posner on bush v. gore (was RE: Ethical foundations of the left)

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Thu Jul 26 17:31:47 PDT 2001


Marta Russell wrote:
>
> Justin Schwartz wrote:
> >
> > However, we were talking about Posner as a legal theorist.
> >
> I'm sorry. I couldn't resist providing the info on Posner and
> disability rights. However, it does offer insight as to how social
> justice is thwarted by legal posturing.
>
> Marta

I think that Russell someplace (commenting on the reach of deduction, I think) put theology and law in the same category as areas in which deduction "worked" because the truth criteria were strictly internal, or something like that. But if you take the LAW as a given (as fundamentalists take Scripture), then it presumably doesn't matter how bizarre or offensive the conclusion is as long as it is derivable from the premises.

I suspect Justin's fondness for Posner is not unrelated to his suggestion that philosophy should be viewed as entertainment. Coherence and consistency count in most areas of activity one can apply the label "entertainment" to.

Carrol



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