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- Rule of law (17)
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- Legal positivism (5)
- Conventionalism (4)
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- James M. Buchanan (2)
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Articles 1 - 30 of 38
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Strength In Numbers: A Field Experiment In Gender, Influence, And Group Dynamics, Olga B. Stoddard, Christopher F. Karpowitz, Jessica Preece
Strength In Numbers: A Field Experiment In Gender, Influence, And Group Dynamics, Olga B. Stoddard, Christopher F. Karpowitz, Jessica Preece
Faculty Publications
Policy interventions to increase women’s presence in the workforce and leadership positions vary in their intensity, with some including a lone or token woman and others setting higher quotas. However, little is known about how the resulting group gender compositions influence individuals’ experiences and broader workplace dynamics. In this paper, we investigate whether token women are disadvantaged compared to women on majority-women mixed-gender teams. We conducted a multi-year field experiment with a top-10 undergraduate accounting program that randomized the gender composition of semester-long teams. Using laboratory, survey, and administrative data, we find that even after accounting for their proportion of …
The Last Nephite Scribes, Noel B. Reynolds
The Last Nephite Scribes, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
This paper leverages the insights of modern scholars on the scribal schools of the ancient near east to identify and track the Nephite scribal school across the ten centuries of the Nephite dispensation. Mormon tells us his abridgment only includes a hundredth part of the Nephite history available to him on the Large Plates of Nephi. That being the case, it is especially impressive that his abridgment tracks the responsibility for maintaining and preserving the Nephite record and other sacred objects—the responsibility of the scribes—across that millennium without gaps. Mormon and his son Moroni were themselves trained scribes who could …
A Brief History Of Writing From The Perspective Of Restoration Scripture, Noel B. Reynolds
A Brief History Of Writing From The Perspective Of Restoration Scripture, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
This paper brings together selected insights of modern epigraphers who study the languages and texts of the ancient near east to illuminate how we should understand the composition and history of central texts in the Bible and the Book of Mormon.
Lehi's Dream: Nephi's Blueprint, Noel B. Reynolds
Lehi's Dream: Nephi's Blueprint, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
This essay harnesses the late twentieth-century discovery of Hebrew rhetoric by Bible scholars to identify Lehi’s dream as the foundation of the carefully constructed unity in Nephi’s writings and to identify previously unrecognized elements of that dream that are distributed throughout his final work. All the teachings and prophecies in First and Second Nephi are shown to derive from that dream/vision. Further, the entirety of Nephi’s writings in the small plates are shown to be a tightly designed rhetorical production that establishes the centrality of Christ’s identity, mission, and teachings for current and future generations of Lehi’s descendants and ultimately …
Lehi And Nephi As Trained Manassite Scribes, Noel B. Reynolds
Lehi And Nephi As Trained Manassite Scribes, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
This paper brings contemporary ANE scholarship in several fields together to construct an updated starting point for interpretation of the teachings of the Book of Mormon. It assembles findings from studies of ancient scribal culture, historical linguistics and epigraphy, Hebrew rhetoric, and the history and archaeology of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Levant, together with the traditions of ancient Israel to construct a contextualized perspective for understanding Lehi, Nephi, and their scribal training as they would have been understood by their contemporaries. Lehi and Nephi are shown to be the beneficiaries of the most advanced scribal training available in 7th century …
An Everlasting Witness: Ancient Writings On Metal, Noel B. Reynolds
An Everlasting Witness: Ancient Writings On Metal, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
After reviewing and updating the best studies of writing on metals in the ancient world, the paper examines scholarly and scriptural texts that explain what writing on metal meant to ancient scribes. Finally, the paper turns to what writing on metal meant to the Nephites.
Modern Archaeology And The Brass Plates, Noel B. Reynolds
Modern Archaeology And The Brass Plates, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
Contemporary Palestinian archaeology has produced two major threats to traditional interpretations of the history of ancient Israel. Scientific discomfort with the exodus story as an explanation for the sudden population expansion in southern Palestine at the beginning of the Iron Age (c.1200 BCE) has led to a wide variety of theories about how these Israelites could have been drawn from existing populations in the general area. And a glaring mismatch between the biblical glorification of David and Solomon’s “empire” and disparagement of the northern kingdom combined with the archaeological finding that the cities of the northern kingdom were far larger …
Nephi's Small Plates: A Rhetorical Analysis, Noel B. Reynolds
Nephi's Small Plates: A Rhetorical Analysis, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
Readers of the Book of Mormon commonly assume the adequacy of a simple and straight-forward explanation for the existence of Nephi’s Small Plates. As explained at various points in the text, Nephi had undertaken a shorter version of his Large Plates record by selecting out the spiritual teachings, prophecies and revelations for a more focused presentation. But the adequacy of that explanation has come under considerable strain from two very different directions. In 1986 Fred Axelgard advanced the idea that the description provided for the Large Plates of Nephi as being more historical also applied to all of First Nephi …
The Brass Plates In Context: A Book Of Mormon Backstory, Noel B. Reynolds
The Brass Plates In Context: A Book Of Mormon Backstory, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
This paper brings contemporary ANE scholarship in several fields together with the ancient scriptures restored through Joseph Smith to construct an updated starting point for interpretation of the teachings of the Book of Mormon. It assembles findings from studies of ancient scribal culture, historical linguistics and epigraphy, and the history and archaeology of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Levant, together with the traditions of ancient Israel and the ancient scriptures restored to Joseph Smith, to construct a contextualized perspective for understanding Lehi, Nephi, and the Brass Plates as they would have been understood by their contemporaries—as prominent bearers of the Josephite …
The Goodness Of God And His Children As A Fundamental Theological Concept In The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds
The Goodness Of God And His Children As A Fundamental Theological Concept In The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
The phrase goodness of God does occur occasionally in the Hebrew Bible, but has not been considered by Old Testament scholars. to be a key piece of Israelite theology. Rather, it has been interpreted as just another way of talking about God’s acts of hesed or loving kindness for his covenant people and is usually interpreted in the context of the covenants Israel received through Abraham and Moses. The Book of Mormon, on the other hand, presents an explicit divine plan that existed before Abraham—even before the creation of the earth—which had as its purpose making eternal life possible for …
The Goodness Of God And His Children As A Fundamental Theological Concept In The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds
The Goodness Of God And His Children As A Fundamental Theological Concept In The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
The phrase goodness of God does occur occasionally in the Hebrew Bible, but has not been considered by Old Testament scholars to be an independent principle in Israelite theology. Rather, it has been interpreted as just another way of talking about God’s acts of hesed or loving kindness for his covenant people and is usually interpreted in the context of the covenants Israel received through Abraham and Moses. The Book of Mormon clearly echoes that Old Testament pattern, but also presents two additional conceptual frameworks that are explained in terms of the goodness of God. It advances an explicit …
Does The Message Matter? A Field Experiment On Political Party Recruitment, Jessica Robinson Preece
Does The Message Matter? A Field Experiment On Political Party Recruitment, Jessica Robinson Preece
Faculty Publications
Do men and women respond to various party recruitment messages similarly? Working with the Utah County Republican Party, we designed a field experiment in which we invited over 11,600 male and female party activists to attend a free, party-sponsored “Prospective Candidate Information Seminar” by randomizing different invitation messages. We found that women were half as likely as men to respond to recruitment—log on to the seminar website for more information, register for the seminar, and attend the seminar. While we found some suggestive evidence about what recruitment messages may particularly motivate women or men vis-a-vis a control message, our findings …
Herbert Hoover And Belgian Relief, Albert Winkler
Herbert Hoover And Belgian Relief, Albert Winkler
Faculty Publications
Herbert Hoover was an orphan, who retained great empathy for the weak and hungry his entire life. Working without pay, he organized and administered Belgian Relief starting in 1914 to get food to ten million Belgians and Frenchmen behind German lines. His efforts doubtlessly saved hundreds of thousands from starvation. This was only the starting point in his career as the "Great Humanitarian." He got food to Germany at the end of both world wars, aided Russia in their great famine, and reportedly got food to hundreds of millions of people in his lengthy career. No one has ever done …
Features Of Greek Satyr Play As A Guide To Interpretation For Plato's "Republic", Noel B. Reynolds
Features Of Greek Satyr Play As A Guide To Interpretation For Plato's "Republic", Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
The paper borrows from recent work by classicists on satyr play and demonstrates significant parallels between Plato’s Republic and the structure, theme, and stereotypical contents that characterize this newly studied genre of ancient Greek drama. Like satyr play, the Republic includes repeated passages where metatheatricality can reverse the meaning. The frequent occurrence of all the stereotypical elements of satyr play in Plato’s Republic also suggests to readers that they should be responding to Socrates’s narration as they would to a satyr play, again reversing meaning by communicating a set of literary expectations to Plato’s readers over the heads of Socrates’s …
Who Wrote Bacon? Assessing The Respective Roles Of Francis Bacon And His Secretaries In The Production Of His English Works, Noel B. Reynolds, G. Bruce Schaalje, John M. Hilton
Who Wrote Bacon? Assessing The Respective Roles Of Francis Bacon And His Secretaries In The Production Of His English Works, Noel B. Reynolds, G. Bruce Schaalje, John M. Hilton
Faculty Publications
In an earlier study that identified previously unrecognized writings of the young 15 Thomas Hobbes, questions were raised about the authorship of some of Francis Bacon’s published works. This article reports a follow-up study in which two independent statistical analyses of Bacon’s English works both conclude that, whereas Bacon’s autographic writings show clearly that they are authored by the same person; almost none of his published works can be matched statistically 20 with the autographs. The most likely explanation for this dramatic finding is that Bacon’s well-known reliance on secretaries may have been sufficiently extensive that his writing patterns are …
German Views Of Amazonia Through The Centuries, Richard Hacken
German Views Of Amazonia Through The Centuries, Richard Hacken
Faculty Publications
An exploration of German conquistadors, missionaries, explorers, empresses, naturalists, travelers, immigrants and cultural interpreters who were conspicuous among Europeans over five centuries fascinated by the biodiversity and native peoples of the incomparably vast Amazon basin stretching from the Andes to the Atlantic, from the Guiana Highlands to Peru and Bolivia, from Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador to the mouth of the Amazon at the Brazilian equator.
Why We Don’T Understand The Rule Of Law Or Explaining The Rule Of Law: A Practice In Search Of A Theory, Noel B. Reynolds
Why We Don’T Understand The Rule Of Law Or Explaining The Rule Of Law: A Practice In Search Of A Theory, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
This lecture summarizes the main attempts to formulate an understanding of rule of law among legal theorists and explains why they fail to account for the real experience of law. It also explains key characteristics of law that need to be recognized in an adequate account of the rule of law.
Why We Don't Understand The Rule Of Law, Noel B. Reynolds
Why We Don't Understand The Rule Of Law, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
This paper presents an assessment of current theories of law and their continuing failure to account in a convincing way for the rule of law as an ideal that guides and reassures modern democratic societies. It then explores the possibility that emerging understandings of human evolution and brain function may help us understand the process of convention making in a way that could reveal the underlying moral and epistemological context of law and allow us to identify a complete set of standards for the rule of law in human societies.
The Decline Of The American Superpower, Earl H. Fry
The Decline Of The American Superpower, Earl H. Fry
Faculty Publications
By 2040, the United States will no longer be considered as a global superpower and the world may be headed toward a long era devoid of any superpowers. This will occur as a result of several negative trends within the United States itself, combined with changing dynamics and exigencies in the global system and the rise of more powerful competitors in Asia and Europe. The negative trends within the United States include unprecedented governmental and international debt, dysfunctional campaign-finance and lobbying systems, unmanageable entitlement and health-care obligations, a deteriorating public education network, an inordinate concentration of wealth and power in …
Creating An Interactive Classroom: Enhancing Student Engagement And Learning In Political Science Courses, Jonathan D. Mott, Danny Damron
Creating An Interactive Classroom: Enhancing Student Engagement And Learning In Political Science Courses, Jonathan D. Mott, Danny Damron
Faculty Publications
Students of the pedagogy of teaching have found that cooperative/problem-based learning activities engage the learner, promote ownership of the material, advance the development of higher-level cognitive skills and increase retention better than more passive learning activities. Despite broad recognition within the political science discipline that classroom activities can and should facilitate better student learning outcomes, political science classes (both large and small) frequently have characteristics that make cooperative/problem-based learning activities more difficult to employ and less likely to succeed. Anonymity in large sections, a steep learning curve of complex concepts, and students who see passivity as the least costly approach …
Legal Theory And The Rule Of Law, Noel B. Reynolds
Legal Theory And The Rule Of Law, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
In "Legal Theory and the Rule of Law" Noel Reynolds maintains that the rule of law can be understood as a set of conditions that rational actors would impose on any authority they would create to act in their stead in creating and administering legally binding rules. The authority and obligation associated with law derive from this fundamental convention, and the principles of the rule of law are the conditions of that agreement, which become thereby governing principles to which legislatures, judges, and enforcement agencies can be held in their official actions. These generally recognized standards are inherent in this …
The Rule Of Law: A Reassessment For The Twenty-First Century, Noel B. Reynolds
The Rule Of Law: A Reassessment For The Twenty-First Century, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
This brief radio address attempts to explain the origins of American liberty and to assess its health at the beginning of the 21st century. The notion of rule of law and the emerging science of constitutionalism enabled America’s founding generation to establish a system of political liberty that continues to stand as a model for all human societies to pursue.
Legal Theory And The Rule Of Law, Noel B. Reynolds
Legal Theory And The Rule Of Law, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
This article proposes that the rule of law can be understood as a set of conditions that rational actors would impose on any authority they would create to act in their stead in creating and administering legally binding rules. The authority and obligation associated with law derive from this fundamental convention, and the principles of the rule of law are the conditions of that agreement, which become thereby governing principles to which legislatures, judges, and enforcement agencies can be held in their official actions. These generally recognized standards are inherent in this conventionalist concept of law in the sense that …
Pareto Optimality And The Rule Of Law, Noel B. Reynolds
Pareto Optimality And The Rule Of Law, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
In 1959, James M. Buchanan criticized the collectivist misuse of Pareto optimality by the "new welfare economists" and made a first attempt to extend that individualist concept into the political realm. Over the following three decades he further developed his political application of Pareto’s insight to buttress an essentially economic analysis of political exchange that would justify the processes of constitutional democracy in the same way Pareto efficiency justifies free markets. In this paper I will explain why Buchanan’s particular formulations will not work and propose a more comprehensive solution that accomplishes Buchanan’s announced purpose. I will argue that a …
Nephite Kingship Reconsidered, Noel B. Reynolds
Nephite Kingship Reconsidered, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
This paper extends and updates previous efforts to understand the political dynamic of the Book of Mormon by looking at four themes or issues that can be developed from the text itself. The first is an expansion of earlier treatments of the contradictory political ideologies of the Nephites and Lamanites, which informed relations between these two groups across their thousand-year history. The second is an exploration of the historical possibility that Nephi may never, in fact, have been anointed as king of the Nephite people, which raises in turn a possible need to reassess the character of Nephite kingship. The …
Thomas Hobbes's "A Discourse Of Laws", Noel B. Reynolds
Thomas Hobbes's "A Discourse Of Laws", Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
The recent discovery that an anonymously published 1620 essay was an early writing of Thomas Hobbes invites investigation of his early thinking. Hobbes relied on mostly classical sources to advance a basically conventionalist theory of law and to anticipate twentieth century analyses of the principles of rule of law such as that made famous by F. A. Hayek.
Rule Of Law In Legal And Economic Theory, Noel B. Reynolds
Rule Of Law In Legal And Economic Theory, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
Legal positivism, the leading version of legal theory, has shown that a concentration on the meanings and logical relations of legal concepts, however much supplemented by intuition, common sense and legal experience, is not adequate to make full sense out of the human experience of law, and the traditional understandings of legal obligation and rule of law in particular. However, modern economic science has advanced a radically individualistic theoretical approach which has propelled economics to the fore as the most successful of the social sciences. And its basic theoretical stance is proving both attractive and adaptable to all the other …
Conventionalism And Contractarianism, Noel B. Reynolds
Conventionalism And Contractarianism, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
In this paper Noel B. Reynolds’s theory of law as convention is compared to the public choice contractarian theory of James M. Buchanan. While there are numerous similarities, major differences emerge. Only conventionalism can produce legal and political authority and norms to guide the use of that authority in maintaining the rule of law. The concept of constructive unanimity is introduced to overcome the ultimate failure of contractarianism to legitimate the authority of law.
The Separation Of Law And Morals, Noel B. Reynolds
The Separation Of Law And Morals, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
The classic opposition of legal positivism and natural law theory resurfaces continually and reminds us that we have yet to resolve this key conflict in our ways of understanding the moral authority of law. The strengths and weaknesses of the two theories are reviewed—both have fatal flaws. Conventionalism is proposed as a means of finding internal standards in a man-made system of law. The naturally emerging standards for a conventionalist system of law turn out to be the already familiar principles of the rule of law.
Hume And His Critics: Reid And Kames, Noel B. Reynolds
Hume And His Critics: Reid And Kames, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
This presentation was in response to Kenneth MacKinnon’s defense of Thomas Reid’s preference for natural virtue against David Hume’s conventionalism in his theory of law. It is argued that because Hume’s legal theory follows easily from his theory of human nature, Reid and Kames—and MacKinnon—need to refute Hume at that level to be successful in their rejection of his conventionalism.