Logic, General & Miscellaneous Law, Philosophical Methodology, Logic & Foundations of Mathematics, Legal Methodology & Language

Demystifying Legal Reasoning

Name: Demystifying Legal Reasoning
Author: Larry Alexander
ISBN: 9780521703956

by Larry Alexander, Emily L. Sherwin

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Overview

Demystifying Legal Reasoning defends the proposition that there are no special forms of reasoning peculiar to law. Legal decision makers engage in the same modes of reasoning that all actors use in deciding what to do: open-ended moral reasoning, empirical reasoning, and deduction from authoritative rules. This book addresses common-law reasoning, when prior judicial decisions determine the law, and interpretation of texts. In both areas, the popular view that legal decision makers practice special forms of reasoning is false.

Synopsis

This book defends the proposition that there are no special forms of reasoning peculiar to law.

About the Author, Larry Alexander

Larry Alexander has been a journalist and columnist for the Intelligencer Journal newspaper in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for more than a decade, winning numerous awards for excellence in journalism. He grew up on the same street in the same town as Major Dick Winters, three decades later.