheritance of membership, with the aim of ameliorating its most glaring opportunity inequalities.
Identities in Transition:
Challenges for Transitional Justice in Divided Societies
Paige Arthur
Anteprima del libro
In many societies, histories of exclusion, racism, and nationalist violence often create divisions so deep that finding a way to deal with the atrocities of the past seems nearly impossible. These societies face difficult practical questions about how to devise new state and civil society institutions that will respond to massive or systematic violations of human rights, recognize victims, and prevent the recurrence of abuse. Identities in Transition: Challenges for Transitional Justice in Divided Societies brings together a rich group of international researchers and practitioners who, for the first time, examine transitional justice through an "identity" lens. They tackle ways that transitional justice can act as a means of political learning across communities; foster citizenship, trust, and recognition; and break down harmful myths and stereotypes, as steps toward meeting the difficult challenges for transitional justice in divided societies.
Justice for Hedgehogs
Ronald Dworkin
Anteprima del libro
The fox knows many things, the Greeks said, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. In his most comprehensive work Ronald Dworkin argues that value in all its forms is one big thing: that what truth is, life means, morality requires, and justice demands are different aspects of the same large question. He develops original theories on a great variety of issues very rarely considered in the same book: moral skepticism, literary, artistic, and historical interpretation, free will, ancient moral theory, being good and living well, liberty, equality, and law among many other topics. What we think about any one of these must stand up, eventually, to any argument we find compelling about the rest.
Skepticism in all its forms—philosophical, cynical, or post-modern—threatens that unity. The Galilean revolution once made the theological world of value safe for science. But the new republic gradually became a new empire: the modern philosophers inflated the methods of physics into a totalitarian theory of everything. They invaded and occupied all the honorifics—reality, truth, fact, ground, meaning, knowledge, and being—and dictated the terms on which other bodies of thought might aspire to them, and skepticism has been the inevitable result. We need a new revolution. We must make the world of science safe for value.
Ronald Dworkin
Anteprima del libro
The fox knows many things, the Greeks said, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. In his most comprehensive work Ronald Dworkin argues that value in all its forms is one big thing: that what truth is, life means, morality requires, and justice demands are different aspects of the same large question. He develops original theories on a great variety of issues very rarely considered in the same book: moral skepticism, literary, artistic, and historical interpretation, free will, ancient moral theory, being good and living well, liberty, equality, and law among many other topics. What we think about any one of these must stand up, eventually, to any argument we find compelling about the rest.
Skepticism in all its forms—philosophical, cynical, or post-modern—threatens that unity. The Galilean revolution once made the theological world of value safe for science. But the new republic gradually became a new empire: the modern philosophers inflated the methods of physics into a totalitarian theory of everything. They invaded and occupied all the honorifics—reality, truth, fact, ground, meaning, knowledge, and being—and dictated the terms on which other bodies of thought might aspire to them, and skepticism has been the inevitable result. We need a new revolution. We must make the world of science safe for value.
Human Dignity
George Kateb
Anteprima del libro
We often speak of the dignity owed to a person. And dignity is a word that regularly appears in political speeches. Charters are promulgated in its name, and appeals to it are made when people all over the world struggle to achieve their rights. But what exactly is dignity? When one person physically assaults another, we feel the wrong demands immediate condemnation and legal sanction. Whereas when one person humiliates or thoughtlessly makes use of another, we recognize the wrong and hope for a remedy, but the social response is less clear. The injury itself may be hard to quantify.
Given our concern with human dignity, it is odd that it has received comparatively little scrutiny. Here, George Kateb asks what human dignity is and why it matters for the claim to rights. He proposes that dignity is an “existential” value that pertains to the identity of a person as a human being. To injure or even to try to efface someone’s dignity is to treat that person as not human or less than human—as a thing or instrument or subhuman creature. Kateb does not limit the notion of dignity to individuals but extends it to the human species. The dignity of the human species rests on our uniqueness among all other species. In the book’s concluding section, he argues that despite the ravages we have inflicted on it, nature would be worse off without humanity. The supremely fitting task of humanity can be seen as a “stewardship” of nature. This secular defense of human dignity—the first book-length attempt of its kind—crowns the career of a distinguished political thinker.
George Kateb
Anteprima del libro
We often speak of the dignity owed to a person. And dignity is a word that regularly appears in political speeches. Charters are promulgated in its name, and appeals to it are made when people all over the world struggle to achieve their rights. But what exactly is dignity? When one person physically assaults another, we feel the wrong demands immediate condemnation and legal sanction. Whereas when one person humiliates or thoughtlessly makes use of another, we recognize the wrong and hope for a remedy, but the social response is less clear. The injury itself may be hard to quantify.
Given our concern with human dignity, it is odd that it has received comparatively little scrutiny. Here, George Kateb asks what human dignity is and why it matters for the claim to rights. He proposes that dignity is an “existential” value that pertains to the identity of a person as a human being. To injure or even to try to efface someone’s dignity is to treat that person as not human or less than human—as a thing or instrument or subhuman creature. Kateb does not limit the notion of dignity to individuals but extends it to the human species. The dignity of the human species rests on our uniqueness among all other species. In the book’s concluding section, he argues that despite the ravages we have inflicted on it, nature would be worse off without humanity. The supremely fitting task of humanity can be seen as a “stewardship” of nature. This secular defense of human dignity—the first book-length attempt of its kind—crowns the career of a distinguished political thinker.
Constitutional Theocracy
Ran Hirschl
Anteprima del libro
At the intersection of two sweeping global trends—the rise of popular support for principles of theocratic governance and the spread of constitutionalism and judicial review—a new legal order has emerged: constitutional theocracy. It enshrines religion and its interlocutors as “a” or “the” source of legislation, and at the same time adheres to core ideals and practices of modern constitutionalism. A unique hybrid of apparently conflicting worldviews, values, and interests, constitutional theocracies thus offer an ideal setting—a “living laboratory” as it were—for studying constitutional law as a form of politics by other means. In this book, Ran Hirschl undertakes a rigorous comparative analysis of religion-and-state jurisprudence from dozens of countries worldwide to explore the evolving role of constitutional law and courts in a non-secularist world.
Counterintuitively, Hirschl argues that the constitutional enshrinement of religion is a rational, prudent strategy that allows opponents of theocratic governance to talk the religious talk without walking most of what they regard as theocracy’s unappealing, costly walk. Many of the jurisdictional, enforcement, and cooptation advantages that gave religious legal regimes an edge in the pre-modern era, are now aiding the modern state and its laws in its effort to contain religion. The “constitutional” in a constitutional theocracy thus fulfills the same restricting function it carries out in a constitutional democracy: it brings theocratic governance under check and assigns to constitutional law and courts the task of a bulwark against the threat of radical religion.
Ran Hirschl
Anteprima del libro
At the intersection of two sweeping global trends—the rise of popular support for principles of theocratic governance and the spread of constitutionalism and judicial review—a new legal order has emerged: constitutional theocracy. It enshrines religion and its interlocutors as “a” or “the” source of legislation, and at the same time adheres to core ideals and practices of modern constitutionalism. A unique hybrid of apparently conflicting worldviews, values, and interests, constitutional theocracies thus offer an ideal setting—a “living laboratory” as it were—for studying constitutional law as a form of politics by other means. In this book, Ran Hirschl undertakes a rigorous comparative analysis of religion-and-state jurisprudence from dozens of countries worldwide to explore the evolving role of constitutional law and courts in a non-secularist world.
Counterintuitively, Hirschl argues that the constitutional enshrinement of religion is a rational, prudent strategy that allows opponents of theocratic governance to talk the religious talk without walking most of what they regard as theocracy’s unappealing, costly walk. Many of the jurisdictional, enforcement, and cooptation advantages that gave religious legal regimes an edge in the pre-modern era, are now aiding the modern state and its laws in its effort to contain religion. The “constitutional” in a constitutional theocracy thus fulfills the same restricting function it carries out in a constitutional democracy: it brings theocratic governance under check and assigns to constitutional law and courts the task of a bulwark against the threat of radical religion.
Transition from Illegal Regimes Under International Law
Yaël Ronen
"Yaèel Ronen analyses the international legal ramifications of illegal territorial regimes, namely the illegal annexation of territory or illegal declarations of independence, by reference to the stage of transition from an illegal territorial regime to a lawful one. Six case studies (Namibia, Zimbabwe, the Baltic States, the South African Bantustans, East Timor and northern Cyprus) are used to explore the tension between the invalidity of the illegal regime's acts and their effectiveness, with respect to the international relations of such territories, their domestic legal systems, the status of settlers and land transfers. Relying heavily on primary and previously unconsidered sources, she focuses on the international legal constraints on the post-transition regime's policy, particularly in the context of international human rights law"--
The Hungry World:
America's Cold War Battle Against Poverty in Asia
Nick Cullather
Anteprima del libro
Food was a critical front in the Cold War battle for Asia. “Where Communism goes, hunger follows” was the slogan of American nation builders who fanned out into the countryside to divert rivers, remodel villages, and introduce tractors, chemicals, and genes to multiply the crops consumed by millions. This “green revolution” has been credited with averting Malthusian famines, saving billions of lives, and jump-starting Asia’s economic revival. Bono and Bill Gates hail it as a model for revitalizing Africa’s economy. But this tale of science triumphant conceals a half century of political struggle from the Afghan highlands to the rice paddies of the Mekong Delta, a campaign to transform rural societies by changing the way people eat and grow food.
The ambition to lead Asia into an age of plenty grew alongside development theories that targeted hunger as a root cause of war. Scientific agriculture was an instrument for molding peasants into citizens with modern attitudes, loyalties, and reproductive habits. But food policies were as contested then as they are today. While Kennedy and Johnson envisioned Kansas-style agribusiness guarded by strategic hamlets, Indira Gandhi, Marcos, and Suharto inscribed their own visions of progress onto the land.
Out of this campaign, the costliest and most sustained effort for development ever undertaken, emerged the struggles for resources and identity that define the region today. As Obama revives the lost arts of Keynesianism and counter-insurgency, the history of these colossal projects reveals bitter and important lessons for today’s missions to feed a hungry world.
America's Cold War Battle Against Poverty in Asia
Nick Cullather
Anteprima del libro
Food was a critical front in the Cold War battle for Asia. “Where Communism goes, hunger follows” was the slogan of American nation builders who fanned out into the countryside to divert rivers, remodel villages, and introduce tractors, chemicals, and genes to multiply the crops consumed by millions. This “green revolution” has been credited with averting Malthusian famines, saving billions of lives, and jump-starting Asia’s economic revival. Bono and Bill Gates hail it as a model for revitalizing Africa’s economy. But this tale of science triumphant conceals a half century of political struggle from the Afghan highlands to the rice paddies of the Mekong Delta, a campaign to transform rural societies by changing the way people eat and grow food.
The ambition to lead Asia into an age of plenty grew alongside development theories that targeted hunger as a root cause of war. Scientific agriculture was an instrument for molding peasants into citizens with modern attitudes, loyalties, and reproductive habits. But food policies were as contested then as they are today. While Kennedy and Johnson envisioned Kansas-style agribusiness guarded by strategic hamlets, Indira Gandhi, Marcos, and Suharto inscribed their own visions of progress onto the land.
Out of this campaign, the costliest and most sustained effort for development ever undertaken, emerged the struggles for resources and identity that define the region today. As Obama revives the lost arts of Keynesianism and counter-insurgency, the history of these colossal projects reveals bitter and important lessons for today’s missions to feed a hungry world.
Scott J. Shapiro
Legality
Anteprima del libro
What is law? This question has preoccupied philosophers from Plato to Thomas Hobbes to H. L. A. Hart. Yet many find it perplexing. How could we possibly know how to answer such an abstract question? And what would be the point of doing so? In Legality, Shapiro ’90 argues that this perennial philosophical question is not only meaningful but vitally important. In fact, many of the most pressing questions that lawyers confront—including questions about who has legal authority over us and how we should interpret constitutions, statutes, and cases—will remain elusive until these grand philosophical questions are first resolved.
At the same time, Shapiro draws on recent work in the philosophy of action to develop an original and compelling answer to this age-old question. Breaking with a long tradition in jurisprudence, he argues that the law cannot be understood simply in terms of rules. Legal systems are best understood as highly complex and sophisticated tools for creating and applying plans. Shifting the focus of jurisprudence in this way—from rules to plans—not only resolves many of the most vexing puzzles about the nature of law but has profound implications for legal practice as well.
Written in clear, jargon-free language, and presupposing no legal or philosophical background, Legality is both a groundbreaking new theory of law and an excellent introduction to and defense of classical jurisprudence.
Legality
Anteprima del libro
What is law? This question has preoccupied philosophers from Plato to Thomas Hobbes to H. L. A. Hart. Yet many find it perplexing. How could we possibly know how to answer such an abstract question? And what would be the point of doing so? In Legality, Shapiro ’90 argues that this perennial philosophical question is not only meaningful but vitally important. In fact, many of the most pressing questions that lawyers confront—including questions about who has legal authority over us and how we should interpret constitutions, statutes, and cases—will remain elusive until these grand philosophical questions are first resolved.
At the same time, Shapiro draws on recent work in the philosophy of action to develop an original and compelling answer to this age-old question. Breaking with a long tradition in jurisprudence, he argues that the law cannot be understood simply in terms of rules. Legal systems are best understood as highly complex and sophisticated tools for creating and applying plans. Shifting the focus of jurisprudence in this way—from rules to plans—not only resolves many of the most vexing puzzles about the nature of law but has profound implications for legal practice as well.
Written in clear, jargon-free language, and presupposing no legal or philosophical background, Legality is both a groundbreaking new theory of law and an excellent introduction to and defense of classical jurisprudence.
lunedì 6 giugno 2011
El derecho en acciòn
La dimensiòn social de las normas juridicas
Josep M. Vilajosana
Una teoría del derecho satisfactoria debe ser al menos una teoría del derecho positivo, es decir, debe poder dar cuenta de la relación entre las normas jurídicas y los hechos sociales con los que se hallan vinculadas. Éste es justamente el objetivo general de este trabajo. A lo largo del mismo se examinan las condiciones de existencia de las normas jurídicas, en concreto, y del derecho positivo, en general. En los primeros dos capítulos se pone de relieve el carácter problemático que encierra tanto la pregunta acerca de la ontología de las normas jurídicas (si son entes abstractos o concretos), como el análisis de la relación entre cada tipo de normas jurídicas y el comportamiento humano. En el resto del libro se realiza el análisis de las dos condiciones mínimas de existencia de los sistemas jurídicos: que exista una práctica unitaria de identificación de normas y que las normas identificadas sean generalmente eficaces. Al respecto, el autor defiende lo que denomina un convencionalismo en sentido débil, según el cual necesariamente la primera condición requiere la presencia de hechos convencionales de carácter constitutivo, mientras que la segunda apuntaría a la presencia de hechos sociales no necesariamente convencionales ÍNDICE (Resumen): La existencia de las normas jurídicas. Normas jurídicas y comportamiento humano. El énfasis en la legislación. El énfasis en la adjudicación. La aplicación del derecho como práctica social. Convención y prácticas de identificación del derecho. La eficacia general de las normas de un sistema jurídico. Conclusiones. Bibliografía.
La dimensiòn social de las normas juridicas
Josep M. Vilajosana
Una teoría del derecho satisfactoria debe ser al menos una teoría del derecho positivo, es decir, debe poder dar cuenta de la relación entre las normas jurídicas y los hechos sociales con los que se hallan vinculadas. Éste es justamente el objetivo general de este trabajo. A lo largo del mismo se examinan las condiciones de existencia de las normas jurídicas, en concreto, y del derecho positivo, en general. En los primeros dos capítulos se pone de relieve el carácter problemático que encierra tanto la pregunta acerca de la ontología de las normas jurídicas (si son entes abstractos o concretos), como el análisis de la relación entre cada tipo de normas jurídicas y el comportamiento humano. En el resto del libro se realiza el análisis de las dos condiciones mínimas de existencia de los sistemas jurídicos: que exista una práctica unitaria de identificación de normas y que las normas identificadas sean generalmente eficaces. Al respecto, el autor defiende lo que denomina un convencionalismo en sentido débil, según el cual necesariamente la primera condición requiere la presencia de hechos convencionales de carácter constitutivo, mientras que la segunda apuntaría a la presencia de hechos sociales no necesariamente convencionales ÍNDICE (Resumen): La existencia de las normas jurídicas. Normas jurídicas y comportamiento humano. El énfasis en la legislación. El énfasis en la adjudicación. La aplicación del derecho como práctica social. Convención y prácticas de identificación del derecho. La eficacia general de las normas de un sistema jurídico. Conclusiones. Bibliografía.
The neuroscience of fair play
Why we (usually) follow the golden rule
Donald W. Pfaff, Ph.D.
Pfaff, head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior at Rockefeller University, explains his purpose in clear terms: The whole focus in these pages is on the possibility that some rules of behavior are universally embedded in the human brain—that we are 'wired for good behavior.' He claims he's surveyed the world's religions and found some variant of the Golden Rule in every one, leading him to conclude that this trait is likely to be under some sort of genetic control. The simple mechanism for the occurrence of altruistic acts, he says, is the brain's tendency to confuse self and other—similar to the blurring of identities that occurs in a love relationship. This empathy—whose neural mechanism Pfaff explains—can prevent us from harming others as well as leading us to do good. The author goes into great detail, far more than is necessary to drive his point home, about how neurobiology and neurochemistry interact to help shape behavior. His sections on parenting, sexual love and aggression are intriguing, but the technical information will make this appeal primarily to those with a strong interest in the brain and the science of behavior.
Why we (usually) follow the golden rule
Donald W. Pfaff, Ph.D.
Pfaff, head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior at Rockefeller University, explains his purpose in clear terms: The whole focus in these pages is on the possibility that some rules of behavior are universally embedded in the human brain—that we are 'wired for good behavior.' He claims he's surveyed the world's religions and found some variant of the Golden Rule in every one, leading him to conclude that this trait is likely to be under some sort of genetic control. The simple mechanism for the occurrence of altruistic acts, he says, is the brain's tendency to confuse self and other—similar to the blurring of identities that occurs in a love relationship. This empathy—whose neural mechanism Pfaff explains—can prevent us from harming others as well as leading us to do good. The author goes into great detail, far more than is necessary to drive his point home, about how neurobiology and neurochemistry interact to help shape behavior. His sections on parenting, sexual love and aggression are intriguing, but the technical information will make this appeal primarily to those with a strong interest in the brain and the science of behavior.
Cuestiones contemporáneas de Teoría analítica del Derecho - Questions contemporaines de théorie analytique du Droit - Problemi attuali della teoria analitica del Diritto
Estado, ley y conciencia
Miguel Ayuso
La relación entre el Estado, la ley y la conciencia constituye una cuestión nodal que impone volver a pensar en su totalidad las definiciones generalmente adoptadas y, junto con ellas, las categorías con que se examinan en nuestros días las cuestiones morales, políticas y jurídicas. El presente libro, que recoge las actas de un importante congreso de la Unión Internacional de Juristas Católicos celebrado en Madrid, prolongado por otro en Santafé de Bogotá, además de tematizar el problema, busca abrir nuevas vías que permitan dar respuestas fundadas, coherentes y completas a las preguntas que, a este propósito, plantea nuestro tiempo ÍNDICE (Resumen): Estado y conciencia. Una panorámica sobre Estado y conciencia. Estado y conciencia: una perspectiva histórica. El Estado moderno y la conciencia. El derecho natural, condición del Estado. Prudencia judicial y conciencia. Las "uniones del mismo sexo" y el problema del positivismo legal: una perspectiva desde los Estados Unidos. La libertad de conciencia y de religión. Una apelación a nuestro presente histórico. La libertad de conciencia como fundamento del constitucionalismo. La objeción de conciencia. La objeción de conciencia y la doctrina de la Iglesia católica.
Las pretensiones normativas del derecho:
un analisis de las concepciones de
Robert Alexy y Joseph Raz
de Gaido Paula
Las pretensiones normativas del derecho. Un análisis de las concepciones de Robert Alexy y Joseph Raz parte de una pregunta que puede ser formulada de diferentes maneras: ¿en qué idea se está pensando cuando se afirma que el derecho es normativo?, ¿por qué es importante entender al derecho como fuente de normas que generan deberes, y no meramente como un hecho, como un conjunto de contenidos semánticos o como un conjunto de actos de imposición de poder? Hay quienes sostienen que cuando se piensa en el derecho está implícita la idea de que es normativo, y que esta es una cuestión conceptual. Sin la idea de normatividad no se puede comprender al derecho. El análisis de las respuestas dadas por los filósofos del derecho Robert Alexy y Joseph Raz, se toma como brújula en la exploración del problema. Las noción de pretensión de corrección, en el caso de Alexy, y la de pretensión de autoridad legítima, en el caso de Raz son, de este modo, objeto de principal análisis en el libro y, a través de ellas, el sentido en que el derecho, se dice, es fuente de razones justificatorias.
un analisis de las concepciones de
Robert Alexy y Joseph Raz
de Gaido Paula
Las pretensiones normativas del derecho. Un análisis de las concepciones de Robert Alexy y Joseph Raz parte de una pregunta que puede ser formulada de diferentes maneras: ¿en qué idea se está pensando cuando se afirma que el derecho es normativo?, ¿por qué es importante entender al derecho como fuente de normas que generan deberes, y no meramente como un hecho, como un conjunto de contenidos semánticos o como un conjunto de actos de imposición de poder? Hay quienes sostienen que cuando se piensa en el derecho está implícita la idea de que es normativo, y que esta es una cuestión conceptual. Sin la idea de normatividad no se puede comprender al derecho. El análisis de las respuestas dadas por los filósofos del derecho Robert Alexy y Joseph Raz, se toma como brújula en la exploración del problema. Las noción de pretensión de corrección, en el caso de Alexy, y la de pretensión de autoridad legítima, en el caso de Raz son, de este modo, objeto de principal análisis en el libro y, a través de ellas, el sentido en que el derecho, se dice, es fuente de razones justificatorias.
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