Jurisprudence: Introduction to the Philosophy of Law

Study jurisprudence with the experts at the Surrey Centre for Law and Philosophy

On this course, you’ll explore the theory and nature of law from a philosophical perspective.

As you get to grips with key arguments and positions in the philosophy of law, you’ll learn how legal arguments are impacted by an understanding of the relation of law to morality.

You’ll be introduced to theories around how the law operates, its relation to economic incentives, and questions about the law’s treatment of contemporary social issues.

Familiarise yourself with legal philosophy

Professionals who must develop arguments for clients can apply jurisprudential thinking when they find themselves representing clients whose issues are legally uncertain.

This course will develop your understanding of how to use the philosophy of law to support the formation of legal arguments when the law runs out.

Study the philosophical and legal theory behind the law

When the legal authorities supporting a specific point are exhausted, a firm grasp of the theory behind law can help practitioners argue their points from a more basic perspective.

Under the guidance of academics at the University of Surrey School of Law, you’ll be encouraged to develop your own conclusions about whether law is dependent upon morality.

Study with fellows at the largest research centre for legal philosophy in the world

This course is created and led by academics with extensive experience teaching and writing on jurisprudence from the renowned Surrey Centre for Law and Philosophy (SCLP).

You’ll gain expert insights from Professor of Legal Philosophy, Dennis Patterson; Professor in Moral and Political Philosophy, Veronica Rodriguez-Blanco; Senior Lecturer, Christopher Taggart, and SCLP Co-Directors, Dr Kenneth Ehrenberg, Reader in Public Law and Legal Theory, and Dr Hrafn Asgeirsson, Reader in Philosophy and Law.

This course is designed for anyone curious about how the philosophy of law can impact legal decision-making.

It will be especially useful for current or prospective undergraduate law students looking to gain a basic understanding of the theories underlying law and legal systems to supplement or prepare for their studies.

Youtube videos feature in some steps of this course

• An unjust law is no law at all?
• Getting started
• Introduction to Week 1
• Introduction to strong and weak natural law
• Classic legal positivism
• Modern legal positivism
• Reviewing the theories
• Guilty mind: neuroscience and responsibility
• Introduction to Week 2
• Neuroscientific evidence and philosophical issues of mind and brain
• Law and insanity
• Murder and sleepwalking
• Addiction and responsibility
• Child killers
• Review of Week 2
• Why should I be responsible for my inadvertent actions?
• Introduction to Week 3
• The puzzle of inadvertent actions
• The moral and legal responses to responsibility for inadvertent actions
• Week 3 review
• Law and economics
• Introduction to Week 4
• Exploring normative reasoning
• Two types of normative reasoning
• Consequentialist reasoning and the law
• Contract law: which promises should be contracts?
• Week 4 review
• Law and contemporary social issues
• Introduction to Week 5
• Consent and law and morality
• The problem(s) of sexual harassment
• Course review