| Assignments | Short test :: Paper 1 :: Paper 2 :: Final exam |
|---|---|
| Class picture | Suitable for framing! |
| Contact | How to get in touch with Michael Green. |
| Grades | Information about what grades mean and how they are assigned is in the syllabus. |
| Notes | My perspective on each session. |
| Sakai | Use Sakai for announcements, due dates, the roster, and e-reserve readings. |
| Syllabus | The plan for each session in glorious PDF. |
| Writing | My advice about philosophy papers. Worth every penny it costs to click. |
Students taking this course will learn how legal philosophers analyze important but poorly understood concepts such as “law,” “obligation,” and “rights.” They will also see how different positions on the nature of the law bear on concrete questions about how to resolve specific cases or how to think of the role of judges. Finally, they will discuss the justification for holding people responsible for the consequences of their behavior, engaging in paternalistic interference with individual liberty, punishing criminal infractions, and legally recognizing torture. Students should have significantly deeper understanding of the law as a social institution, the specific practices that I listed, and techniques of analysis and argument.
The course emphasizes arguments and writing. Students who successfully complete this course will learn how to construct arguments, how to interpret analytical writing, how to raise objections to arguments, and how to write extended analytical essays of their own. There will be extensive opportunities to practice these skills through discussions during class sessions. Grades reflect how well these skills are exhibited in written papers and exams.
