Part III Crazy Little Thing Called “Law”

1. The Invention of Law

a. Hobbes’ Assumption
b. The Mistakes of Hobbes
 Anthropological claim
 Hobbes’ assertion that “the state of nature was a state of war”
2. How Is Law Possible?
 Lex & Phil’s argument on Empowering rules
 The paradox of “chicken-egg” problem
 Chain of authority (infinite regress)
 Chain/circular argument on legal norms (norm as an alternative to the term “rules”)
3. A Note on Norms
 Philosophical idea of “norm”
 Norm as normative (instead of using “rules”)
4. Possible Solutions
 Theological claim of “God as ultimate authority”
 Political morality
 Positivistic claim on “social facts” (sovereign as ultimate authority)
 Social rule (led by people themselves)
5. Ultimately
 Social facts are reducible to moral facts, individual’s psychology & action, non-moral
facts, etc.
6. Hume’s Challenge
 Possibility puzzle: as an analytical device to determine the foundations of legal system
7. Positive vs. Natural
 Positivism as descriptive judgment
 Natural Law Theory, based on moral facts
 Maintains the idea of social facts as determiner of law – Positivistic claim
8. Nino and Dino
 Morality over descriptive judgment
 Natural law theory over Positivism
9. Pick Your Poison
 The Problem of Evil
 A need to violate Hume’s Law