Autonomy, viewed as a subject's autonomous designing of her own distinctive 'individuality', is not a constitutive problem for liberal theory. Since its earliest formulations, liberalism has taken it for granted that protecting rights is a sufficient guarantee for the primacy of individual subjectivity. The most dangerous legacy of the 'hierarchical-dualist' representation of the subject is the primacy given to reason in defining an individual's identity. For Santoro freedom is not a fixed measure. It is not the container of powers and rights defining an individual's role and identity. It is...

Through the combined effects of certain natural facts (connected with the passage of time), institutional acts (performed at various points within the university system) and bonds offriendship (forged over quite a number ofyears ofacademic life), I have lately become an occasional writer of forewords. It is certainly not a kind of work that dis pleases me; but it would be too much to say that I have learned to do it with ease. Quite to the contrary Writing a foreword is, it seems to me, an example ofa rather complex action (al though, of course, much less complex than writing the book it...

The main subject of this book is the rather fascinating link between an acceptable concept of political whole and its legal and moral implications. When we face this problem, we find that widespread categories like happiness' and "friendship" are at the same time necessary and dangerous, crucial and elusive. In order to make the case against the so-called Legal Enforcement of Morals, and to grasp the complex relationship between law and morality from a liberal point of view, it is not enough to reject a pattern of happiness, or of human flourishing, from which to draw normative instructions...

In authoritarian states, the discourse on freedom of speech, conducted by those opposed to non-democratic governments, focuses on the core aspects of this freedom: on a right to criticize the government, a right to advocate theories arid ideologies contrary to government-imposed orthodoxy, a right to demand institutional reforms, changes in politics, resignation of the incompetent and the corrupt from positions of authority. The claims for freedom of speech focus on those exercises of freedom that are most fundamental and most beneficial to citizens - and which are denied to them by the...

An Approach to Rights contains fifteen previously published but mostly inaccessible papers that together show the development of one of the more important contemporary theories of the nature, grounds and practical implications of rights. In a long retrospective essay, Carl Wellman explains what he was trying to accomplish in each paper, how far he believes that he succeeded and where he failed. Thus the author provides a critical perspective both on his own theory and on alternative theories from which he borrows, or that he rejects. These essays identify the problems any adequate...

To a certain extent, this book is a translation of Recht, verhaal en werke- lijkheid, published by Coutinho (Bussum, 1993). Chapters 1, 5 and 9, however, differ considerably from the original. At the basis of the Dutch book were arguments already submitted in 'Narrative coherence in legal contexts', in C. Faralli and E. Pattaro (eds.), Reason in Law, vol. III., Milano, A. Giuffre Editore, 1988, pp. 159-170; 'Justice, Rights, and Hu- man Dignity', in The Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice, 7, 1987, pp. 46-65; 'Narrative coherence and the guises of legalism', in P. Nerhot (ed.), Law,...

Questions about the relationship between autonomy and authority are raised in nearly every area of moral philosophy. Although the most ob- vious of these is political philosophy (especially the philosophy of law), the issues surrounding this relationship are by no means confined to this area. Indeed, as we shall see as this work progresses, the issues raised are central to moral psychology, religion, professional ethics, medical ethics, and the nature of moral systems generally. Although the title of this work is Autonomy. Authority and Moral Responsibility. we shall be concerned with the...

This book is an adaptation of my PhD thesis Representing L3gVI Rules in Deontic Logic [Royakkers, 1996]. The main alterations are: * The addition of chapter 2 concerning the semantics of deontic logic based on valua- tions. In this chapter I extend the Beth tableau method, which is originally developed for the propositional calculus, to also be applicable for deontic logic. For those who are not familiar with deontic logic or with the axiomatic deduction, this method is a useful tool to check whether a formula is valid or not. * The addition of the notion of commitment in chapter 5, and the...

Grounded in linguistic philosophy and Carnapian semantics, this book's innovative contribution to analytical jurisprudence also addresses the issues of institutional philosophy, social pragmatism, and legal principles as envisioned by Dworkin, among others.

Reasonableness is at the centre of legal debate, both in academic circles and in practice. This unique reference work adopts an interdisciplinary perspective, merging jurisprudence, legal theory, political philosophy and the different branches of law. All aspects relating to reasonableness and law are addressed by the most prominent scholars in the field. In the first part of the book, the focus is on jurisprudential analyses of the concept of reasonableness and on its moral, political and constitutional implications. In the second part, reasonableness is examined in the different fields of...