History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Law As a Social System (Oxford Socio-Legal Studies)

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Law As a Social System (Oxford Socio-Legal Studies)
Niklas Luhmann
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0198262388

Book Description

Modern systems theory provides a new paradigm for the analysis of society. In this volume, Niklas Luhmann, its leading exponent, explores its implications for our understanding of law. Luhmann argues that current thinking about how law operates within a modern society is seriously deficient. In this volume he lays out the theoretical and methodological tools that, he argues, can advance our understanding of contemporary society and, in particular, of the identity, performance, and function of the legal system within that society. In systems theory, society is its communications: they are its empirical reality; the items that can be observed and studied. Systems theory identifies how communications operate within a physical world and how different sub-systems of communication operate alongside each other. In this volume, Luhmann uses systems theory to address a question central to legal theory: what differentiates law from other parts of society? However, unlike conventional legal theory, this volume seeks to provide an answer in terms of a general social theory: a methodology that answers this question in a manner applicable not only to law, but also to all the other complex and highly differentiated systems within modern society, such as politics, the economy, religion, the media, and education. This truly sociological approach offers profound insights into the relationships between law and all of these other social systems.

Social Justice/Criminal Justice: The Maturation of Critical Theory in Law, Crime, and Deviance (Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice Series.)

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Great Alternative in the Study of Criminal Justice!

Social Justice/Criminal Justice: The Maturation of Critical Theory in Law, Crime, and Deviance (Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice Series.)
Bruce A. Arrigo
Manufacturer: Wadsworth Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0534545580

Book Description

This reader features contributions from the best-known names in criminology today, commenting on modern theories of criminology and how the concept of justice is met (or not met) by our criminal justice system. Based on critical theories of criminology, each author presents a compelling vision of illustrations of the theory and shows how the theoretical framework relates to the nature and structure of our criminal justice system.

Customer Reviews:

Great Alternative in the Study of Criminal Justice!.......2000-04-05

This anthology offers a wide perspective of criminal justice issues by experts in the field. Unlike other criminal justice anthologies, this book offers a wide variety of views about how social justice and criminal justice work, or do not work together. Many of the articles contained in the book focus on criminal justice issues that are new phenomena in American society. Most of the issues presented within the book are a great addition to the long established criminological theories that have been taught to generations of criminology students. This book would make an interesting addition to anyone interested in studying the dynamics of current criminal justice issues.

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An Introduction to the Sociology of Law
Dragan Milovanovic
Manufacturer: Criminal Justice Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1881798402

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.

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Actor Network Theory and After (Sociological Review Monograph)
John Hassard
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory (Clarendon Lectures in Management Studies)

Complexities: Social Studies of Knowledge Practices (Science and Cultural Theory)

After Method: Mess in Social Science Research (International Library of Sociology)

We Have Never Been Modern

The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice (Science and Cultural Theory)

ASIN: 0631211942

Book Description

Actor Network Theory and After is a powerful approach which combines the insights of post-structuralism with an analysis of the materials of social life. This controversial and path-breaking volume extends ANT beyond studies of technology, power and organization to the body, subjectivity, politics, and cultural difference, and puts it into cutting-edge dialog with feminism, anthropology, psychology and economics.The purpose of that dialog is not to rehearse old differences. Rather it is to find new points of growth and overlap, and to identify new and important theoretical and empirical topics. The book thus collects together studies which explore topical questions of general interest: corporeality and subjectivity; passion and desire; organizational and political struggle; economics; and cross-cultural contacts.

Sociological Theory and Criminological Research, Volume 7 (Sociology of Crime Law and Deviance)

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Sociological Theory and Criminological Research, Volume 7 (Sociology of Crime Law and Deviance)

Manufacturer: JAI Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0762313226

Book Description

The contributions in this volume highlight the value of sociological theorizing in various strands of criminological research. The chapters present concrete analyses and discussions of how sociological theory has been useful to the respective authors efforts in criminological research. Collectively they aim to show that some of the very best criminological work is informed in useful and varied ways by sociological theory. Revealing the global reach and nationally distinct variations in the practice of sociological theory and criminology, this volume is explicitly trans-Atlantic in terms of its contributors and the topics and theories they discuss.

This book offers ten informative chapters as well as two commentaries, written by some of the leading practitioners of criminological theory and research today. Among the theoretical traditions discussed in this book are a range of perspectives, including macro and micro models as well as theories of criminal behavior and perspectives of social control. The empirical aspects of crime and criminal justice to which these theories are applied are likewise varied and, importantly, drawn from concrete socio-historical settings in multiple nations. The chapters reveal the breadth and depth of criminological sociology in its explicit and informed reliance on insights from sociological theory.

*Discusses the usefulness of sociological theory in criminological research
*Includes international contributors for a multinational perspective

Crime and the American Dream (Wadsworth Series in Criminological Theory)

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Same old content in a new box
Intriguing hypothesis
How True It Is
Interesting application of Anomie theory
one of the best books on crime and society I've ever read

Crime and the American Dream (Wadsworth Series in Criminological Theory)
Steven F. Messner , and Richard Rosenfeld
Manufacturer: Wadsworth Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0534619584

Book Description

How has America's over-emphasis on the pursuit of materialistic gain contributed to the it's high rate of violent crime? CRIME AND THE AMERICAN DREAM is an easy-to-understand book that offers clear coveral of criminological theory, using institutional anomie theory as a foundation.

Customer Reviews:

Same old content in a new box.......2007-04-16

"Crime and the American Dream" is a retread of the same old "Blame America First" argument that prevails in academia. No country on the planet has opportunities for upward mobility as those that exist in the USA. Envy, the desire for shortcuts and a "something for nothing" sense of entitlement did not originate in 1776. We have redefined poverty such that expensive sneakers, cell phones, and large screen TV's are seen as necessities. Want to see poverty that might actually drive people to crime, then visit Manila, Mexico City. or Bogota. Our worst slums would be luxury for millions.

Intriguing hypothesis.......2000-07-01

This is certainly a worth-reading book. Its application of Durkheim's and Merton's anomie theory to the crime dynamics of American society is tightly reasoned and very appealing. The thesis that unusually high crime rates in the US are the dark side of the success promoted by the American ethos seems to account for many of the observed facts. The book follows an excellent logical development and provides appealing explanations for the etiology of the main American nightmare. Unfortunately, it lacks a truly comparative perspective, since it practically ignores crime in the underdeveloped countries. Compariong with Western Europe is hardly enough. And the last ten pages, where the authors provide their recipe for combatting crime, are, to say the least disappointing. By proposing actions which are obviously non-viable, the authors transform their whole argument into an interesting, even fascinating, but useless academic exercise. One final point: The tendency of the authors to add "political correctness" to citations is unforgivable. What an author said anywhere between 150 and 80 years ago, should be cited as he/she wrote. Thus, in page 105, the introduction of a "her" in a citation of Marx is unnecessary and smacks of opportunism. The same can be said of the citation of James Truslow Adams in page 106, where the authors introduce a "and women". And before I forget, the table on page 103 places Australia and New Zealand low in homicide but also low on decommodification (monstruous word!), whereas Finland is higher in decommodification than the UK, but also higher in homicide. Don't these contradictions fatally weaken the argument of this chapter?

How True It Is.......2000-06-29

I was privileged to have Dr. Rosenfeld as a professor while majoring in criminology. I found his course and his research fascinating. This book is very well written and an interesting theory. Having recently become a public defender representing indigents charged with felony offenses, Dr. Rosenfeld's theory is right on the mark. American crime is a serious problem, with its roots deep in american culture and expectations. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding the true roots of american crime.

Interesting application of Anomie theory.......1999-11-28

This was a textbook in my university criminology class, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It applies the theory of anomic strain to the United States as a whole and proposes that it is the cause for crime and deviance. Many of the ideas and themes presented in it ring true with sentiments of Americans today, with the gap between the upper and lower class growing larger and larger.

one of the best books on crime and society I've ever read.......1998-12-18

This book details a theory of crime in America as resulting from a pathological veneration of the value of success--absent a similar emphasis on the proper means to achieve the "American Dream." Criminologists, sociologists, and just about anybody with a social conscience would probably enjoy this well-written, accessible, and insightful look at crime in the country where the playing field isn't even, but where there is considerable equity in our expectation that everyone has the ability to succeed. READ IT!--You'll thank me.

Rights, Culture, and the Law: Themes from the Legal and Political Philosophy of Joseph Raz (Law)

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Rights, Culture, and the Law: Themes from the Legal and Political Philosophy of Joseph Raz (Law)

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0199248257

Book Description

The volume brings together a collection of original papers on some of the main tenets of Joseph Raz's legal and political philosophy: Legal positivism and the nature of law, practical reason, authority, the value of equality, incommensurability, harm, group rights, and multiculturalism. James Griffin and Yael Tamir raise questions concerning Raz's notion of group rights and its application to claims of cultural and political autonomy, while Will Kymlicka and Bernhard Peters examine Raz's theory of multicultural society. Lukas Meyer investigates the applicability of the notion of harm in the intergenerational context. Other papers are devoted to fundamental theoretical tenets of Raz's work. Hillel Steiner and Andrei Marmor examine Raz's account of value pluralism and incommensurability in light of what these authors consider to be goods whose equal distribution must be valued for its own sake. Robert Alexy and Timothy Endicott discuss traditional issues of jurisprudence and legal philosphy with special attention to Raz's contribution. Rudiger Bittner, Bruno Celano, and J. E. Penner discuss and criticize aspects of Raz's theory of practical reason. Jeremy Waldron presents a critique of Raz's interpretation of authority. This volume concludes with a chapter by Joseph Raz in which he responds to arguments in the foregoing essays.

Habermas on Law and Democracy: Critical Exchanges (Philosophy, Social Theory, and the Rule of Law, 6)

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Habermas on Law and Democracy: Critical Exchanges (Philosophy, Social Theory, and the Rule of Law, 6)

Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0520204662

Book Description

In the first essay, Habermas himself succinctly presents the centerpiece of his theory: his proceduralist paradigm of law. The following essays comprise elaborations, criticisms, and further explorations by others of the most salient issues addressed in his theory. The distinguished group of contributors--internationally prominent scholars in the fields of law, philosophy, and social theory--includes many who have been closely identified with Habermas as well as some of his best-known critics. The final essay is a thorough and lengthy reply by Habermas, which not only engages the most important arguments raised in the preceding essays but also further elaborates and refines some of his own key contributions in Between Facts and Norms. This volume will be essential reading for philosophers, legal scholars, and political and social theorists concerned with understanding the work of one of the leading philosophers of our age.
These provocative, in-depth debates between Jürgen Habermas and a wide range of his critics relate to the philosopher's contribution to legal and democratic theory in his recently published Between Facts and Norms. Drawing upon his discourse theory, Habermas has elaborated a novel and powerful account of law that purports to bridge the gap between democracy and rights, by conceiving law to be at once self-imposed and binding.

The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory (Belknap)

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Holmes Reincarnate!
An intelligent and illuminating book, if too long
Enjoyable but Unconvincing
A Call for Judicial Neutrality
Posner at his best

The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory (Belknap)
Richard A. Posner
Manufacturer: Belknap Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0674707710

Book Description

Ambitious legal thinkers have become mesmerized by moral philosophy, believing that great figures in the philosophical tradition hold the keys to understanding and improving law and justice and even to resolving the most contentious issues of constitutional law. They are wrong, contends Richard Posner in this book. Posner characterizes the current preoccupation with moral and constitutional theory as the latest form of legal mystification--an evasion of the real need of American law, which is for a greater understanding of the social, economic, and political facts out of which great legal controversies arise. In pursuit of that understanding, Posner advocates a rebuilding of the law on the pragmatic basis of open-minded and systematic empirical inquiry and the rejection of cant and nostalgia--the true professionalism foreseen by Holmes a century ago.

A bracing book that pulls no punches and leaves no pieties unpunctured or sacred cows unkicked, The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory offers a sweeping tour of the current scene in legal studies--and a hopeful prospect for its future.

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Holmes Reincarnate!.......2004-05-11

Supreme Court Justice and legal pragmatist Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote: "I always say the chief end of man is to form general propositions - adding that no general proposition is worth a damn." He also wrote: "Do not be bullied out of your common sense by the specialist; two to one, he is a pedant." Put these two quotes together and they describe Richard Posner's "Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory" perfectly!

Simply put, Federal Judge Richard Posner has a HUGE bone to pick with moral philosophy's belief that they can effect law (or much else for that matter) for the two reasons stated above: (a) morality, says Posner (rightly, i think) is relative - "no general proposition is worth a damn." (b) Moral philosophers are, by in large, pedants who take themselves much more seriously than anyone not a moral philosopher does.

Posner backs up and documents the futility of moral philosophy for law quite well. In fact, I came across this book while writing something to do with the abortion wars, which is used as an example of Posner's dilemma. The abortion contreversey has not been close to solved, despite moral philosophy's best efforts, because the matter is simply not one amenable to reason in the first place. One side sees a child; the other, a fetus. One side sees the mother's 'right; the other, the babie's 'right'. The fact is that for all of moral philosophy's talk that there is a 'right' answer in all of this (each side convinced that they posess it) the 'right' answer merely depends on which premises you accept (and will be unlikely talked out of as the conviction is emotional, not 'rational').

Posner goes on to outlay a theory of pragmatism that, as Holmes briefly touched on in "The Path of the Law" that first, acknowledges that "no general proposition is worth a damn," and that while theory has its place, so does practice and that the law needs to be much more cognizant of the latter than it has been.

If all this makes Posner seem like a post-modernist, that is because the difference (and there is a difference) is hard to decipher. Those post-modernists like Stanley Fish want to get rid of principle - "general propositons" - alltogether and see law as nothing but a game of political rhetoric. While Posner shares Fish's pessimism on general principles, he doesn't think they should be abandoned, but used pragmatically - not the caricature of using principles to justify ends wanted in advance, but to use them like we use rules of baseball; they are conventions and need to be seen as such (there is no 'natural law') but they exist and must exist to allow the game to be played. Posner explains much of this in the book (though it might take some read throughs to get it clear).

To close, I gave the book 4 stars becasue while Posner seemed to enjoy himself in trashing philosophy and law, one gets the feeling (as one so often does with Posner) that he has very little to put in its place. This may perfectly be his intent - that nothing can be put in its place. If so, he should point that out and explain why rather than just leaving us hanging. Oh well!

Simply put, this is the book (if "Sex and Reason" wasn't) that will ensure that should Posner get a Supreme Court nod, he will NEVER make it past the senate!

An intelligent and illuminating book, if too long.......2002-11-20

In The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory, Judge Richard Posner asks a critical question: can moral philosophy ever help the practice of law? Posner answers this question with a resounding no.

Take a simple example. Suppose that a robber is shot dead at the scene of the crime and, the shooter is charged with murder. Should he be convicted? A pacifist might say yes, since killing is always wrong. Others would say no, since he acted in self defense (killing is not always wrong). Others would say that it depends on whether he was threatened.

If you were the judge or the jury, who should you believe? Posner argues that you will believe the person who most closely approximates your preconceived beliefs. In other words, a pacifist prosecutor will have a hard time convincing anyone who believes in self-defense, since each and every moral philosophy can be countered by another moral philosophy.

Posner goes on to argue that moral philosophy can help us with things that we all agree on, like "democracy is good" and "freedom should be protected." The problem is that no case before a court ever deals with such broad disputes. Instead, each side lines up its moral arguments, and the judge basically ignores them all. Posner also shows that moral philosophy is of some use in changing what people agree is right, as with Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the down and dirty disputes before a judge, though, Posner says that we have to rely more on our gut reaction, economics, and sociology than moral theory. The judge must ask, "If I did X, would society be better off?" Posner calls this legal pragmatism, the hope that the law can be rationalized along empirical grounds. He is careful to distinguish this stance from philosophical pragmatism and moral relativism. The former worries only about ends, while Posner explicitly worries about means, and the latter would not allow anyone to ever say that "murder is wrong." Posner has no problem with moral precepts that everyone agrees with.

The downside of this book is that it is way too long. The first few chapters outline most of his argument, and the rest of the book deals with legal history and particular examples from supreme court cases. Law students might find these parts worthwhile. Those who are interested in philosophy and law should read this book, as should those who want a look at how judges think and work. Whether you agree with him or not, his exploration of the topic is cool and complete.

Enjoyable but Unconvincing.......2001-12-31

Posner is always enjoyable to read and this book is no exception. Readers who are not current on discussions about moral philosophy and law will find Posner a lucid and accessible point of entry. However, my first reaction is Posner assumes
pragmatis is morally neutral and an adequate framework for the law.
First, values already underscores "pragmatism;" thus, any attempt to apply pragmatics to the law has already been contaminated by values that can probably only be properly analyzed and understood through moral philosophy. Hence, moral philosophy is an indispensible tool for critical analysis of the law.
Second, "pragmatism" is inadequate in forming an analytical framework for the law, particularly with the most difficult questions of the law. Questions about euthanasia, abortion, equal rights, etc. are densely moral and political which pragmatism will contribute little.
Overall an enjoyable book but a flawed idea. It will influence many readers but "The Problematics of Moral and Legal Philosphy" should be read with skepticism. Everyone reading this book should also read "Modern and the Holocaust" by Zymunt Bauman for a counter point to why moral philsophy, which probably raises more questions than it answers, should always be central to any discussion about the law.

A Call for Judicial Neutrality.......2001-09-08

Don't believe any criticisms of this book that it advocates moral relativism or insensitive pragmatism. What Posner is driving at is the removal of moral theory from the practice of law. Translated: the removal of the politicization of law whether of the left variety [egalitarianism, redistributionism] or the right variety [natural law]. This sounds like anti-moralism, but it is not. Posner wants law to return to its role as the blind judge balancing the scales of justice rather than the judicial usurper of democracy. Posner wants a rational approach to law as opposed to the current masking of its role as a dispenser of goods for the "interest group state." Highly recommended. Wayne Lusvardi, Pasadena, California

Posner at his best.......2000-12-02

In almost 20 years as America's most influential non-Supreme Court judge since Learned Hand, Richard Posner has made great use of his astounding intellectual repertoire to bring insights from other disciplines (most notably, economics) to bear on the law. In this work, Posner takes aim at the "academic moralists" whose theoretical works have, in his opinion, not only contributed little of use to the legal profession, but also stunted its growth. The root of Posner's disdain for such moral theorizing is his belief that universal standards of right and wrong do not exist and thus that all morality is local. It is therefore pointless to talk of whether this or that moral theory is the "right" one- the very aim of the scholars whose work Posner so gleefully dismisses. Unfortunately, the disproportionate attention paid to academic moralism has weakened the legal profession by decreasing the amount of time devoted to more "pragmatic" (Posner's favorite word) issues that actually can be of use in resolving legal issues. In Posner's view, today and tomorrow's scholars must be trained to think pragmaticallly if law is to make any significant advances. While this book is stinging in its rebukes, it must be said that there is a lot in it that may not be appealing even to those who are generally sympathetic to Posner's concerns. Most obvious is his moral relativism (what he deems "pragmatic moral skepticism"), especially since Posner is most often identified as a conservative (though he is really on the libertarian side). In addition, the good judge is never really able to quell criticisms that his pragmatic view of judging is so squishy as to be able to justify almost any result. These drawbacks, however, should not detract from the more general thrust of the book, which is that ambitious philosophy adds nothing to the law.

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