PHIL 280.001 – Morality, Law, and Justice: Issues in Legal Philosophy

Instructor: Nolan Whitaker. This course meets via remote, mostly asynchronous (RM) instruction.

In this course we will examine the nature of law and the relationship between the law and morality. There are interesting questions to ask about the nature of law. Is law merely a matter of convention? Or is there in some sense a natural or divine law?  There are also interesting questions to ask about the relationship between the law and morality.  Do we generally have a moral obligation to obey the law? Why? When is punishment justified? What is even the point of punishment? Seriously engaging the above questions is not only valuable for its own sake, but is relevant  for determining what public policy ought to be. So this course is particularly relevant for students with an interest in law, philosophy, or political science.