Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law and Society Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Law – philosophy

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Law and Society

Liberalism, Torture, And The Ticking Bomb, David Luban Jan 2005

Liberalism, Torture, And The Ticking Bomb, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Torture used to be incompatible with American values. Our Bill of Rights forbids cruel and unusual punishment, and that has come to include all forms of corporal punishment except prison and death by methods purported to be painless. Americans and our government have historically condemned states that torture; we have granted asylum or refuge to those who fear it. The Senate ratified the Convention Against Torture, Congress enacted antitorture legislation, and judicial opinions spoke of "the dastardly and totally inhuman act of torture.” Then came September 11.


Human Capabilities And Human Authorities: A Comment On Martha Nussbaum’S Women And Human Development, Robin West Jan 2003

Human Capabilities And Human Authorities: A Comment On Martha Nussbaum’S Women And Human Development, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

What does it mean to be truly human? And, relatedly, what does it mean to be treated as truly human, and with dignity, by the state, or community, of which one is a part? To be fully human, Martha Nussbaum has argued for the better part of two decades, and argues in greater detail in “Women and Human Development”, is not only to be rational, and not only to be happy, but also to be capable - capable, for example, of loving others, of thinking rationally about one's own life, of engaging in dignified labor, of interacting with the natural …


Law As Culture, Naomi Mezey Jan 2001

Law As Culture, Naomi Mezey

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Essay is an attempt to theorize the relationship of law to culture and culture to law beyond the intuitive, commonplace sense that law partakes of culture - by reflecting it as well as by reacting against it - and that culture refracts law. It proposes a theory of law as culture that, in detailing the mutually constitutive nature of the relationship, distinguishes itself from the way law and culture have been conceived by realist and critical legal scholars, as well as by social norms writers. The Essay concludes by speculating about one possible method by which this theorizing might …


The Right To Liberty In A Good Society, Randy E. Barnett, Douglas B. Rasmussen Jan 2001

The Right To Liberty In A Good Society, Randy E. Barnett, Douglas B. Rasmussen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

We have been asked to consider how a "Constitution of Civic Virtue" might contribute to a "good society." To answer this question, we need to have some idea of what a good society might be, and we need to be able to articulate that idea. Certainly, we think we know a good movie when we see it, a good book when we read it, a good argument when we hear it, and a good idea when we have one, but we are not sure we have a handle on what a good society is. Even what we think we know …