Natural Law in Jurisprudence And Politics

by Mark C. Murphy

• ISBN13: 9780521859301
• ISBN10: 0521859301
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Natural law is a perennial though poorly represented and understood issue in political philosophy and the philosophy of law. Mark C. Murphy argues that the central thesis of natural law jurisprudence--that law is backed by decisive reasons for compliance--sets the agenda for natural law political philosophy, which demonstrates how law gains its binding force by way of the common good of the political community. Murphy's work ranges over the central questions of natural law jurisprudence and political philosophy, including the formulation and defense of the natural law jurisprudential thesis, the nature of the common good, the connection between the promotion of the common good and requirement of obedience to law, and the justification of punishment.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction: Natural Law Jurisprudence and Natural Law Political Philosophy	1	(1)
The Central Claims of Natural Law Jurisprudence And Natural Law Political Philosophy	1	(3)
Natural Law And Practical Rationality	4	(4)
Natural Law Jurisprudence Formulated	8	(17)
The Fundamental Claim of Natural Law Jurisprudence	8	(12)
Natural Law Theory And Legal Positivism	20	(5)
Natural Law Jurisprudence Defended	25	(36)
Three Routes to The Weak Natural Law Thesis	25	(1)
The Legal Point of View And The Weak Natural Law Thesis	26	(3)
Law's Function And The Weak Natural Law Thesis	29	(8)
Illocutionary Acts And The Weak Natural Law Thesis	37	(19)
The Relation Between The Function And Illocutionary Acts Arguments	56	(1)
The Weak Natural Law Thesis, The Strong Natural Law Thesis, And Legal Positivism	57	(2)
The Agenda For Natural Law Political Philosophy	59	(2)
The Common Good	61	(30)
The Common Good in Natural Law Political Philosophy	61	(2)
The Argument For The Aggregative Conception of The Common Good	63	(2)
Against The Instrumentalist Conception of The Common Good	65	(7)
Against The Distinctive Good Conception of The Common Good	72	(8)
Utilitarianism And The Aggregative Conception of The Common Good	80	(5)
The Common Good Principle	85	(6)
The Natural Law Rejection of Consent Theory	91	(21)
Consent And Natural Law Theories, Classical And Contemporary	91	(2)
The Argument From Consent	93	(2)
Against Consent Theories: Implausible AB Initio	95	(2)
Against Consent Theories: The Paucity of Consent	97	(4)
Against Consent Theories: Incompatible With The Natural Law View	101	(1)
Against Consent Theories: Unnecessary (the Salient Coordinator Account)	102	(7)
The Refutation of The Salient Coordinator Account	109	(3)
A Consent Theory of the Authority of Law	112	(21)
A Non-Standard Consent Account	112	(2)
Law And The Common Good Principle	114	(1)
How Can Determinations Bind?	114	(4)
Open-Ended Determinations	118	(2)
The Natural Law/Consent Account of Political Authority	120	(3)
The Unique Appropriateness of Consent in The Acceptance Sense	123	(2)
How Far Does This Consent View Establish The Law's Authority?	125	(8)
The Authority of Law and Legal Punishment	133	(35)
The Place of Punishment Within a Natural Law Account of Politics	133	(3)
The Quasi-Utilitarian Natural Law Account of Punishment Rejected	136	(3)
The Equality Natural Law Account of Punishment Rejected	139	(3)
Natural Law Retributivism	142	(1)
Difficulties With Retributivist Theories	143	(9)
Acting in Light of The Good: Promotion And Expression	152	(7)
Difficulties With Expressive Views of Punishment	159	(3)
Authority, Coercion, And Punishment	162	(6)
Beneath and Beyond the Common Good	168	(9)
Two Challenges to The Common Good Principle	168	(3)
Why The Challenges Are Especially Difficult to Meet	171	(1)
The Aristotelian Reply to The Challenges to The Common Good Principle	172	(3)
Doubts About The Aristotelian Reply	175	(2)
Works Cited	177	(8)
Index	185