Law Commons^™

Never Mind The Manner Of My Speech: The Dilemma Of Socrates' Defense In The Apology, Thomas D. Eisele

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

What might we learn from reading Plato's Apology? Socrates, the foremost teacher in Western culture, is on trial for his life, and he defends the way he has lived by describing how he has conducted himself; this means describing how he has taught and what he has taught and why he teaches as he does. The charge against Socrates is that he does not believe in the traditional deities of Athens and instead has introduced new deities (an apparent reference to his inner voice, his daimonion).This impiety on his part has led him to corrupt Athenian youths influenced by his …

"Our Real Need": Not Explanation, But Education, Thomas D. Eisele

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Wittgenstein wrote nothing on legal theory or law, so there is no obvious textual basis on which to draw possible connections between Wittgenstein and legal theory. And Wittgenstein abhorred theorizing in philosophy. So the odds are slim that Wittgenstein would have accommodated himself or his work to similar activity in the law. Where does this leave us?

At sea, which is where we normally are in life and, thus, where Wittgenstein wants us to recognize ourselves as being when doing philosophy too. But theory can disguise this fact from us, as it also can make us think that we have …

Must Virtue Be Taught?, Thomas D. Eisele

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

No abstract provided.

The Activity Of Being A Lawyer: The Imaginative Pursuit Of Implications And Possibilities, Thomas D. Eisele

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

If law as an activity emerged naively and unpremeditated, as a direction of attention pursued without premonition of what it would lead to, then by now it has hollowed out a character for itself, as Oakeshott says, and has become specified in a "practice." Having acquired this firmness of character, as Oakeshott further says, law may present itself as a puzzle, thus provoking reflection. Thinking about law in this manner or mood is something that I wish to call "philosophy of law," and this is itself an honorable activity with a character and mannerisms of its own.2 In law school, …

The Legal Imagination And Language: A Philosophical Criticism, Thomas D. Eisele

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

James B. White's The Lega/lmagination: Studies in the Nature of Legal Thought and Expression takes upon itself an immense task, namely, investigating and characterizing the position of lawyers and the legal mind in today's world. Not surprisingly, the characterization and criticism of such a book is no less difficult a task or responsibility than that undertaken by the book. In fact, the characterization and criticism of the book and the characterization and criticism in the book-both being acts of criticism-require the same attitude: constant fidelity to the data with which one has to work. In
describing and assessing the book, …