Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Legal Theory on bloggingheads.tv This weekend Brian Leiter (U. of Chicago Law) and Scott Shapiro (Yale Law) discussed the issue of "Theoretical Disagreement and Whether It is a Problem for Legal Positivism" on bloggingheads.tv. The entire "diavlog" lasts 67:51min. The bloggingheads site offers links to specific parts of the discussion:
  • A short primer on legal philosophy
  • Hart's legal positivism vs. Dworkin's (quasi-) natural law theory
  • Explaining theoretical disagreement: a challenge for positivism
  • Is theoretical disagreement so rare it needs no explanation?
  • Can a novel way of interpreting law be offered in good faith?
  • Brian and Scott explain why they are positivists
Watch with flashplayer, or download the video in .mp4 or the audio in .mp3. No script, but links provided to papers by both men on topics covered in their discussion. A must for students of legal theory.