A Matter of Principle

Description

This is a book about fundamental theoretical issues of political philosophy and jurisprudence: about what liberalism is and why we still need it; whether we should be skeptical about law and morality; how collective prosperity should be defined; what interpretation is and how far law is a matter of interpretation rather than invention. It is also a practical book about urgent political issues. It is above all, a book about the interplay between these two levels of our political consciousness: practical problems and philosophical theory, matters of urgency and matters of principle. Copyright Contents Introduction I. The Political Basis of Law 1. Political Judges and the Rule of Law 2. The Forum of Principle 3. Principle, Policy, Procedure 4. Civil Disobedience and Nuclear Protest II. Law as Interpretation 5. Is There Really No Right Answer in Hard Cases? 6. How Law Is Like Literature 7. On Interpretation and Objectivity III. Liberalism and Justice 8. Liberalism 9. Why Liberals Should Care about Equality 10. What Justice Isn’t 11. Can a Liberal State Support Art? IV. The Economic View of Law 12. Is Wealth a Value? 13. Why Efficiency? V. Reverse Discrimination 14. Bakke’s Case: Are Quotas Unfair? 15. What Did Bakke Really Decide? 16. How to Read the Civil Rights Act VI. Censorship and a Free Press 17. Do We Have a Right to Pornography? 18. The Farber Case: Reporters and Informers 19. Is the Press Losing the First Amendment? Notes Introduction 1. Political Judges and the Rule of Law 2. The Forum of Principle 3. Principle, Policy, Procedure 4. Civil Disobedience and Nuclear Protest 5. Is There Really No Right Answer in Hard Cases? 6. How Law Is Like Literature 7. On Interpretation and Objectivity 8. Liberalism 9. Why Liberals Should Care about Equality 10. What Justice Isn’t 11. Can a Liberal State Support Art? 12. Is Wealth a Value? 13. Why Efficiency? 14-16 17. Do We Have a Right to Pornography? 18. The Farber Case: Reporters and Informers 19. Is the Press Losing the First Amendment? Index