MSEUF School of Law

First Semester
SY 2020-2021

PHILOSOPHY OF LAW
Atty. Judith G. Bunyi-De Leon

I. Definition, Nature and Function

a. Philosophy
b. Philosophy of Law
II. Periods of Philosophy
a. Ancient philosophy (600 B.C.E. –1000 C.E.)
b. Medieval philosophy (1000 C.E.–1500 C.E.)
c. Modern philosophy (1500 C.E.–1900 C.E)
d. Contemporary philosophy (1900 C.E. - present)
III. Ancient Philosophy
a. Plato
Plato's Legal Philosophy
Jerome Hall, Indiana University, Indiana Law Journal, Vol. 31 Issue 2
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d92a/b1074c70c8ef9938e3e4d9981995ab6441fb.pdf
b. Socrates
Socrates: His Ethical and Political Beliefs Plus Their relevance on Certain Legal
Concepts by Mohamad Rizal Abd Rahman
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/296676262_Socrates_His_Ethical_and_
Political_Beliefs_Plus_their_Relevance_on_Certain_Legal_Concepts
c. Aristotle
Aristotle and Philosophy of Law: Theory, Practice and Justice
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256037158_Aristotle_and_The_Philoso
phy_of_Law_Theory_Practice_and_Justice
IV. Medieval Philosophy
a. St. Augustine
St. Augustine's Philosophical Theory of Law
Anton-Hermann Chroust, Notre Dame Law Review, Volume 25 Issue 2
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr/vol25/iss2/3/
b. St. Thomas Aquinas
Treatise on Law (Summa Theologica I-II)
http://www.sophia-project.org/uploads/1/3/9/5/13955288/aquinas_law.pdf
V. Modern Philosophy
a. Immanuel Kant
Readings:
http://fs2.american.edu/dfagel/www/Philosophers/Kant/IntroToMetaphysicsofMorals.pdf
b. Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham, The Principle of Utility and Legal Positivism
Philip Schofield
https://academic.oup.com/clp/article/56/1/1/355807
c. John Stuart Mill
 Mill’s Moral and Political Philosophy
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mill-moral-political/#UtiRigLib
VI. Contemporary Philosophy
a. John Austin
Legal Positivism of John Austin and the Realist Movement in American
Jurisprudence
Wilfrid E. Rumble Cornell Law Review Volume 66 Issue 5
https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4250&context=clr
b. HLA Hart
The Legal Positivism of HLA Hart
Matthew H. Kramer, University of Cambridge Faculty of Law Legal Studies
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID3398839_code1562417.pdf?
abstractid=3347611&mirid=1&type=2
c. John Rawls
A Theory of Justice
The Main Idea of the Theory of Justice
https://www.csus.edu/indiv/c/chalmersk/econ184sp09/johnrawls.pdf
d. Oliver Wendell Holmes
Jurisprudence of Oliver Wendell Holmes
C. Perry Patterson Minnesota Law Review
University of Minnesota Law School
https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1932&context=mlr

Course Requirements:
Attendance
Philosophical Discussion (Ancient, Medieval, Modern, Contemporary)
Philosophical Papers (Ancient, Medieval, Modern, Contemporary)

Grading:
Attendance - 10%
Philosophical Paper - 60%
Performance - 30%

Philosophical Paper Format:

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One Page
Single Spaced