Curated category
Philosophy of law
- TortureTorture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person, and despite being one of the oldest and most universally condemned practices in…
- Freedom of speechFreedom of speech is a principle that asks something radical of us: to defend the right to say things we find wrong, offensive, or dangerous.
- JusticeA 6th-century codification of Roman law called the Institutes of Justinian carried a definition that philosophers still treat as the most plausible core…
- Separation of powersSeparation of powers sits at the foundation of nearly every modern democracy, yet the idea that government must be divided against itself to stay free took…
- Laws (dialogue)Plato's Laws opens not with the grand philosophical question you might expect, but with a deceptively simple one: who deserves credit for creating a…
- Dignitas (Roman concept)Dignitas, a Latin word from ancient Rome, had no clean translation in English. Not dignity alone, not prestige, not charisma.
- Human rightsHuman rights are universally recognized moral principles that set standards of behavior and are often protected by national and international law.
- Positive lawPositive law goes by a Latin name - ius positum - and the etymology tells you almost everything you need to know. The word comes from the verb to posit: to…
- ImperiumImperium was the word ancient Romans used for the kind of power that could not be argued with. It came from imperare, the Latin verb meaning to command, and…
- Law and economicsHarold Luhnow, the head of the Volker Fund, financed F. A. Hayek in the United States starting in 1946. He shortly thereafter funded Aaron Director's move to…