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Vanderbilt University Law School

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Morality

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Full-Text Articles in Law

On The Nature Of Norms: Biology, Morality, And The Disruption Of Order, Owen D. Jones Jan 2000

On The Nature Of Norms: Biology, Morality, And The Disruption Of Order, Owen D. Jones

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This essay discusses the legal implications of bio-behavioral underpinnings to norms, morality, and economic order. It first discusses the recent book "The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order," in which Francis Fukuyama explores the importance of evolved human nature to the reconstruction of social order and a thriving economy. It then addresses the extent to which we can usefully view law-relevant norms as products of evolutionary - as well as economic - processes.


Women's Virtue, Suzanna Sherry Jan 1989

Women's Virtue, Suzanna Sherry

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Michael Perry's thoughtful jurisprudential musings in Morality, Politics, and Law get most things just right. His framework of moral knowledge and a constitution of aspirations resonates with much of the best of contemporary moral philosophy and constitutional jurisprudence. When Perry turns to specifics, however, his reasoning weakens considerably. In particular, his discussion of abortion is fundamentally flawed. Perry draws two conclusions about abortion: (1) That the extremely restrictive Texas statute at issue in Roe v. Wade-- which permitted abortion only to save the woman's life -was unconstitutional; and (2) that the Supreme Court went too far when it invalidated virtually …