Level 59
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Political and Social Philosophy

Philosophy of Law and Human Rights

The philosophical foundations of legal authority and the justification of universal human rights across natural-law, positivist, and interpretivist legal traditions.

60-Second Review

Express review

A condensed, point-by-point summary of the module, for reviewing right before a test or exam.

  1. Natural Law Theory: From Aquinas to Finnis. Natural law grounds valid law in reason and the human good, from Aquinas to Finnis.
  2. Legal Positivism: Austin, Hart, and the Separation Thesis. Positivism separates law from morality, from Austin's commands to Hart's rule of recognition.
  3. Hart-Fuller Debate on Law and Morality. Hart and Fuller clashed in 1958 over whether Nazi statutes were law at all.
  4. Dworkin's Law as Integrity. Dworkin argues law includes moral principles, culminating in his "law as integrity" theory.
  5. The Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights. Human rights theory asks what grounds universal moral claims independent of positive law.
  6. Critical Legal Studies and the Critique of Legal Objectivity. Critical Legal Studies argues law's claimed neutrality masks indeterminacy and hidden politics.
  7. International Law and the Limits of State Sovereignty. International law's authority strains against the traditional doctrine of state sovereignty.
  8. Punishment Theory: Retribution, Deterrence, and Restoration. Punishment theory weighs retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and restorative alternatives.

This module continues after "Feminist Political Philosophy" in the syllabus. If you haven't reviewed it yet, it may help set the context.

Key points

Visual module map

1Natural Law Theory: From Aquinas to Finnis
2Hart-Fuller Debate on Law and Morality
3The Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights
4Critical Legal Studies and the Critique of Legal Objectivity
5Punishment Theory: Retribution, Deterrence, and Restoration

Alternative visual view: a simplified sequence of some of the module's key points, in their order within the syllabus.

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Final test

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Chronological Order

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Further reading

Bibliography and cited sources used to create this module.

  • Aquinas, T. Summa Theologiae, Prima Secundae, Questions 90–97 (Treatise on Law), c. 1265–1274.
  • Hart, H.L.A. (1961). The Concept of Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Fuller, L.L. (1964). The Morality of Law. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  • Dworkin, R. (1986). Law's Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Finnis, J. (1980). Natural Law and Natural Rights. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Shue, H. (1980). Basic Rights: Subsistence, Affluence, and U.S. Foreign Policy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.