PHIL 2050 Lecture 8: Lecture 8-Contemporary Legal Positivism Cont'd.docx
Document Summary
Hart"s reply: while all legal systems must (1) regulate the use of violence, (2) protect property and (3) enforce promises, these aims are compatible with much injustice, (1), (2) and (3) together constitute what hart calls the minimum content of natural law". Necessary connections identified by later positivists (1) necessarily, law and morality share a subject matter: they both apply to the most important relations between persons (2) necessarily, law makes moral claims of its subjects; law claims more legitimacy (3) necessarily, law is justice apt; it always makes sense to assess law in terms of it s justice (4) necessarily, law is morally risky; law brings with both potential benefits (in coordination, enforcement, happiness) and potential costs (alienation of citizens, insensitivity to particularities, oppression)
