14 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
Dworkin's second major collection — extending his rights theory and liberal political philosophy into specific debates about equality, judicial review, and civil disobedience.
Dworkin's critique of legal positivism — the view that law is simply a set of rules identified by their social source — arguing that law includes principles that are morally binding even without explicit enactment.
Italian philosopher who developed the concepts of bare life, homo sacer, and the state of exception, arguing that sovereignty operates by reducing subjects to killable bare life stripped of political rights.
Giorgio Agamben's analysis of the homo sacer — the Roman legal figure who can be killed but not sacrificed — as the paradigm for understanding how sovereign power operates by reducing subjects to bare life.
John Austin was a 19th-century English jurist who founded modern legal positivism, defining law as commands issued by a sovereign backed by sanction.
American philosopher who has worked on privacy law, women and the law, and contributed to deontic logic.
American philosopher who has worked on natural law theory, philosophy of information, and the ethics of artificial intelligence.
Dworkin's theory that judges should interpret the law as if it were authored by a single coherent moral agent — finding the interpretation that best fits and justifies the legal practice as a whole.
Dworkin's most systematic work in legal philosophy — presenting law as an 'interpretive' practice and arguing that judges should approach hard cases through the ideal of 'law as integrity.'
Swedish logician who made significant contributions to deontic logic, imperative logic, and the logic of questions (erotetic logic).
Australian-American philosopher who has worked on the demands of beneficence, the cooperative principle, and the philosophy of tax.
Dworkin's philosophical treatment of abortion and euthanasia — arguing that both sides in both debates are really arguing about the 'sanctity of life' (an intrinsic value) rather than about rights.
British philosopher who has contributed to deontic logic and the analysis of normative concepts in legal philosophy.
Ronald Dworkin's foundational collection of essays arguing that rights are 'trumps' — they override utilitarian calculations — and that legal positivism fundamentally misunderstands the nature of law.