Heavily Accented Philosophy of Law

In this episode, we delve into the topic of legal interpretation and its theoretical foundations. What are the core elements of a rigorous account of legal interpretation? How has the conversational model — drawing on ideas about communication and pragmatics — shaped the field in recent decades? What are the main positions within this approach, and who are its key proponents? And if we move away f...

In this episode, we delve into the topic of the foundations of the economic analysis of law. Where do we stand nowadays in law and economics ? How has the field evolved from the classical economic analysis of law to the rise of law and political economy ? Is there room for a “limping third way” between these approaches? What are the main methodological problems shaping the field today: unilaterali...

In this episode, we delve into the debate about experimental jurisprudence (also known as xJur ). What is exactly “experimental jurisprudence”? What is in turn “experimental philosophy”? What are the methods of xJur and what are the good practices in order to get replicable results? Can we truly achieve knowledge on law through experiments? Izabela Skoczeń discusses with us the raising in importan...

In this episode, we delve into the debate about responsibility for negligence in ethics and law. What is exactly “responsibility”? What does responsibility involve, and it is the same across disciplines? How ancient and medieval moral psychology might (or should) inform contemporary legal theory about these topics? What about specific types of responsibility, such as responsibility for negligence?...

In this episode, we delve into the debate about legal validity and concept-construction methodology. What is exactly legal validity? What would be the most adequate way to construct a concept of legal validity? How is the idea of cluster concepts important for this debate? Do theoretical or conceptual distinctions have any practical relevance? Mathieu Carpentier discussed with us why legal validit...

In this episode, we delve into the debate on rules and principles, the topic of law and categorisation, and the connection between equality (and analogy). Why the obsession in philosophy of law with the rules/principles debate? Is the distinction purely definitional or also substantial? How is the element of genericity – not generality - important for the debate? Does equality have something to do...

In this episode, we delve into the topics of non-human agents, the construction of legal reality, and the encompassing role of legal education. What does it mean to be an agent? In which sense can we talk about non-human agents? Can we say that legal reality is “constructed”? How do we fit non-human agents within this legal reality? How does legal education participate in it? Antonia Waltermann di...

In this episode, we delve into the encompassing topic of international law, exploring it through the eyes of philosophy of law. Can our conceptions of law encompass international law? Is there something akin of a nature of international law? What would be the main elements to determine such a nature? Miodrag Jovanović discusses why there has been a historical lack of philosophical interest in inte...

The guest for this fourth episode of the HAPL podcast is Giovanni Tuzet, currently Full Professor of Philosophy of Law at Bocconi University (Milan, Italy). In the first part of this interview with Julieta Rabanos and Bojan Spaić, Tuzet talks about his academic path to the present and introduces the topic of evidential reasoning, starting from the most general question about legal reasoning and mo...

The guest for this third episode of the HAPL podcast is Domingos Soares Farinho, currently professor auxiliar at the Faculdade de Direito of the Universidade de Lisboa, member of the Centro de Investigação em Direito Público (CIDP) do Instituto de Ciências Jurídico-Políticas da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Lisboa, and member of Lisbon’s ALF team. In the first part of this highly interac...

The guest for this second episode of the HAPL podcast is Marco Segatti, currently senior researcher at the Tarello Institute for Legal Philosophy – University of Genoa and member of UNIGE’s ALF team. In the first part of this highly interactive interview with Julieta Rabanos and Bojan Spaić, Segatti first introduces his academic genealogy and discusses with the hosts about the high importance of r...

The guest for this first episode of the HAPL podcast is Gerald J. Postema , Cary C. Boshamer Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In conversation with Julieta Rabanos, he discusses his last book “ Law’s Rule: The Nature, Value, and Viability of the Rule of Law ” (OUP, 2022), paying particular attention to his conception of the Rule of Law and how to addres...