Book Description
This anthology traces the development of thinking in the philosophy of science from logical positivism to the present. Subsequent articles often clarify or critique preceding ones. As a result, students get a sense of how philosophical theories develop in response to one another.
Customer Reviews:
not 'perfect'.......2006-12-28
so-so text...
it's funny that it represents reason as opposed to the faith (meaning Christian faith). The entire section is called "reason versus faith" - that's weird... Faith is not versus reason.
Book is kinda alright, but it subliminally biased a little (well, where are the unbiased textbooks anyway?)...
Text presents some good essays, but could have been better...
Argumentation at Its Best!.......2003-02-15
This book is organized under 9 sections each containing several papers and excerpts written by well-known philosophers of science. Each section deals with a major theme in the philosophy of science such as the nature of scientific theories, reason vs. faith, some contemporary issues like the philosophy of physics, psychology and biology, and more.
What makes this book unique is that each paper (or excerpt) is followed by a paper (or excerpt) supporting an opposing argument to one just presented. The juxtaposition of two texts provides the reader with adequate material with which to ponder. The author's purpose does not appear to give the reader two options from which to choose the "better" argument, for this would be the fallacy of false alternative... nor does the author do this to encourage the reader to find a "happy" compromise between opposing arguments, for this would be utilizing the defeated Socratic dialectic... the purpose is to promote critical thinking in the reader. Analogically speaking, this book is to the reader (philosopher) what weights are to a body builder. It is the food for thought! A well-organized intelligent read I highly recommend!
A walk in the clouds of thought.......2001-05-02
As a former student of Dr.Schick, I can credit him with teaching me the value of critical thinking, and how to do it. Here, is an excellent collection of great thinkers, with insight and commentary on the nature of life, man, and mind. Anyone who wants to know his or her place in the world, or simply enjoys lively debate and exploration into the great questions that shape our world, would appreciate this edition.
Book Description
This completely revised third edition updates and expands coverage of the new postmodernist and semiotic theories of law, while providing clear and concise summaries of other contemporary and "classic" theorists. (Title of previous editions: "A Primer in the Sociology of Law.")
Chapter topics include:
- Classic theories: Durkheim; Weber; and Marx.
- Sociological jurisprudence and legal realism; critical legal studies and critical race theory; and feminist jurisprudence.
- Structural functionalism; Autopoiesis; and the behavior of law.
- Legal Semiotics; and a Marxist semiotic perspective.
- Semiotics and Postmodern perspectives.
Sociology of law is the discipline that studies the causes and legitimation of law, forms of legal discourse and reasoning, the development of legal bureaucracies, the evolution of the "reasonable man" concept in law, the degree of coercion and freedom embodied in law, and the connection between the forms of law and a society's political and economic institutions.
Book Description
This text presents cutting edge contemporary materials, as well as new chapters on Natural Law, Positivism, Gay Legal Rights and Critical Lawyering. The book offers comprehensive coverage of legal theory from traditional to current movements, including new materials on Legal Formalism, Legal Process, Latino Critical, and Queer Critical Theory. Also contains extensive readings and updated and amplified notes, questions, problems, and bibliographies.
Book Description
This is an expanded second edition of Nicholas Mercuro and Steven Medema's influential book Economics and the Law, whose publication in 1998 marked the most comprehensive overview of the various schools of thought in the burgeoning field of Law and Economics. Each of these competing yet complementary traditions has both redefined the study of law and exposed the key economic implications of the legal environment. The book remains true to the scope and aims of the first edition, but also takes account of the field's evolution.
At the book's core is an expanded discussion of the Chicago school, Public Choice Theory, Institutional Law and Economics, and New Institutional Economics. A new chapter explores the Law and Economics literature on social norms, today an integral part of each of the schools of thought. The chapter on the New Haven and Modern Civic Republican approaches has likewise been expanded. These chapters are complemented by a discussion of the Austrian school of Law and Economics. Each chapter now includes an "At Work" section presenting applications of that particular school of thought.
By providing readers with a concise, noncritical description of the broad contours of each school, this book illuminates the fundamental insights of a field with important implications not only for economics and the law, but also for political science, philosophy, public administration, and sociology.
Customer Reviews:
Economics and the Law .......2006-07-21
Nice introduction, very clear. I think that this is the first steep in this field. After reading this book I highly recommend Cooter's book Law and Economics (3rd Edition).
a very good introduction.......2002-09-17
The authors know what they are talking about. The book is a survey of the main strains of law and economics theories and approaches. It provides examples of each theory and that can be illuminating. However, more examples could have given a better sense to the differences across the several theories. The notes are well written and provide all you need for further reading.
Useful introduction to an important field.......2001-04-05
What is law & economics? It is the school of jurisprudence in which the tools of microeconomic analysis are used to study law. Those of us who practice economic analysis have a deceptively simple task. We translate some legal doctrine into economic terms. We then apply a few basic principles -- cost-benefit analysis, collective action theory, decision-making under uncertainty, risk aversion, and the like -- to the problem. Finally, we translate the result back into legal terms.
Law & economics unquestionably is the most successful form of intellectual arbitrage in the history of jurisprudence. Why? Traditional forms of legal scholarship were mostly backward looking. One reasoned from old precedents to decide a present case, seemingly without much concern (at least explicitly) for the effect today's decision would have a future behavior. Yet, law is necessarily forward looking. To be sure, a major function of our legal system is to resolve present disputes, but law's main job is to regulate future behavior. The law & economics movement succeeded because it recognized that judges cannot administer justice solely retrospectively. They must also consider what rules their decisions will create to guide the behavior of other actors in the future. Even more important, however, law & economics gives judges systematic mechanisms for predicting how rules will affect behavior.
Mercuro and Medema's text offers a comprehensive overview of law & economics. Unlike many texts, it is not limited to the Chicago School (as exemplified by such stalwarts as Manne, Easterbrook, and Posner). They also describe the New Haven school (classically exemplified by Calabresi), the public choice theory of Arrow, Buchanan, and others, as well as both the traditional and new institutional economics. By reminding us that law & economics is not a homogeneous field, and providing a fair commentary on each of the major traditions within the larger discipline, they offer an excellent introduction to this important area of jurisprudence.
One nice touch, which makes the text useful for a wide audience, is that it does not assume familiarity with either economics or law. The introduction offers a brief historical overview of basic jurisprudence, as well as an appendix explaining basic economic principles. Consequently, the book will serve well the interests both of lawyers who need to brush up on economics and economists interested in law.
Criticisms that led me to subtract one star: There is little in the way of critical evaluative judgment. Indeed, Mercuro and Medema disavow any effort at criticism. As a result, the reader is left to his own devices. Second, I am not persuaded by Mercuro and Medema's decision to include a rather lengthy chapter on critical legal studies. Criticism of law & economics has been a major project of CLS scholars, but CLS scholarship has had no influence of any significance on any of the dominant strains of law & economics thinking. In this case, moreover, the failure to exercise critical evaluative judgment means that the generalist reader may have difficulty assessing the (bogus) claims made by CLS. In general, while maintaining facial neutrality on their own part, Mercuro and Medema give far more attention to CLS and Marxist critiques of law & economics than they do to conservative critiques thereof or to law & economics criticisms of CLS.
Solid introductory exposition to a broad range of outlooks........2000-09-18
Houman Shadab's review is right on the money -- including what's left _out_ of this otherwise excellent introductory work. Since I like Hayek, Barnett, and Rothbard, I find the omission disappointing -- but c'est la vie.
Anyway, if you're looking for a solid overview of the various schools of thought involving the relations between law and economics, this volume is a great place to start. (_Complete_ newcomers might also want to pick up Dennis Patterson's _Companion to Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory_, which includes a fine essay on "Law and Economics.")
One tremendous merit of the present volume is that it doesn't limit itself to the "Chicago school." The U of Chi crowd gets a single chapter, and the rest of the book is devoted to the other schools of thought Mr. Shadab has helpfully listed below. The resulting volume is therefore pretty comprehensive (with the exceptions already noted).
Readers interested in this topic may want to read Thomas Miceli's _Economics of the Law_ next. I don't personally favor the mathematical-models approach (for the usual Misesian/Rothbardian reasons) -- but Miceli's volume is a fine introduction to that approach and will afford the reader the opportunity to judge it on its merits.
Great Overview of Legal-Economic Thinking.......2000-07-23
Mercuro and Medema (M&M) provide an excellent overview of all major schools of thought on the relationship between the law and the economy, and in so doing give the reader an good idea of 20th century legal thought in general. The book's main virtue is that the authors brilliantly break down the fundamental propositions of the different schools of thought, making the book serve as great reference and fertile ground for further research.
While "law and economics" is usually thought of to be a narrow subdiscipline within the field of law, consisting mainly of analyzing the impact on economic efficiency of various legal rules, M&M use "law and economics" in the broadest sense to not only include traditional Chicago School analysis, but also Public Choice, Institutional, Neo-Institutional, and Critical Legal Studies law and economics. In so doing, M&M allow the reader to be exposed to the wide range of scholarship dealing with law and economics, from the impact of special economic interests on legislation, to neo-Marxist accounts of how the legal "superstucture" affects the economic position of classes.
This book is an excellent primer for prospective law students, for law students themselves, for those studying political science or economics, and to the interested layman. Since the book does move along quite quickly, a background in law and/or economics would help one get the most of the book, but it is not necessary since M&M don't presuppose any background knowledge on the part of the reader.
My only real criticism of the book is that they do not include more of the rights-based and Austrian approaches to law and economics such as those of F.A. Hayek, Randy Barnett, and Murray Rothbard, a shortcoming they acknowledge in a footnote.
Book Description
In this book, Rose takes us beyond the impasse of post-modernism or 'despairing rationalism without reason'. Arguing that the post-modern search for a 'new ethics' and ironic philosophy are incoherent, she breathes new life into the debates concerning power and domination, transcendence and eternity.
Average customer rating:
- Normative and Nowhere to Go
|
The Enchantment Of Reason
Pierre Schlag , and
Pierre Schlag
Manufacturer: Duke University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Legal System
| Government
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Philosophy
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Contracting
| Construction
| Civil
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0822322145 |
Book Description
The Enchantment of Reason is a lively critique of American legal thought and the American legal system’s deification of reason. In an attempt to understand the current malaise of American law and the depressed condition of American intellectual life in general, Pierre Schlag diagnoses what he believes is an epidemic of pathological reliance on the principle of reason. Contending that legal thinkers continually fail to recognize the aesthetic and ethical prejudices of rationalism, Schlag creates a genealogy that shows how the call to reason has become a manipulative vehicle of power, faith, and prejudice.
In examining the fierce resistance to questioning reason’s primacy, this renowned critic and professor of American law demonstrates how those who use and study the law perpetuate their own methodological blind spots. Claiming that reason has been endowed with a virtually mystical power to organize social life, Schlag unravels the seemingly rational world of judicial opinions, statutes, doctrines, and legal principles. In the process, he paints a shockingâand sure to be controversialâpicture of the chaos and, indeed, violence of the American legal tradition.
This bold commentary on the irrationality of reason in American law and legal studies will interest not only legal scholars and philosophers but also serious thinkers across a broad disciplinary spectrum.
Customer Reviews:
Normative and Nowhere to Go.......2000-09-18
Schlag's humorous writing, chatty style, and brilliant applications of contemporary critical theory to the study of legal thought has made him notorious within the legal community for his radical perspectives on legal theory.
Most academics and theorists are content to argue within legal theory. Not Schlag. Launching an all-out attack on legal academia and theory in general, Schlag argues that the entire legal community is actively complicit in the pain and suffering of millions. Blinded by an adherence to normative moral and theoretical legal concepts, law students are daily placed in roles as transcendental theoreticians that leave them unable to act in ways that empower individuals and communities.
Most will find this theme offensive, and Schlag doesn't always relate it clearly. But his writing is always clever and brilliant, and people interested in the philosophy of law will be fascinated by the way he raises issues of subjectivity, meta-ethics, and postmodernity.
Not for everyone, but a great addition to the growing body of literature criticizing normative legal theory!
Book Description
In a little over two hundred years, American legal thought moved from premodernism through modernism and into postmodernism. This book charts that intellectual voyage, stressing both the historical contexts in which ideas unfolded and the inherent force of the ideas themselves. Author Stephen M. Feldman first defines "premodernism," "modernism," and "postmodernism," then explains the development of American legal thought through these three intellectual periods. His narrative revolves around two broad, interrelated themes: jurisprudential foundations and the notion of progress. He points out that much of American legal thought has grappled with the problem of identifying the foundations of the American judicial system and judicial decision making. The various ideas of jurisprudential foundations, moreover, are closely tied to shifting notions of progress-the definition of the term, assumptions about the possibility of progress, and hopes about how law might contribute to it. This book's broad historical sweep and its clear explanations of the competing theoretical positions of current legal scholarship make it indispensable to students and scholars of jurisprudence and American legal history.
Average customer rating:
- Postmodern Philosophy & Law
|
Postmodern Philosophy and Law
Douglas E. Litowitz
Manufacturer: University Press of Kansas
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Postmodernism
| Movements & Periods
| History & Criticism
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Jurisprudence
| Perspectives on Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Philosophy
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Modern
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Political
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Jurisprudence
| Perspectives on Law
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Postmodern Legal Movements: Law and Jurisprudence At Century's End
ASIN: 0700609997 |
Book Description
Now that contemporary scholars have begun to extend postmodern theory to law, an appraisal of its relevance in that sphere is especially important. This book offers a critical introduction to writings on law by key postmodern philosophers--Nietzsche, Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard, and Rorty--and articulates the strengths and weaknesses of postmodern legal theory.
Douglas Litowitz takes a critical stance on these thinkers and determines that postmodern philosophy falls short of a positive jurisprudence--a vision of a just state and a moral legal system--because it takes an unduly external perspective on the law and espouses an unworkable anti-foundationalism. The postmodernist perspective, he argues, is too removed from our legal practices to resolve legal problems like abortion, flag burning, or pornography.
Litowitz shows that postmodernism is so far removed from the language games in which lawyers and judges decide key legal issues that it leaves the internal practice of law untouched, and its radical rejection of foundations precludes a position from which a just legal system might be built. Still, postmodernism can make a significant contribution to legal theory by showing the limits of existing arrangements, focusing attention on genealogy and discourse, and empowering those who have been denied a voice under the legal system.
Postmodern Philosophy and Law bridges the gap between Anglo-American jurisprudence and postmodern theory by discussing not only traditional approaches such as natural law theory and legal positivism but also continental philosophy and critical legal studies. It is the first book to expound and critique postmodern legal theory and its ramifications for a mainstream audience of legal scholars and philosophers.
Customer Reviews:
Postmodern Philosophy & Law.......2001-01-05
This is important social observation and commentary. Litowitz has done major research for this project, and it shows. The book is 230 pages, but only 177 of that is his discussion, the rest is in chapter notes and index, important if you're doing research for another book, as I am. Much of the change in our society over the past generation is because of the postmodern influence on the legal profession. It's the lawyers, courts, judges, and legislators who've changed the rules for everyone else. Whether it's medicine (my area), manufacturing, human relations, or small business, life is different because of Nietzsche, Marx, Lyotard, and Faucault.
Remember the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? Butch (Paul Newman) and some other outlaw, who's about twice his size, are about to have a fight to the death to decide who will lead the outlaw band. Butch says, "Let's get the rules straight," the other guy says, "No rules in a knife fight!" Butch kicks him in the balls. That's the postmodern influence on the legal profession, no rules.
Average customer rating:
|
Bridge-Quest, Why I Believe In Jesus
Manufacturer: Child Sensitive Communication, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Perfect Paperback
Apologetics
| Theology
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Sunday School
| Education
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1933803061 |
Product Description
Lead your kids on a quest to find the bridge to God with this 13-lesson, activity-oriented curriculum for ages 8 - 11! The quest for God has been man's deepest desire since the beginning of time. But not until Jesus Christ did for man what man could not do for himself was that bridge to God created. Bridge-Quest guides the kids to find the bridge for themselves and to know why to believe in Jesus as the Christ. Bridge-Quest follows two tracks that merge in the last lesson: Track 1- Who God is and what he has done through Jesus; Track 2- Overviews of the worlds most popular religions to show how man has perceived the Highest Power and how man has tried to connect with it. You will be making a wall display of a river and its banks. While you add a different religion as a raft to God each week, you are also adding a section of the bridge with a panel that describes God. Age-appropriate, interactive and fun!
Average customer rating:
- I HAVE read this book--and about the price . . .
- Pricing
|
Politics, Postmodernity and Critical Legal Studies: The Legality of the Contingent
C. Douzinas
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Legal Education
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Philosophy
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0415086523 |
Book Description
Laws of Postmodernity is the first work of legal scholarship to apply postmodern jurisprudence to an analysis of a number of substantive areas of law.
In analyzing the cultural significance of law, the contributors show how critical jurisprudential analysis undermines positivistic attempts to support a normative viewpoint of the legal order. In addition, they criticize contextual, sociological accounts of legal phenomena.
The contributors explore blasphemy laws in the wake of the Salman Rushdie affair, and French critical legal theory-- particularly the work of Pierre Legendre--to highlight the repression of psychoanalysis within jurisprudence. Through detailed accounts,
Laws of Postmodernity clearly illustrates the practical application and theoretical significance of postmodern jurisprudence.
Customer Reviews:
I HAVE read this book--and about the price . . ........2003-12-18
The other customer review posted complains about the price of this edition--IT'S THE LIBRARY BINDING EDITION!!! There is a paperback edition (at $24.95 when available), and even a hardback edition that is less expensive. This reviewer did something similar with another book--s/he is giving reviews to books s/he has not even read (s/he admits it in the review of this book!) and gives them 1 star, and since these are academic titles they do not receive many reviews to begin with (both of these had no other reviews at all) and therefore the rating that any one who looks them up sees is only one star. It's very irresponsible.
This is a seminal work in the field, and if you're interested in the emerging field of critical legal studies and how textual analysis and postmodernist critical theory have intersected with studies in jurisprudence, then try and get a used copy of the paperback edition. It's an interesting and informative work.
Pricing.......2003-03-10
I haven't read this book, but what's the deal with the price? Crtical legal studies won't be reaches the masses (or even the bourgeois readership) if it prices books like they're sacred relics.
Books:
- Rough Justice
- Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Essays
- Securitization -- The Financial Instrument of the Future (Wiley Finance)
- See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism
- Send In The Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998
- Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court
- The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
- The American Indian in Western Legal Thought: The Discourses of Conquest
- The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or Anything Else) from the Inside Out
- The Best Interests of the Student: Applying Ethical Constructs to Legal Cases in Education
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- In the Meantime: Finding Yourself and the Love You Want
- Dragon of the Red Dawn
- Biology 100 Laboratory Manual
- Baby Proof
- Contemporary Warm Glass: A Guide to Fusing, Slumping & Kiln-Forming Techniques
- Fisher Price My Little People Farm
- Como Solucionar Problemas En El Trabajo En Pista / Solving Flatwork Problems
- Patience & Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places, and Book Culture
- Art on the Edge and Over: Searching for Art's Meaning in Contemporary Society, 1970s-1990s
- Alpine Plants of North America: An Encyclopedia of Mountain Flowers from the Rockies to Alaska
Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science (Science and Its Conceptual Foundations series)
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Copernican Questions: A Concise Invitation to the Philosophy of Science
Health Policy: Crisis and Reform in the U.S. Health Care Delivery System
Extinction: How Life on Earth Nearly Ended 250 Million Years Ago
![A Critique of Adjudication [fin de siècle]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0674177592.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
