00385 - Philosophy of Law (R-Z)

Learning outcomes

(a) For Law Students (Giurisprudenza)
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.
(b) For Political-Science Students (Scienze Politiche, Corso di Laurea Specialistica in Culture e Diritti Umani)
Students will be introduced to the critical study of legal philosophy, with a focus on the classic foundations of law and on different conceptions of law, such as natural law and legal positivism. The course will further cover the basics of legal theory and legal interpretation, with an overview of the main issues currently in debated in legal philosophy, exploring the theory of law and of democracy; multiculturalism and rights; the relation among law, morality, and justice.

Course contents

(a) For Law Students (Giurisprudenza)
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

(b) For Political-Science Students (Scienze Politiche, Corso di Laurea Specialistica in Culture e Diritti Umani)

Natural-law theory and legal positivism
Language and the interpretation of law
Theory of law and of democracy
Law, morality, and justice

Readings/Bibliography

(a) For Law Students (Giurisprudenza)
Attending Students
1) Textbook Part (Written Exam)
E. Pattaro, Diritto, ragione, scienza e sistema: Lezioni di filosofia del diritto per l'A.A. 2008-2009 (Bologna: GEDIT, 2008)
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. 2008-2009 (Bologna: GEDIT, 2008)
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. 2008-2009 (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 politica (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. 16 and the Postscript
J. Coleman, The Practice of Principle (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), part 2

(b) For Political-Science Students (Scienze Politiche, Corso di Laurea Specialistica in Culture e Diritti Umani)
Select one text from each of the following three lists (three texts overall):
i) Theory and History of Law and of Rights
R. Alexy, Concetto e validità del diritto (Turin: Einaudi, 1997)
N. Bobbio, Il positivismo giuridico (Turin: Giappichelli, 1996)
N. Bobbio, L'età dei diritti (Turin: Einaudi, 1990)
G. Bongiovanni, Costituzionalismo e teoria del diritto (Rome and Bari: Laterza, 2005)
R. Dworkin, I diritti presi sul serio (Bologna: Il Mulino, 1982), pp. 61-237, 265-292)
L. Ferrajoli (ed.), Diritti fondamentali (Rome and Bari: Laterza 2001), only the three essays by Ferrajoli)
G. Zagrebelsky, Il diritto mite (Einaudi: Turin, 1992)

ii) Theory of Law and of Democracy
J. Habermas, Fatti e norme (Milan: Guerini, 1996), chaps. 6, 7, and 8
J. Habermas, L'inclusione dell'altro (Milan: Feltrinelli, 1998), parts III, IV, V
H. Kelsen, La democrazia (Bologna: Il Mulino, 1998), part I
F. I. Michelman, La democrazia e il potere giudiziario (Bari: Dedalo, 2004)
D. Zolo, Il principato democratico (Milan: Feltrinelli, 1996)

iii) Multiculturalism and the Moral Foundation of Law
S. Benhabib, La rivendicazione dell'identità culturale (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2005)
S. Benhabib, I diritti degli altri (Milan: Cortina, 2006)
G. Bongiovanni (ed.), Oggettività e morale (Milan: B. Mondadori, 2007), any ten essays
J. Rawls, Saggi: Dalla giustizia come equità al liberalismo politico (Turin: Edizioni di Comunità 2001), essays 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 9
J. Rawls, Lezioni di storia della filosofia morale (Milan: Feltrinelli, 2000), pp. 155-350

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 these contents; the seminar, for its part, will select an issue for in-depth study.
This years 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 in 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 3:00 to 5:00 PM; Tuesdays from 4:00 to 6:00 PM; and Thursdays from 4:00 to 5:00 PM.

Assessment methods

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. 2008-2009 (Bologna: GEDIT, 2008).
Students registering for the exam must so do using the Law Schools computer network: A single registration will count for both the written and the 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.
The exam for political-science students (Scienze Politiche) is oral and does not also include a written part.

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 along the way.
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 Theses

Students wishing to write their dissertation thesis under this course must have the thesis approved by an instructor during office hours.

Office hours

See the website of Silvia Vida