Between Authority and Interpretation: On the Theory of Law and Practical Reason
Joseph Raz
Abstract
This book develops ideas on some of the central questions in practical philosophy: legal, political, and moral. It provides an overview of the author's work on jurisprudence and the nature of law in the context of broader questions in the philosophy of practical reason. The book opens with a discussion of methodological issues, focusing on understanding the nature of jurisprudence, asking how the nature of law can be explained, and how the success of a legal theory can be established. The book then addresses central questions on the nature of law, its relation to morality, the nature and justi ... More
This book develops ideas on some of the central questions in practical philosophy: legal, political, and moral. It provides an overview of the author's work on jurisprudence and the nature of law in the context of broader questions in the philosophy of practical reason. The book opens with a discussion of methodological issues, focusing on understanding the nature of jurisprudence, asking how the nature of law can be explained, and how the success of a legal theory can be established. The book then addresses central questions on the nature of law, its relation to morality, the nature and justification of authority, and the nature of legal reasoning. It explains how legitimate law, while being a branch of applied morality, is also a relatively autonomous system, which has the potential to bridge moral differences among its subjects. The book offers responses to some critical reactions to the author's theory of authority, adumbrating and modifying the theory to meet some of them. The final part of the book brings together for the first time the author's work on the nature of interpretation in law and the humanities. It includes a new chapter explaining interpretive pluralism and the possibility of interpretive innovation.
Keywords:
practical philosophy,
jurisprudence,
nature of law,
practical reason,
morality,
authority,
legal reasoning,
legitimate law
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2009 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199562688 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2009 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199562688.001.0001 |
