Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE PHI1101

 
TITLE Ethical Foundations of Law

 
UM LEVEL 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 5

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Philosophy

 
DESCRIPTION From a brief historical overview of how ethos, nomos and cultural conventions, developed from being quite indistinct to becoming more differentiated from Homer, to the Athenian philosophers, to the Roman jurists, the study unit will introduce students to the key questions: What distinguishes law from ethics? And what are the specific normative purposes of the law in distinction to morals? Key ethical and political theories about what is "justice", and the role of "authority" and "norms" to establish a "just" society will be presented as the foundation of understandings of law in distinction to ethics. In turn, the texts of paradigmatic thinkers will introduce three main ethical theories that inspire three main strands of normative jurisprudence: virtue, deontology and utilitarianism.

Classical controversies associated with each perspective will be discussed to present the advantages and disadvantages of each of these approaches.

Study-unit Aims

- To introduce students to the distinctions, but also overlap between law and ethics.
- To introduce students to key ethical theories that have shaped jurisprudence.
- To show how different legal theories have different entry points in distinct understandings of values and ethics.

Learning Outcomes

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will:
- Be able to distinguish between ethics and laws, but also appreciate their overlap;
- Be able to articulate the key differences among the various ethical theories that give rise to legal theories.
- Be able to recognize the significance of key controversies in philosophy of law, e.g. whether it is immoral to not follow the law, the role of punishment in the law, and how these are rooted in the worldview of distinct ethical theories;
- Become familiar with classic texts in the philosophical and ethical traditions.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate familiarity with the technique of philosophical argumentation;
- Practice this dialectical technique in a manner that is thorough and lucid;
- resent their philosophical arguments in a persuasive manner.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings

- Andrei Marmor (Ed.). The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Law. Routledge, 2012.
- David Dyzenhaus, Sophia Reibetanz Moreau and Arthur Ripstein (Eds.). Law and Morality: Readings in Legal Philosophy. 3rd Ed. University of Toronto Press, 2007.
- Edgar Bodenheimer, Jurisprudence : The Philosophy and Method of Law. Harvard University Press, 1974.
- Robert W. Shaffern, Law and Justice from Antiquity to Enlightenment. Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.
- Michael J. Sandel, Justice: A Reader. Oxford University Press Inc., 2007.
- Richard H. Bell, Rethinking Justice Restoring Our Humanity. Lexington Books, 2008.

Other articles and excerpts from classical texts will be made available to students.

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES This study-unit is offered to Theology and Law students only.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Nadia Delicata

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit