Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Institution
- Publication Year
- Publication
-
- Faculty Publications (10)
- Noel B Reynolds (7)
- Eric A. Engle (2)
- LSU Doctoral Dissertations (2)
- LSU Master's Theses (2)
-
- Faculty Scholarship (1)
- Helm's School of Government Conference - American Revival: Citizenship & Virtue (1)
- Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications (1)
- Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024) (1)
- Northwestern Review (1)
- Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations (1)
- Pro Rege (1)
- Research Collection School of Social Sciences (1)
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 30 of 31
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Departure From The Original Intent Of The 14th Amendment, Johnny B. Davis
The Departure From The Original Intent Of The 14th Amendment, Johnny B. Davis
Helm's School of Government Conference - American Revival: Citizenship & Virtue
No abstract provided.
Natural Lights & Natural Rights: The Problem Of The New Classical Natural Law Theory, Charles Neville Cacciatore
Natural Lights & Natural Rights: The Problem Of The New Classical Natural Law Theory, Charles Neville Cacciatore
LSU Master's Theses
The present work examines the natural law jurisprudence of John Finnis. It argues that Finnis’s teaching is a genuinely new natural law theory. Finnis’s jurisprudence is not a re- presentation of the jurisprudence of St. Thomas Aquinas because its central element—a doctrine of natural rights—is a departure from Aquinas’s natural law teaching. In support of these claims, the present work relies upon the scholarship of Ernest L. Fortin, A.A. Following Fr. Fortin, it presents an understanding of the natural law that endorses a clear distinction between natural right and natural rights—between premodern political philosophy and modern political philosophy.
Protestant Experience And Continuity Of Political Thought In Early America, 1630-1789, Stephen Michael Wolfe
Protestant Experience And Continuity Of Political Thought In Early America, 1630-1789, Stephen Michael Wolfe
LSU Doctoral Dissertations
The debate on the continuity of American political thought from the 17th century Puritan settlements to the 18th century American founding assumes a bipolar spectrum, ranging from strong continuity to strong discontinuity. The degree that scholars recognize distinctively Christian, theological, or Protestant ideas operating in the founding era determines where they are placed on the spectrum. The most popular view today is the “amalgam” thesis, which is a moderate view, resulting from decades of debate. Amalgam theorists argue that the founders' political theory relied on a variety of sources, from classical to Protestant. The current debate centers on …
Natural Law And Agonistic Pluralism, Daniel E. Young
Natural Law And Agonistic Pluralism, Daniel E. Young
Northwestern Review
John Rawls’ account of political liberalism posits the necessity of a metaphysically neutral “public reason” to avoid privileging any comprehensive doctrine in the public square. The natural law tradition has been claimed by some as meeting this standard. However, thinkers such as Tracey Rowland criticize the attempt to make natural law a secular, neutral ground; she believes it must be rooted in an overtly Trinitarian and Christological theology. However, such theological assumptions are not shared by those of other comprehensive doctrines. Chantal Mouffe has also challenged Rawls’ consensus conception, focusing rather on the inevitable ideological conflicts to be found in …
The Creation Of The Self And The Birth Of Inequality : Locke And Rousseau On Natural Rights And Private Property, Michael Sokoler
The Creation Of The Self And The Birth Of Inequality : Locke And Rousseau On Natural Rights And Private Property, Michael Sokoler
Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)
The formation of civil societies marked one of the most monumental shifts
Thinking Together About The Common Good: The Political Implications Of Thomas Aquinas's Theory Of Conscience, Angela Concetta Miceli
Thinking Together About The Common Good: The Political Implications Of Thomas Aquinas's Theory Of Conscience, Angela Concetta Miceli
LSU Doctoral Dissertations
This dissertation examines the problems confronted by claims of ‘freedom of conscience’ in contemporary political society, and argues that freedom of conscience is a critical foundational component of any free political regime. Yet, conscience is often invoked as the final authority or justification for any choice, regardless whether the action or choice violates the common good. In this case, there is a risk that conscience can become identified with subjectivism, radical individualism, or autonomy. I suggest that a re-examination of the theory of conscience found in Aquinas, especially as it relates to human reason, natural law, and prudence, contributes toward …
The Family: What Is To Be Done?, Scott Yenor
The Family: What Is To Be Done?, Scott Yenor
Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
We have seen how the logic of contract and the movement to conquer nature have resulted in a triumph of autonomy and the demise of family. The family thus stands in need of a defense. Defense of the family means defense of an institution, and that defense requires some defense of the nature that these institutions react to and reflect. This is where contemporary advocates have focused their attention. Both the modern principles—the principle of contract and the move to conquer nature—are partial truths, and it is best to understand how they each fit into a proper understanding of married …
Enclosing In God’S Name, Accumulating For Mankind: Money, Morality, And Accumulation In John Locke’S Theory Of Property, Onur Ulas Ince
Enclosing In God’S Name, Accumulating For Mankind: Money, Morality, And Accumulation In John Locke’S Theory Of Property, Onur Ulas Ince
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
John Locke's theory of property has been the subject of sustained contention between two major perspectives: a socioeconomic perspective, which conceives Locke's thought as an expression of the rising bourgeois sensibility and a defense of the nascent capitalist relations, and a theological perspective, which prioritizes his moral worldview grounded in the Christian natural law tradition. This essay argues that a closer analysis of Locke's theory of money in the Second Treatise can provide an alternative to this binary. It maintains that the notion of money comprises a conceptual area of indeterminacy in which the theological universals of the natural law …
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 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
Noel B Reynolds
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.
The Union Of Legal And Political Theory, Noel B. Reynolds
The Union Of Legal And Political Theory, Noel B. Reynolds
Noel B Reynolds
This paper explores the social science concept of conventions as a way of understanding law that would bridge the enduring gap between natural law and legal positivist legal theories. It further finds in the conventionalist approach a promising account of the rule of law—both in how it may be characterized and in how it can be assessed in particular legal systems.
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 Fake Revolution: Understanding Legal Realism, Eric A. Engle
The Fake Revolution: Understanding Legal Realism, Eric A. Engle
Eric A. Engle
Abstract: Legal interpretation in the United States changed dramatically between 1930 and 1950. The Great Depression and World War II unleashed radical critique (particularly prior to the war). Legal realism proposed radical new methods of legal interpretation to try to meet the challenges of global depression and global war. The new legal methods proposed by realism at first seemed to indicate a new legal order. In fact, they only preserved the old order, protecting it from fundamental change. Thus, the same problem, cyclical economic downturn triggering war for resources and market share recurred in Vietnam. Just as the depression and …
Related Article: Alvarez-Machain V. United States And Alvarez-Machain V. Sosa: The Brooding Omnipresence Of Natural Law, Eric A. Engle
Related Article: Alvarez-Machain V. United States And Alvarez-Machain V. Sosa: The Brooding Omnipresence Of Natural Law, Eric A. Engle
Eric A. Engle
Alvarez Machain was wrongly decided because the Supreme Court rejects natural law arguments out of hand. Natural law and positive law are not dichotomous. They are complementary. The Supreme Court will eventually be forced to review all cases rejecting arguments due to a rejection of natural law.
Tyranny, Natural Law, And Secession, Geoffrey Plauche
Tyranny, Natural Law, And Secession, Geoffrey Plauche
LSU Master's Theses
This thesis is an examination of the problem of tyranny from the perspective of radical libertarianism. History is to be seen as a race and conflict between liberty and power. After a brief introduction, the second section of this thesis is devoted to sketching out a natural law and natural rights theory. With this as the foundation, the third section analyzes the seminal work of Étienne de la Boétie’s The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude in which he elucidates the nature of tyranny and the psychology of subjection. All governments, even the worst tyranny, rest upon general popular acceptance. Religious and …
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
Noel B Reynolds
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.
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 …
Natural Law And Public Reasons, Kent Greenawalt
Natural Law And Public Reasons, Kent Greenawalt
Faculty Scholarship
In this Lecture I shall discuss the reasons that officials and citizens should rely upon in American politics. In recent years, various theorists have claimed that people in liberal democracies should rely in politics on "public reasons," reasons that are accessible to all citizens. Others have objected that such a counsel is unreasonable, if not incomprehensible. I shall concentrate on two facets of this issue. First, does the law exemplify a structure of public reasons – that is, do judges deciding cases draw on a stock of public reasons that is narrower than all the reasons one might give for …
Legal Theory And The Rule Of Law, Noel B. Reynolds
Legal Theory And The Rule Of Law, Noel B. Reynolds
Noel B Reynolds
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 …
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.
Thomas Hobbes's "A Discourse Of Laws", Noel B. Reynolds
Thomas Hobbes's "A Discourse Of Laws", Noel B. Reynolds
Noel B Reynolds
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 those made famous by F. A. Hayek and Michael Oakeshott.
The Limits Of Natural Law: Thomas Rutherforth And The American Legal Tradition, Gary L. Mcdowell
The Limits Of Natural Law: Thomas Rutherforth And The American Legal Tradition, Gary L. Mcdowell
Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications
The history of American constitutional jurisprudence has been marked by a persistent fascination with the idea of natural law. This springs first and foremost from the fact that we understand as our constitutional foundation those “laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” to which Thomas Jefferson made such eloquent appeal in the Declaration of Independence. Further, American politics since the founding of the republic has been characterized by a commitment, with more or less success, to the simple truth James Madison posited in The Federalist. “Justice,” Madison declared, “is the end of government. It is the end of civil …
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.
The Separation Of Law And Morals, Noel Reynolds
The Separation Of Law And Morals, Noel Reynolds
Noel B Reynolds
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.
The Union Of Legal And Political Theory, Noel B. Reynolds
The Union Of Legal And Political Theory, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
This paper explores the social science concept of conventions as a way of understanding law that would bridge the enduring gap between natural law and legal positivist legal theories. It further finds in the conventionalist approach a promising account of the rule of law—both in how it may be characterized and in how it can be assessed in particular legal systems.
Constitutionalism And The Rule Of Law, Noel B. Reynolds
Constitutionalism And The Rule Of Law, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
Constitutionalism is the practical science of designing and balancing institutions of public power and authority so as to prevent monopolies of power or the emergence of tyranny. In spite of continuing attempts to ground constitutions in moralistic political theories, they are best understood as formalizations of citizenry agreements to manage their affairs under the rule of law following rules formulated by their legislatures and applied by their judges, all of which are to be selected through established procedures. The emergence of rule of law in primitive societies and in early modern European politics is noted, and the chief contributors to …
The Doctrine Of The Rule Of Law In The Twentieth Century, Noel B. Reynolds
The Doctrine Of The Rule Of Law In The Twentieth Century, Noel B. Reynolds
Faculty Publications
The concept of rule of law has been recognized repeatedly in twentieth century political and philosophical discussion, but with a constantly shifting meaning. In this paper we document most of the serious contributions to thought about rule of law before 1985 as a background to further work on the topic.
The Doctrine Of The Rule Of Law In The Twentieth Century., Noel B. Reynolds, Dennis Jensen
The Doctrine Of The Rule Of Law In The Twentieth Century., Noel B. Reynolds, Dennis Jensen
Noel B Reynolds
The concept of rule of law has been recognized repeatedly in twentieth century political and philosophical discussion, but with a constantly shifting meaning. In this paper we document most of the serious contributions to thought about rule of law before 1985 as a background to further work on the topic.