Product Description

The Philosophy of Law is a broad-reaching text that guides readers through the basic analytical and normative issues in the field, highlighting key historical and contemporary thinkers and offering a unified treatment of the various issues in the philosophy of law.

• Enlivened with numerous, everyday examples to illustrate various concepts of law.
  
• Employs the idea of three central commonplaces about law - that law is a social matter, that law is authoritative, and that law is for the common good - to organize seemingly disparate topics and to bring rival views into contention with each other.
  
• The first volume in the Fundamentals of Philosophy series, in which leading philosophers explore the fundamental issues and core problems in the major sub-disciplines of philosophy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2755233 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 232 pages

Review
"Mark Murphy is the most interesting and original natural law theorist of his generation, and this wide-ranging, learned, and lucid introduction to legal philosophy will be the text of choice for any student or philosopher who wants a philosophically sophisticated survey of the major topics that, at the same time, makes clear the continuing attraction of the natural law tradition."
Brian Leiter, University of Texas at Austin

"Murphy executes a masterly and enlightening challenge to fashionable claims that ‘all is not well’ with the law and its philosophy. Fully accessible to general audiences, his book will also inform and engage the specialist reader."
William A. Edmundson, Georgia State University

"Philosophy of Law itself is a well designed book on several levels ... Murphy hooks you from the start."
Stuart Hannabuss, Aberdeen Buisness School, Robert Gordon University

“A concise, well balanced, and articulate discussion. The author has the capacity to present complex material with ease to its audience… A highly captivating interpretation of the philosophy of law”
Internet Law Book Reviews

From the Back Cover
Beginning with the deceptively simple question "What is law?" Philosophy of Law introduces readers to the basic analytical and normative issues in the field. The volume is a wide-ranging text that discusses the concepts of law, highlights key historical and contemporary thinkers who have shaped the discourse, and provides a unified treatment of the various issues in the philosophy of law.

Murphy frames the discussion with three central commonplaces about law: that it is authoritative, that it is a social matter, and that it is for the common good. Enlivened with numerous everyday examples, this text is an important resource for students coming to the subject for the first time.

About the Author

Mark C. Murphy is Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, where he works in moral, political, and legal philosophy. He is the author of Natural Law and Practical Rationality (2001), An Essay on Divine Authority (2002), and Natural Law in Jurisprudence and Politics (2006), and the editor of Alasdair MacIntyre (2003).

Customer Reviews

Straight forward and easy read
For a philosophy of law class this read is very comprehensive. I recommend this book for those who want to know fundamentals since this book is great covering the basic stuff on principles of law. Also, in comparison to Dworkin and other philosophers of law, Murphy does a great job explaining difficult things in very easy way to grasp.