Guia docente 2013_14 Facultade de Dereito

Contents

Topic	Sub-topic
I. What is the law?	1. The concept of Law. Historical evolution. Main theoretical positions. 2. The concept of Law in the contemporary legal philosophy: positivism, natural law theories and legal realism. 3. The law like form of social organisation. The functions of law. 4. Law, morals and political. Law and political power. Law and justice.
II. What is a norm?	1. Norms and mandates. Social rules. Types of rules. The legal norm. Principles and rules in the contemporary philosophical debate. 2. The law like system of norms. Validity and efficiency. The coherence of the legal order and the problem of the antinomies. The completeness of the legal order and the regulatory gaps. 3. The normative production. The so called "sources of law". The jurisprudence like source of law.
III. Which are the fundamental legal concepts?	1. The fundamental legal concepts in the contemporary philosophy of law. 2. Acts agains the law. Sanction. Legal duty. Subjective right. Responsibility.
IV. It is possible a science of law?	1. The nature of the scientific knowledge. Empiricism, falsacionism and the theory of the scientific paradigms of Thomas Khun. 2. The science of law in the contemporary philosophy law. Kelsen, Hart, Ross, Alchourrón and Bulygin, Nino. 3. The legal dogmatic. Which are the dogmas on which assent the legal dogmatic? Legal Dogmatic and scientific knowledge.
V. How it applies the Law?	1. Law and language. Vagueness, ambiguity and open texture of natural languages. 2. The disagreements in the Law. Hard cases and easy cases. 3. The problem of the judicial discretion. Legal interpretation. Legal argumentation.
VI. Which relation exists between Law and Justice?	1. Theories of justice: classical and contemporary. Justice and Law. The problem of the legitimacy. The relations between law and political. 2. The Human Rights like universal system of justice. National and international law. The translation of the international agreements to the local contexts of application. 3. The obedience to law. Moral obligation and legal obligation. Obedience and resistance to law. The civil disobedience and the objection of consciousness. 4. Gender and Law. Positions and main lines of investigation.
VII. How it relates the Law with popular culture?	1. Law and literature. Evolution of the movement. Positions in favour and against. Law in the literature. 2. The legal interpretation and the literary interpretation. Paradigms and debates. The law like interpretation. 3. Cinema and law. Evolution of the current. Main exponents and thematics.