00385 - Philosophy of Law (A-C)

Learning outcomes

For Law Students

Students will be introduced to the critical study of legal philosophy, as well as to some important parts of legal theory — such as the typology of norms and the interpretation, integration, and systematization of law — and to the most relevant issues in the contemporary legal-philosophical debate.

 

For Philosophy Students

Students will be introduced to the critical study of the history of legal philosophy and to the main issues in the contemporary legal-philosophical debate.

Course contents

For Law Students

A critical, theoretical, and historical introduction to the main concepts in legal philosophy, with specific reference to the following:

• Plato and the dialectical-divisive method

• Aristotle: Strong theoretical reason versus weak practical reason, and how this contrast was developed by Aquinas

• Natural-law theory and legal positivism

• The principles of law: The road from Roman law to codification

• Dualism and emergence of the ought in the civil-law tradition

• Monism and the elimination of the ought in the common-law tradition

• The normativist realism of the Uppsala School and of H. L. A. Hart

• The law and its sources

• Language and the interpretation of law

• Method and system in law

• Law, morality, and justice

• Relevant issues in contemporary debate

 

For Philosophy Students

• Natural-law theory and legal positivism

• Scandinavian and American legal realism

• Issues in the contemporary debate

Readings/Bibliography

For Law Students

Attending Students

1) Textbook Part (Written Exam)

E. Pattaro, Diritto, ragione, scienza e sistema: Lezioni di filosofia del diritto per l'A.A. 2008–09 (Bologna: GEDIT, 2008)

Please notice: For law students, the written exam will not cover the following sections from Chapter 3 of Diritto, ragione, scienza e sistema:

- Section 3.2.1
- Section 3.2.2
- Section 3.3
- Section 3.6
- Section 3.7
- Section 3.8

2) Focus Part (Oral Exam)

Students have two options for this part:

Option One

a) C. Faralli, La filosofia del diritto contemporanea (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2002), and

b) G. Bongiovanni, Costituzionalismo e teoria del diritto (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2005), chaps. 1 and 2

Option Two

a) C. Faralli, La filosofia del diritto contemporanea (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2002), Introduction and chaps. 1, 2, and 5, and

b) attending the seminar titled “Ethics, Metaethics, and Applied Ethics” and selecting for study any four chapters from the book Oggettività e morale: La riflessione etica del Novecento, ed. G. Bongiovanni (Milan: Mondadori, 2007)

 

Non-attending Students

1) Textbook Part (Written Exam)

E. Pattaro, Diritto, ragione, scienza e sistema: Lezioni di filosofia del diritto per l'A.A. 2008–09 (Bologna: GEDIT, 2008)

Please notice: For law students, the written exam will not cover the following sections from Chapter 3 of Diritto, ragione, scienza e sistema:

- Section 3.2.1
- Section 3.2.2
- Section 3.3
- Section 3.6
- Section 3.7
- Section 3.8

2) Focus Part (Oral Exam)

a) C. Faralli, La filosofia del diritto contemporanea (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2002), and

b) G. Bongiovanni, Costituzionalismo e teoria del diritto (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2005), chaps. 1 and 2, and

c) one text to be selected from the following:

• G. Fassò, Storia della filosofia del diritto, vol. 1 (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2001), any five chapters from the volume

• G. Fassò, Storia della filosofia del diritto, vol. 2 (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2001), any five chapters from the volume

• G. Fassò, Storia della filosofia del diritto, vol. 3 (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2001), any five chapters from the volume

 

For students who are behind schedule with their exams and who are enrolled in the four-year programme in Giurisprudenza (vecchio or nuovo ordinamento), in the three-year programme in Scienze giuridiche, or in the two-year Laurea Specialistica in Giurisprudenza

There are two options for students who are behind schedule (students who have registered for this course in a previous academic year and have yet to take the exam): They can choose the syllabus for non-attending students who have registered for the course in the current academic year, or they can choose the syllabus relative to the academic year in which they registered (the exam in this latter case will only be oral). Any changes a student wishes to make to the syllabus will have to be made in agreement with the professor.

 

Students who have to earn credits required under the Magistrale programme, having transferred from the three-year programme in Scienze Giuridiche or from the two-year Laurea Specialistica in Giurisprudenza

Students who are enrolled in the three-year programme in Scienze Giuridiche or in the two-year Laurea Specialistica in Giurisprudenza and who have already taken the exam in legal philosophy under either of those two programmes are required to supplement this exam with one additional credit (1 CFU) in order for the equivalent exam to count under the Laurea Magistrale programme.

Students required to supplement this exam with an additional credit will be tested on the following text:

G. Zagrebelsky, Il diritto mite (Turin: Einaudi, 1992), chaps. 2 and 3

 

Erasmus Students

1) Written Part

E. Pattaro, Diritto, ragione, scienza e sistema: Lezioni di filosofia del diritto per l'A.A. 2008–09 (Bologna: GEDIT, 2008)

2) Oral Part

Students have three options for this part:

Option One

a) C. Faralli, La filosofia del diritto contemporanea (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2002), and

b) G. Bongiovanni, Costituzionalismo e teoria del diritto (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2005), chaps. 1 and 2

Option Two

a) C. Faralli, La filosofia del diritto contemporanea (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2002), Introduction and chaps. 1, 2, and 5, and

b) attending the seminar titled “Ethics, Metaethics, and Applied Ethics” and selecting any four chapters from Oggettività e morale: La riflessione etica del Novecento, ed. G. Bongiovanni (Milan: Mondadori, 2007)

Option Three

a) C. Faralli, La filosofia del diritto contemporanea (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2002), and

b) one reading selected from the following:

• C. S. Nino, Derecho, moral y política (Barcelona: Ariel 1994)

• R. Alexy, Begriff und Geltung des Rechts (Freiburg: Alber 1992)

• H. L. A. Hart, The Concept of Law, 2nd ed. with a Postscript (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994), chaps. 1–6 and the Postscript

• J. Coleman, The Practice of Principle (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), part 2

 

For Philosophy Students

 

MODULE 1

1. C. Faralli, Profili di storia della filosofia del diritto (Bologna: Gedit, 2006)

2. G. Fassò, Storia della filosofia del diritto, 3 vols., new updated edition, ed. by C. Faralli (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2001), any six chapters from any of the three volumes: Volume 1 (Antiquity and the middle ages), Volume 2 (The modern age), or Volume 3 (The nineteenth and twentieth centuries)

 

MODULE 2

3. C. Faralli, La filosofia del diritto contemporanea: I temi e le sfide (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2005), new updated edition; plus

4. Either of the two options below

a) Option One

Choose one text from the following:

- J. Finnis, Legge naturale e diritti naturali (Turin: Giappichelli, 1996)

- R. Dworkin, I diritti presi sul serio (Bologna: Il Mulino, 1982)

- R. Alexy, Concetto e validità del diritto (Turin: Einaudi, 1997)

- C. Nino, Diritto come morale applicata (Milan: Giuffrè, 1999)

b) Option Two

Participating in the seminar “Ethics, Metaethics, and Applied Ethics” and selecting for study any four chapters from Oggettività e morale: La riflessione etica del Novecento, ed. G. Bongiovanni (Milan: Mondadori, 2007)

Teaching methods

The course will consist of lectures and a seminar: The lectures will either cover course contents or will consist in the reading and commenting of a text related to those contents; the seminar, for its part, will select an issue for in-depth study.

This year's seminar will consist of eight lectures under the title “Ethics, Metaethics, and Applied Ethics” and will count as an addition to the regular course under Option Two above for the oral exam. Students will have to attend at least five of the eight lectures in order for their attendance to count, to this end filling out a form handed out at the beginning of the seminar. The schedule for the seminar lectures will be provided in class and published online at www.cirsfid.unibo.it/didattica/filosofiadeldiritto.

This is a first-semester course: Classes will meet starting on 22 September 2008 on Via Belmeloro, Room A (Aula A) under the following schedule:

Mondays from 9:00 to 11:00 AM; Wednesdays from 9:00 to 10:00 AM; and Thursdays from 11:00 to 13:00 AM.

Assessment methods

For Law Students

Student performance will be assessed through a final exam having a written and an oral part, successful completion of the former being a prerequisite for admission to the latter. The written part will consist of a multiple-choice test on the textbook by E. Pattaro titled Diritto, ragione, scienza e sistema: Lezioni di filosofia del diritto per l'A.A. 2008–09 (Bologna: Gedit, 2008).

Students registering for the exam must so do using the Law School's computer network: A single registration will count for both the written and oral part of the exam.

Students recognized as having attended the course in the current academic year will be able to take the exam starting in January. There are no prerequisites that need to be satisfied for eligibility to take this exam.

 

For Philosophy Students  

Students will only be tested on a final oral exam.

Teaching tools

These include handouts summarizing the main course topics, the reading and commenting of texts in class, the focus seminar, and tests by which to assess student performance.

All the information relative to the course, along with any notice the instructors may give, as well as any supplemental course material, will be available online at www.cirsfid.unibo.it/didattica/filosofiadeldiritto.

 

Dissertation thesis 

Students wishing to write a thesis in this subject area are advised to include the following courses in their curriculum:

• Theory of Law and of Legal Interpretation

• Legal Logic and Argumentation

• Sociology of Law 

• Applied Ethics

Office hours

See the website of Carla Faralli