How are law and morality connected, how do they interact, and in what ways are they distinct? Matthew Kramer argues that moral principles can enter into the law of any jurisdiction, yet reaffirms the legal positivist argument that law and morality are separable. Through a variety of discussions, Where Law and Morality Meet highlights both some surprising affinities and some striking divergences between morality and law.

This book expounds an analytical method that focuses on paradoxes - a method originally associated with deconstructive philosophy, but bearing little resemblance to the interpretive techniques that have come to be designated as 'deconstruction' in literary studies. The book then applies its paradox-focused method as it undertakes a sustained investigation of Thomas Hobbe's political philosophy. Hobbes's theory of the advent and purpose of government turns out to reveal the impossibility of the very developments which it portrays as indispensable.

In this wide-ranging investigation of many prominent issues in contemporary legal and political philosophy, eight distinguished philosophers and legal theorists (including Matthew Kramer, Hillel Steiner, Antony Duff, Sandra Marshall, Wilfrid Waluchow, and Nicholas Bamforth) tackle issues such as the rights of animals and foetuses, the relationship between law and politics, the requirements of justice, the demands of practical rationality, the role of public-policy considerations in legal reasoning, the fundamental characteristics of legal and moral entitlements, the appropriateness of...

John Locke's attempt to justify private property is one of the central elements in his political philosophy. Matthew Kramer's new book explores in depth the Lockean theory of property, along with many other aspects of Locke's political thought. Drawing on the techniques of analytic philosophy, Kramer offers some rigorous and extensive techniques of Locke's arguments. While subsequently investigating the consequences of the shortcomings in Locke's reasoning, Kramer maintains that our understanding of Locke's political vision must change considerably. Kramer's book will be of interest to...

John Locke's attempt to justify private property is one of the central elements in his political philosophy. Matthew Kramer's new book explores in depth the Lockean theory of property, along with many other aspects of Locke's political thought. Drawing on the techniques of analytic philosophy, Kramer offers some rigorous and extensive techniques of Locke's arguments. While subsequently investigating the consequences of the shortcomings in Locke's reasoning, Kramer maintains that our understanding of Locke's political vision must change considerably. Kramer's book will be of interest to...

What is objectivity? What is the rule of law? Are the operations of legal systems objective? If so, in what ways and to what degrees are they objective? Does anything of importance depend on the objectivity of law? These are some of the principal questions addressed by Matthew H. Kramer in this lucid and wide-ranging study that introduces readers to vital areas of philosophical enquiry.

Edited by leading contributors to the literature, Freedom: An Anthology is the most complete anthology on social, political and economic freedom ever compiled.

• Offers a broad guide to the vast literature on social, political and economic freedom.
  
• Contains selections from the best scholarship of recent decades as well as classic writings from Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Kant among others.
  
• General and sectional introductions help to orient the reader.
  
• Compiled and edited by three important contributors to the...

In this wide-ranging investigation of many prominent issues in contemporary legal, political, and moral philosophy, Matthew Kramer combines penetrating critiques with original theorising as he examines the writings of numerous major theorists (including Ronald Dworkin, H.L.A. Hart, Alan Gewirth, Ronald Coase and Richard Posner). Among the many topics covered by Kramer's essays are the relative merits of legal positivism and natural-law theory, the appropriate understanding of justice, the role of consequences in moral decision-making, and the ultimate foundations of moral judgements.

This book expounds an analytical method that focuses on paradoxes - a method originally associated with deconstructive philosophy, but bearing little resemblance to the interpretive techniques that have come to be designated as 'deconstruction' in literary studies. The book then applies its paradox-focused method as it undertakes a sustained investigation of Thomas Hobbe's political philosophy. Hobbes's theory of the advent and purpose of government turns out to reveal the impossibility of the very developments which it portrays as indispensable.

This book is the product of a major British Academy Symposium held in 2007 to mark the centenary of the birth of H.L.A. Hart, the most important legal philosopher and one of the most important political philosophers of the twentieth century.
The book brings together contributions from eighteen of the world's foremost legal and political philosophers who explore the many subjects in which Hart produced influential work. Each essay engages in an original analysis of philosophical problems that were tackled by Hart, some essays including extended critical discussions of his major works: The...