74772 - Theories of Law and Justice

Learning outcomes

Students will familiarize themselves to the main features of the theoretical relationship between law and justice. This relationship will be analyzed both in relation to the areas in which the law raises issues of justice (content and validity of the rules, unjust legal system, justice in international law), both in relation to the demands of justice that the major historical and contemporary foundations of justice raised with respect to the legal regulation.

Course contents

The course (divided in two modules and carried out in collaboration with prof. Alberto Artosi) is devoted to the analysis of the main theories of justice and the requirements they pose to the legitimacy and evolution of the law. The lessons will deal, in the two modules of the course, with the relationship between justice, law and rights: the first module (prof. Artosi) will analyze this relationship with reference to the principal historical and philosophical foundations, while the second module (prof. Bongiovanni ) will examine it in relation to contemporary debate. In particular, the course will address::

Module 1: the main philosophical foundations of the idea of justice

- Greek thought: the theories of Plato and Aristotle
- Natural law and legal positivism between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age
- The eighteenth-century revolutions
- The negation of the idea of justice in F. Nietzsche and H. Kelsen

 

Module 2: the theory of justice in the contemporary debate, the rights to be protected, the legitimacy of the law
- J. Rawls and the idea of “justice as fairness”
- R. Dworkin and the equal resources doctrine
- The libertarianism of R. Nozick
- The capabilities approach of A. Sen and M. Nussbaum
- Utilitarianism
- Justice from the perspective of law and economics movement
- Procedural justice by J. Habermas

Readings/Bibliography

For the examination, the student must prepare either (1) materials and texts indicated in class or, alternatively, (2) the volume of M. Sandel, Giustizia. Il nostro bene comune, Feltrinelli, Milano, 2010 (or, alternatevely, the volume of S. Maffettone, S. Veca, L’idea di giustizia da Platone a Rawls, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2008, two parts to choose between the parts II, III, IV).

Non-Attending Students

The exam will be on both of the selections below [a) and b)]

Selection a):

M. Sandel, Giustizia. Il nostro bene comune, Feltrinelli, Milano, 2010 (or, alternatevely, S. Maffettone, S. Veca, L’idea di giustizia da Platone a Rawls, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2008, two parts to choose between the parts II, III, IV).

Selection b): One reading from the list below (only the single chapters or parts where these are specified) or a text agreed with the teacher:

Aristotele, Etica Nicomachea, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1999 (or another edition), cap. 5

B. Barry, La teoria liberale della giustizia, Milano, Giuffrè, 1994

S. Benhabib, I diritti degli altri, Milano, R. Cortina, 2006

R. Dworkin, Virtù sovrana. Teoria dell'uguaglianza, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2002

R. Dworkin, Giustizia per i ricci. Milano, Feltrinelli, 2013

C. Fabre, Justice in a Changing World, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2007

J. Habermas, La costellazione post-nazionale, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1999

H. Kelsen, Il problema della giustizia, Torino, Einaudi, 2000

F. Nietzsche, Umano, troppo umano, I, Milano, Adelphi, 1979 (or another edition)

M. Nussbaum, Le nuove frontiere della giustizia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2007

R. Nozick, Anarchia, Stato, Utopia, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2008

V. Ottonelli, Leggere Rawls, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2010

Platone, La repubblica, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1994 (or another edition)

T. Pogge, Povertà mondiale e diritti umani, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2010

J. Rawls, Una teoria della giustizia, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1982 o edizioni successive (Part I and, optionally, Part II or III)

J. Rawls, Liberalismo politico, Milano, Edizioni di Comunità, 1994 o edizioni successive (Part I and, optionally, Part II or III)

J. Rawls, Il diritto dei popoli, Torino, Edizioni di Comunità, 2001

M. Risse, On Global Justice, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2012

A. Sen, L'idea di giustizia, Milano, Mondadori, 2010

A. Sen, La diseguaglianza, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2010

Teaching methods

The course consist in a series of lessons, in which selected texts and court rulings will be read and commented.

The lessons will be held in the second semester.
All the information relative to the course, along with any notice, will be available online at http://www.unibo.it/docenti/giorgio.bongiovanni

Assessment methods

The exam consists of an oral test aimed at testing the knowledge of the student about the topics covered by the exam program. Attending students also have the opportunity to prepare a written report on the course subjects agreed with the teacher: in this case, the oral examination will consist of a critical discussion of the elaborate.

The exam will be designed to assess not only the actual knowledge by the student of the key points of the story and issues related to the relation between law and ​​justice, but also to consider the ability of argumentation and understanding of the issues discussed. The examination therefore, tend to test the degree of familiarity of the student with the basic concepts and conceptions of justice and the problems that, in relation to the law, they raise.

The final grade is determined by a comprehensive assessment of the answers to several questions. In particular, the criteria according to which the final judgment will be graded are the following:

the achievement by the student of an organic vision of the topics discussed in class, combined with their critical use and a full mastery of expression and specific language will be assessed with a mark of excellence. Lack of concision and the usage of language and terminology which are not always appropriate will lead to a fair evaluation; knowledge gaps and inappropriate language - although in a context of acceptable knowledge - will not go beyond the grade threshold “sufficient”. Knowledge gaps, inappropriate language, and lack of any overall view of the basic issues discussed in textbooks and during the course that will lead to an insufficient assessment.

Students registering for the exam must so do using the University's computer network Almaesami.

There are no prerequisites that need to be satisfied for eligibility to take this exam.

Teaching tools

These include handouts summarizing the main course topics, the reading and commenting of selected texts, and tests to assess student performance. Supplemental course material (slides, bibliographies, arguments of discussion, etc.), will be available at https://www.unibo.it/docenti/giorgio.bongiovanni

Office hours

See the website of Giorgio Bongiovanni

See the website of Alberto Artosi