Spring 2023 • Reading Group
Natural Law and Positive Law
Prerequisites: None
Exam Type: No Exam. There will be no paper or exam, and class will be graded credit/no credit.
We will look briefly at the classical debate between exponents of natural law (Thomas Aquinas) and positive law (John Austin). Then we will focus on debates in contemporary jurisprudence between legal positivists (H.L.A. Hart, Joseph Raz) and their opponents (Lon Fuller, Ronald Dworkin, John Finnis). The question throughout is: what is law’s relation to morality?
Note: This reading group will meet on the following dates: 1/23, 2/6, 2/20, 3/6, 3/27, 4/10