This seminar will examine evolving understandings of law and legal institutions in (predominantly western) philosophy and culture. We will address such questions as: What is law? What are its sources? How do societies rationalize and enforce law? What mechanisms exist to change or modify existing laws? Can all laws be changed? Our discussion will draw on theoretical as well as literary texts, including the Old Testament and works by Aristotle, Cicero, Aquinas, Hobbes, Jefferson, Beccaria, Marx, and more. The discussion will proceed in a loosely chronological sequence, but with an eye to understandingthe origins and elaborations of conceptual traditions that continue to hold a grip on our thinking about the law today.
Course Attributes: AS HUM; BU Hum
