PHIL 348 Lecture 5: PHIL 348: Positivism- Bentham and Austin
17 Sep 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Bentham, austin and positivism adopt (i) the command theory of law and (ii) the rejection of natural law, but they repudiate the social contract basis of civil society and legal obligation. Bentham responds to hobbes through responding to blackstone. Positivism: the rejection of natural law; dominant theory. Bentham: a fragment of government- response to blackstone"s commentaries. Articulation of a new idea of political society. Critique of the social contract justification of political and legal obligation. Reconceptualization of morality using the principle of utility. Rejection of natural law; not scientific enough. Distinction between legal validity and moral validity. Political society: social contract is incoherent/suspect; no original contract; it"s fiction. Should be analyzed as a situation where a number of persons are in a habit of obedience to a person or an assemblage of persons. Habit of obedience existing indicates diff btwn state of nature and political society; not the presence of a social contract; no fiction in his pov.
