Moral Puzzles and Legal Perplexities: Essays on the Influence of Larry Alexander

by Heidi M. Hurd

Overview

Drawing inspiration from the profoundly influential work of legal theorist Larry Alexander, this volume tackles central questions in criminal law, constitutional law, jurisprudence, and moral philosophy. What are the legitimate conditions of blame and punishment? What values are at the heart of constitutional protections against discrimination or infringements of free speech? Must judges interpret statutes and constitutional provisions in ways that comport with the intentions of those who wrote them? Can the law obligate us to violate the demands of morality, and when can the law allow the rights of the few to be violated for the good of the many? This collection of essays by world-renowned legal theorists is for anyone interested in foundational questions about the law's authority, the conditions of its fair application to citizens, and the moral justifications of the rights, duties, and permissions that it protects.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781316649954
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/08/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	489
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.06(h) x 1.18(d)

About the Author

Heidi M. Hurd is the Ross and Helen Workman Chair in Law and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois. She has published articles in leading law and philosophy journals on topics in criminal law, tort law, jurisprudence, environmental ethics, and moral and political philosophy, and is the author of Moral Combat (Cambridge, 1999).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Larry Alexander Heidi M. Hurd; Part I. Puzzles in Criminal Law: 2. Kinds of punishment Douglas Husak; 3. Partial responsibility and excuse David O. Brink; 4. 'Thank God I Failed' R. A. Duff; 5. Does duress justify or excuse? The significance of Larry Alexander's ambivalence Peter Westen; 6. Alternative lesser evils Gideon Yaffe; Part II. Problems in Constitutional Law: 7. Justifying academic freedom: Mill and Marcuse revisited Brian Leiter; 8. Vindicating judicial supremacy Laurence Claus; 9. Alexander's 'simple-minded originalism' Connie S. Rosati; 10. Subjective versus objective intentionalism in legal interpretation Jeffrey Goldsworthy; 11. Simple-minded originalism? Simply wrong! Lawrence B. Solum; 12. Intentions in tension Frederick Schauer; 13. Alexander's constitutionalism: a qualified defense Alon Harel; Part III. Perplexities in Jurisprudence: 14. For legal principles Mitchell N. Berman; 15. The court, or the constitution? William Baude; 16. Alexander as anarchist Steven D. Smith; 17. Exclusionary rules Emily Sherwin; 18. Larry Alexander and 'The Gap' Leo Katz and Alvaro Sandroni; Part IV. Paradoxes in Moral Philosophy: 19. Respect and discrimination Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen; 20. The means principle and optimific wrongs Kimberly Kessler Ferzan; 21. Deontology's travails Richard Arneson; 22. The rationality of threshold deontology Michael S. Moore; 23. Real-world criminal law and the norm against punishing the innocent: two cheers for threshold deontology Kevin Cole; 24. Appreciation and responses Larry Alexander.

Editorial Reviews

'Moral Puzzles and Legal Perplexities is an indispensable feast of innovative contributions to the most important questions of theory in criminal law, constitutional law, jurisprudence, and morality. It is a fitting tribute to Larry Alexander, whose astonishingly broad and generative scholarship and exemplary character have contributed so much to law and philosophy and to academic collegiality.' Stephen J. Morse, Ferdinand Wakeman Hubbell Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania

'Larry Alexander is an intellectual giant, whose work spans multiple fields of law and philosophy. This excellent volume gives fans of Larry's work (and the benighted still unfamiliar with his work) the chance to consider Larry's work as a whole and to learn from some of Larry's devoted critics, each of whom is a leading light in their own right. This book is an intellectual smorgasbord that spans criminal law, jurisprudence, philosophy, and constitutional law and is not to be missed.' Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash, James Monroe Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia

'Larry Alexander is a legal theorist of great range and depth, who over the last half-century has made path-breaking and challenging contributions within criminal law, free speech theory, constitutional interpretation, jurisprudence, and moral philosophy. This volume of critical and celebratory essays is at once a tribute to this great scholar, and an atlas for the vast territory of Larry’s work.' Matthew D. Adler, Richard A. Horvitz Professor of Law, Duke University, North Carolina

From the Publisher