Jurisprudence
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“Naturalism in Legal Philosophy” revised and updated at Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP)
A new draft paper that may be of interest to some readers; the abstract: I argue that the core of genuinely academic freedom ought to be freedom in research and teaching, subject to disciplinary standards of expertise. I discuss the law in the United States, Germany, and England, and express doubts about the American view that…
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“The Roles of Judges in Democracies: A Realistic View”
A new paper that might be of interest to some readers; the abstract: What are the “obligations” of judges in democracies? An adequate answer requires us to be realistic both about democracies and about law. Realism about democracy demands that we recognize that electoral outcomes are largely, though not entirely, unrelated to concrete policy choices…
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Jerome Frank’s argument for the absolute priority rule in bankruptcy
This is classic: Courts of equity have a tradition of aiding the helpless, such as infants, idiots and drunkards. The average security holder in a corporate reorganization is of like kind. This comes from "Some Realistic Reflections on Some Aspects of Corporate Reorganization," 19 Virginia Law Review 541, 569 (1933). (I owe the reference to…
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Some publications and working papers this year
I appreciate the many blog readers who also read my scholarly writing–it has been one of the best things about the blog for years that it has been a vehicle for sharing my work with other faculty and students across many fields. In that spirit, here are publications–or working drafts–that I made available this year:…
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“The Case Against Free Speech”
This long-gestating paper has finally appeared in the Sydney Law Review (it was originally presented as the 2013 Julius Stone Address in Jurisprudence at Sydney), and can be downloaded here for those who are interested.
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2016 Dewey Lecture in Law & Philosophy at Chicago with Leslie Green (Oxford)
A video of this wonderful lecture and the Q&A is now available here. The lecture itself begins about seven minutes in, after various introductions. (The Dewey Lecture this year was the day after the election, as it happened, which may explain a few comments and jokes.)
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“Legal Positivism about the Artifact Law”
My contribution to a forthcoming OUP volume, sparked by interest in the claim by me and others that law is an artifactual not a natural kind and the ramifications of that for a theory of law.
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Once again, officials of the Alabama legal system show that they accept the rule of recognition of the Federal legal system…
….from an internal point of view. Roy Moore is the jurisprudential gift that keeps on giving! (And for those who don't follow what I'm talking about, see pp. 1603-4 of this essay.)
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“Theoretical Disagreements in Law: Another Look”
A new paper forthcoming from OUP in Ethical Norms, Legal Norms: New Essays in Meteaethics and Jurisprudence (edited by Plunkett, Shapiro & Toh); the abstract: In "Explaining Theoretical Disagreement" (2009), I defended an answer to Dworkin's argument that legal positivists can not adequately explain disagreements among judges about what the criteria of legal validity are. I here respond…
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Philosophy of law in the Encyclopaedia Britannica
This is the first new essay commissioned on the subject in more than fifty years (the last one was by Julius Stone, also a legal realist!). I had the privilege of co-authoring the new essay with a former student, the legal philosopher Michael Sevel (not a legal realist, but like Stone, at the University of Sydney!). Alas, you…
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“Why Tolerate Religion, Again? A Reply to Michael McConnell”
At SSRN; the abstract: This essay discusses a lengthy review by Professor Michael McConnell of the Stanford Law School in the Yale Law Journal of my 2013 book WHY TOLERATE RELIGION? (Princeton University Press). I identify two important objections that Prof. McConnell raises, but also identify eight different mistakes or misunderstandings that mar other parts of…
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President Obama is at the University of Chicago Law School today discussing the Supreme Court and the nomination of Judge Garland…
…which you can watch here. And if you'd like to know the truth about what's really going on with Supreme Court nomination battles, read this. (I'm not there, I'm at home working, since the faculty have been thrown out of their offices for the day!)
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A couple of philosophically-minded papers related to Nietzsche…
…with material perhaps of use to others with general interests in moral and political theory. "Moralities are a Sign-Language of the Affects" offers an interpretation and defense of Nietzsche's moral psychology, with special attention to the relationship between moral judgment and emotional response, and some of the empirical evidence in support of Nietzsche's kind of view. …
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Justice Scalia’s Theocratic Vision
My colleague Judge Posner and Prof. Eric Segall (Georgia State) comment.
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Federal Court dismisses another suit alleging misleading law school employment statistics (Michael Simkovic)
The Wall Street Journal reports that a Federal District Court recently dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Florida Coastal School of Law defrauded its students through misleading employment statistics. (hat tip Paul Caron) As noted in the Journal, this is the latest in a long string of victories for defendant law schools in these cases. The legal…
Here are my thoughts: https://www.natemeyvis.com/ai-skepticism-in-philosophy/ In brief: 1. I’m sympathetic to Kaufman’s view of philosophical value. 2. But generative AI…