Entries by Title

• 01.A: Lecture Outline: Introuction to the Course, Teaching Philosophy and Syllabus Rules
• 01.B: Greetings! My Name is Sean Wilson. I'm Your Professor.
• 01.C: What is This Course All About?
• 01.D: How I will Teach This Subject -- Philosophy, Not Social Science or Legal Culture, is King.
• 01.E: Tips for Success in the Course
• 01.F: Course Rules: Exams, Quizzes, Quality Points, Student Parliaments & More
• 02.A: Lecture Outline: An Introduction to "Law" as Strength or Fear, and "Law" as Reason or Wisdom
• 02.B: Class Announcements
• 02.D: Might Makes Right -- A Story of "Law" in Rome
• 02.E: Absolute Monarchy and "Law" -- A Brief Introduction
• 02.F: The Development of the Court System in England, and the Philosophic Significance of the Ideology of Common Law
• 03.A: Lecture Outline: The Historical Development of the Power of Statute and the Power of Common Law, and an Example of Common Law Orthodoxy
• 03.B: Class Announcements
• 03.C: Review and Clarification: Getting the Material Organized a Little Better
• 03.D: The Historical Development of the Power of Statutory Law
• 03.E: The Historical Development of Courts and Common Law In England
• 03.F: An Example of Common Law Orthodoxy -- Is There a Duty to Tip?
• 04.A: Lecture Outline: Bonham's Case and the Puzzle of Legality
• 04.B: Class Announcements
• 04.C: Your First Quiz
• 04.D: My Slide Methodology
• 04.E: Bonham's Case and its Philosophic Significance
• 04.F: What is the Ultimate Basis of Legality?
• 04.G: Clarifying the ideas of Postivism and "Natural Law"
• 04.H: The Philosophic Significance of American Constitutionalism (ran out of time -- we'll start this next time)
• 05.A: Lecture Outline: The Philosophic Significance of American Constitutionalism
• 05.B: Class Announcements
• 05.C: The Basis of Legality -- Summary and Review
• 05.D: American Constitutionalism and the Removal of Religion From Government
• 05.E: American Constitutionalism and the New Rationalization for the Statutory Power: "Machine Makes Right"
• 05.F: American Constitutionalism and the Codification of Fundamental Law
• 05.G: What American Constitutionalism Does to the Metaphysics of Common Law
• 05.H: American Constitutionalism's Greatest Loophole: The Ninth Amendment.
• 05.I: American Constitutionalism: Legal Judging is Special and Distinct From Other Kinds of Policy Choice
• 05.J: Introduction to Philosophic Terms -- Epistemology, Paradigm & A Priori
• 05.K: Introduction to Philosophy of Law & Cognition
• 06.A: Lecture Outline: Classical Legal Thought
• 06.B: Class Announcements
• 06.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 06.D: Introduction to Classical Legal Thought
• 06.E: Christopher Columbus Langdell, William Blackstone and the "Science of Law"
• 06.F: The Great Solomon? John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison and the Historic Syllogism.
• 07.A: Lecture Outline: The Logic of Classicism -- John Marshall and McCullough v. Maryland
• 07.B: Class Announcements
• 07.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 07.D: McCullough v. Maryland -- The Facts and An Introduction
• 07.E: How Might a Jurist Approach the Bank Issue in Mccullough v. Maryland?
• 07.F: John Marshall and McCullough v. Maryland -- Hercules or Ideology?
• 08.A: Lecture OUtlinen: Classicism, the A-Priori and the Metaphysics of Tradition
• 08.B: Class Announcements
• 08.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 08.D: What is Wrong with the Use of Tradition in Judging? A Quick Look at Dred Scott.
• 08.E: Ideology and the Metaphysics of Tradition -- the Brandwell Concurrence
• 08.F: Classicism and the A Priori --a Look at Wynehammer and Prohibition
• 09. G: The Conundrum Returns -- The Philosophical Significance of Holmes, the Realists and the Lochner Dissent
• 09.A: Lecture Outline: Holmes, Lochner and the Great Rebellion Against Classical Legal Thought
• 09.B: Class Announcements
• 09.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 09.D: Holmes, The Common Law, and the Great Rebellion Against Classical Legal Thought
• 09.E: The Lochner Majority -- Classicism's Last Stand
• 09.F: The Lochner Dissent -- the Ideology of Orthodoxy and of the Need to Judge Pragmatically
• 10.A: Lecture Outline: The Realists, Sociological Jurisprudence & Brown v. Board of Education
• 10.B: Class Announcements
• 10.C: A Summary of the Problems Holmes and Realism Created for Legal Orthodoxy
• 10.D: The Story of How Legal Realism Came to Be
• 10.E: Two Important Urges Eminating From Legal Realism -- Deference to Political Assemblies and to the New "Policy Science"
• 10.F: One Solution to the Problems of Legal Realism -- Law as a Growth Science?
• 10.G: Meet the New Boss -- Brown v. Board of Education and the Triumph of "Sociological Jurisprudence"
• 11.A: Lecture Outline: Sociological Jurisprudence -- Style, Ideology and Criticisms
• 11.B: Class Announcements
• 11.C: Summary of the Decision in Brown v. Board of Education
• 11.D: Class Discussion -- Was Warren's Opinion in Brown Ideological? What about Marshall, Holmes and Taney -- Did They Use Ideology When Deciding?
• 11.E: When is a Supreme Court Decision "Ideological? " An Introduction to Some Basic Ideas.
• 11.F: An Example of Sociological Jurisprudence -- Speed Traps.
• 11.G: An Example of Sociological Jurisprudence -- Gay Marriage.
• 11.H: An Example of Sociological Jurisprudence -- Spying, Data Mining & The War on Terror
• 11.I: The Flaws of Sociological Jurisprudence -- Why the Approach Was Only a Fad.
• 11.J: The Death and Decline of Sociological Jurisprudence -- The Court Shuns Statistics and Science.
• 11.K: Take-Home Exam: Advice For Sociological Jurisprudence
• 12.A: Lecture Outline: Positivism -- Law as The "Cold Naked Words," its Implications For Judging and the Larger American Society, and Its Historical Ascendency as a Regime Ideology in Modern Legal Culture.
• 12.B: Class Announcements
• 12.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 12.E: Introduction to Positivism -- Law as the "Cold, Naked Words."
• 12.F: The Implications of Positivism: No International Law and Social Morality is Rule Following?
• 12.G: Positivism in Football, Too? The Case of the Tom Brady Fumble
• 12.H: The Implications of Positivism For Judging: Replace the Solomon and Hercules With a Glorified Librarian?
• 12.I: Positivism as a Modern Regime Ideology -- Why it Developed in American Legal Culture
• 12.J: Positivistic Culture -- Is There Too Much Legalism? Can There Be Too Much Positive Law?
• 12.K: Riggs v. Palmer -- Class Discussion: Who Should Win the Case and What Are Judges Supposed to Do?
• 12.L: Riggs v. Palmer -- The Decision.
• 13.A: Lecture Outline: Neal v. United States and the Flaws of Positivism
• 13.B: Class Announcements
• 13.C: Review of Previous Lecture: What Positivism Is, How it Came About, its Relationship to State-Building and Implications for Culture, Judging and Society
• 13.D: Neal v. United States -- An Introduction to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines
• 13.E: Neal v. United States -- the Weight of the Drugs
• 13.F: Neal v. United States -- Class Discussion: Should You Follow Law SOLELY For Law's Sake?
• 13.G: Neal v. United States: The Rest of the Story: Amended Guidelines, a Stupid Statute and a Court That Says It Can Only Read.
• 13.H: The Problems With Positivistic Judging: Discretion Can Be Good, Rules and Neutrality Are Not Synonymous, and Legislatures Have Their Work Either Way.
• 14.A: Outline of Lecture: What to do When Rules Are Uncertain -- Originalism, Neo-Originalism and Analytic Positivism
• 14.B: Class Announcements
• 14.C: Review of Previous Lecture: Why Follow Bad Rules?
• 14.D: Did Positivism Lie? Are There Really Rules That We Can Follow? Aren't Most Important Rules Uncertain?
• 14.E: A Theory of Language Indeterminacy and Positivism's Solution For It
• 14.F: Originalism v. Neo-Originalism; Intentions Versus Semantic Culture
• 14.G: Originalism and Speaker's Meaning -- Finding the Intention of the Assembly
• 14.H: The Problems With Speaker's Meaning: Do Political Assemblies Have Meaningful Intentions, and How Would This Be Known?
• 14.I: Originalism's Flaw: Law is Not Intention; It is the Textual Meaning That Passes the Democratic Ritual
• 14.J: Analytic Positivism's Solution -- Word Analysis and Canonical Jurisprudence
• 15.A: Lecture Outline: Analytic and Inductive Positivism -- The Battle Between Literalism and Conceputalism in Words
• 15.B: Class Announcements
• 15.C: Review of Previous Lecture -- How Positivism Finds Meaning When Text is Indeterminate
• 15.D: Introduction to Analytic Positivism: The Creation of a Canonical Reading Machine?
• 15.E: Caution: "Anaytic Positivism" is Only a Philosophic Exercise
• 15.F: Canonical Jurisprudence -- Inventing Rules That Tell The Judge How to Read Indeterminate Sentences
• 15.G: The Relationship of Canonical Jurisprudence to Literal Semantics
• 15.H: The "Counter Canons" -- "Rules" for Reading Good Results?
• 15.I: Canonical Equity -- How Positivistic Legal Culture Behaves When it Wants to Avoid Positivism
• 15.J: Inductive Positivism: Finding The Essences and Great Principles of Words
• 15.K: Griswold v. Connecticut -- Inductive (Kantian) Positivism in Action
• 16.A: Lecture Outline: Understanding Legal Skepticism
• 16.B: Class Announcements
• 16.C: Introduction to Skepticism -- The Philosophy of Anti-Foundationalism
• 16.D: Skepticism as a Teaching Tool Versus as an Orthodoxy
• 16.E: Skeptiism's Approach to Legality -- There Is No Law; There is Only Power
• 16.F: Mastering Skepticism's Vocabulary (Hegemony, Construction, Impulse, Etc.)
• 16.G: Language Wars -- On The Two Grammars of Epistemology
• 16.H: The Argument From Hallucination: Is The External World "Real" -- Or is the Question Irrelevant?
• 16.I: Two Kinds of Arguments: External Versus Internal Skepticism
• 16.J: "The Fundamental Contradiction" (a.k.a. The Duncan Kennedy Fallacy)
• 17.A: Lecture Outline: Getting On Top of Jurisprudence -- How All of the Approaches Can Be Understood as Three Basic Cognitive Dimensions in the Human Brain
• 17.B: Class Announcements
• 17.C: A Summary of the Basic Approaches in Jurisprudence
• 17.D: The First Cognitive Dimension: Ideation (The Kantian Influence on the Mind)
• 17.E: The Second Dimension of Cognition: Ostensible Verifiability ("seeing is believing")
• 17.F: The Third Cognitive Dimension: The Psychology of Desire
• 17.G: Finding All Three Cognitive Dimensions in Grammar: Three Dimensional Semantics is Always Better Than Two
• 17.H: The Triangle -- Is Law a Cognitive Recipe?
• 17.I: Jurisprudence, Schools of Thought and the Big Picture -- Law as Integrity Versus Law as "Ideology"
• 17.J: Help With Your Paper -- How The Various Schools of Jurisprudence Would Decide Hypothetical Cases
• 18.A: Lecture Outline: What Do We Mean When We Say "Ideology?"
• 18.B: Class Announcements
• 18.C: Class Discussion -- What is "Ideology?"
• 18.D: When You Use The Word "Ideology" -- What is Your Unit of Analysis?
• 18.E: A Brief Introduction to Casuistry
• 18.F: Ideology as a Lexicographic Typology of Beliefs About Exemplar Subjects in American Politics
• 18.G: Class Discussion: Is It Bad For Justices to Have "Ideology Scores" -- Especially Where That Only Means Having Opinions on Exemplar Subjects in American Politics?
• 18.H: The Supreme Court Often Decides Non-Exemplars -- What Do You Do With That Problem?
• 18.I: Class Discussion: Are Your Views on Religion, Epistemology, Ethics or Human Nature Your "Ideology?"
• 18.J: Class Discussion: Pragmatism, Ideology, Philosophy and Epistemology -- What's the Difference?
• 19.A: Lecture Outline: On The Grammar and Deployment of "Ideology" -- Learning the Rules of the Language Game
• 19.B: Class Announcements
• 19.C: Ideology -- What Does it Mean and Why is There All the Confusion?
• 19.D: Ideology as a Simple Belief Lexicography of Exemplar Subjects in American Politics
• 19.E: Ideology as Rationalizing Clients in the Political Culture
• 19.F: Ideology as Criticism of, or Observation About, Epistemology
• 19.G: Ideology as Deficient Psychology (Ideology as Bias)
• 19.H: Ideology as Attitudes Within a Deficient Cognitive Path (Ideology as Pathology)
• 19.I: Is Rush Limbaugh "Using Ideology" in This Example?
• 19.J: Is Spock and David Gergan Using Ideology In These Examples?
• 19.K: Is Pat Buchanan Using "Ideology" in These Examples?
• 19.L: In All of These Examples, What Does it Mean to "Follow Ideology" Anyway? Isn't This Really a Kind of Art Appreciation?
• 20.A: Lecture Introduction: Is It Meaningless to Say That One Has Followed/Not Followed Ideology; and After That, Let's Meet the Justices and Their Career Liberal Ratings
• 20.B: Class Announcements
• 20.C: To Follow or Not to Follow Ideology -- Is the Question False to Begin With?
• 20.D: Let's Meet the Justices and the Career "Liberal Ratings"
• 20.E: Let's Meet the Justices -- The Roosevelt Appointees
• 20.F: Let's Meet the Justices -- The Truman Appointees
• 20.G: Let's Meet the Justices -- The Eisenhower Appointees
• 20.H: Let's Meet the Justices -- The Kennedy and Johnson Appointees
• 20.I: Let's Meet the Justices -- Nixon (and Ford) Appointees
• 20.J: Let's Meet the Justices -- The Current Appointees
• 21.A: Lecture Outline and Class Announcements: Understanding Liberal Ratings, Newspaper Reputation and the Relationship Between the Two
• 21.B: An Examination of the Court's Docket, The Definition of a "Liberal Vote," and The Justices Career "Liberal Ratings"
• 21.F: The Relationship Between Newspaper Scales and Career Liberal Ratings -- A Whole Lot of Nothing?
• 22.A: Lecture Outline and Class Announcements -- An Introduction to Behaviorist Ideas: Game Theory and Regime Theory
• 22.B: Introduction to Behaviorist (Quantitative) Theories of Supreme Court Decision Making
• 22.C: An Examination of Career Liberal Ratings for Justices Across Different Issue Areas
• 22.C: An Introduction to Game Theory and How it Might Apply to Supreme Court Decision Making
• 22.D: An Explanation of Regime Theory -- The Right of Political Generations to Stamp the Court. Is the Politics of Law a Discreet Policy Phenomenon?
• 22.D: What Are the Problems With These "Liberal Ratings" and Is it Bad For a Justice to Have an Extreme Score?
• 22.E: A Look at Segal/Cover Scores and Their Problems
• 22.E: Regime Theory -- Is There Anything Wrong With It? Do Justices Misbehave When They Etch Generational Concerns Into Law?
• 22.F: Regime Theory -- What Support Might Be Found For it Using Career "Liberal Ratings?"
• 22.G: The Best Quantitative Evidence for Regime Theory? An Examination of Search and Seizure Data
• 23.A: Lecture Outline and Class Announcements: An Introduction to a Structuralist Approach to Supreme Court Decision Making
• 23.B: Review of the Empirical Theories of Decision Making
• 23.C: An Introduction to Structuralism
• 23.D: Structuralism and the Three Dimensions of Brain Cognition (the Triangle)
• 23.E: Structuralism's Relationship to Karl Popper's Famous Contribution in Philosophy of Science -- Is Thinking Negating?
• 23.F: Ronald Dworkin -- Structured Discretion and a Refined, Better Concept of "Law"
• 23.G: Ronald Dworkin -- "correct" legal answers, Hercules, Chain Novels, & Integrity
• 23.H: Structuralism's Implication for Jurisprudence and its Relationship to "Neo-Institutionalism" in Political Science
• 24.A: Lecture Outline and Announcements: Flag Politics and Core Political Speech -- A Kantian Moment in the Brain?
• 24.B: Review of Structuralism and Dworkin
• 24.C Judges and Their Brains -- How Structuralism Fits Within a Larger Theory About the Cognition of Judgment
• 24.D: Flag Politics and Texas v. Johnson -- an Introduction
• 24.E: Street v. New York -- Flag Politics, Game Theory and Strange Bedfellows
• 24.F: Flag Politics (Smith v. Goguen and Spence v. Washington) -- How Good Results Can Produce Bad Doctrine
• 24.G: The Scalia/Kennedy View in Texas v. Johnson -- A Kantian Moment in the Brain?
• 24.H: The Rehnquist Dissent in Texas v. Johnson -- A Pathological Moment in the Brain?
• 24.I: Core Political Speech -- More evidence of How a Higher Legal Principle Can Transform Judicial Conclusions?