Philosophers of law are concerned with providing a general philosophical analysis of law and legal institutions. Issues in legal philosophy range from abstract conceptual questions about the nature of law and legal systems to normative questions about the relation between law and morality and the justification for various legal institutions. Topics in legal philosophy tend to be more abstract than related topics in political philosophy and applied ethics. For example, whereas the question of how properly to interpret the U.S. Constitution belongs to democratic theory and hence falls under the heading of political philosophy, the analysis of legal interpretation falls under the heading of legal philosophy. Likewise, whereas the question of whether capital punishment is morally permissible falls under the heading of applied ethics, the question of whether the institution of punishment can be justified falls under the heading of legal philosophy. Topics in legal philosophy fall roughly into three categories: analytic jurisprudence, normative jurisprudence, and critical theories of law.
Table of Contents (Clicking on the links below will take you to those parts of this article)
1. Analytic Jurisprudence
a. Natural Law Theory
b. Legal Positivism
i. The Conventionality Thesis
ii. The Social Fact Thesis
iii. The Separability Thesis
c. Ronald Dworkin’s Third Theory
2. Normative Jurisprudence
a. Freedom and the Limits of Legitimate Law
i. Legal Moralism
ii. Legal Paternalism
iii. The Offense Principle
b. The Obligation to Obey Law
c. The Justification of Punishment
3. Critical Theories of Law
a. Legal Realism
b. Critical Legal Studies
c. Law and Economics
d. Outsider Jurisprudence
4. Suggestions for Further Reading
