University of Kansas, Spring 2005
Philosophy 674: Philosophy of Law
Ben Eggleston—eggleston@ku.edu

Class notes: introductory class

The following notes correspond roughly to what we cover, including at least a portion of what I put on the board or the screen, in class. In places they may be more or less comprehensive than what we actually cover in class, and should not be taken as a substitute for your own observations and records of what goes on in class.

The following outline is designed to be, and is in some Web browsers, collapsible: by clicking on the heading for a section, you can collapse that section or, if it’s already collapsed, make it expanded again. If you want to print some but not all of this outline, collapse the parts you don’t want to print (so that just their top-level headings remain), and then click here to print this frame.

  1. introductions
    1. index cards: name, year, major
    2. learning names
  2. readings
    1. This course is organized around the book Arguing About Law: An Introduction to Legal Philosophy, by Andrew Altman.
    2. It will be supplemented by additional readings relevant to the respective chapters of Arguing About Law.
    3. sources of additional readings
      1. electronic reserve (need password)
      2. J-Stor
      3. LexisNexis Academic
  3. assignments
    1. three tests (8 percent, 12 percent, and 12 percent)
    2. two papers, each four pages, then revised up to six (24 percent each)
    3. presentation and related activities (9 percent)
    4. in-class writing (9 percent)
    5. attendance at Altman lecture (2 percent)
  4. Altman visit
    1. One great opportunity we’ll have, later in the course, is to talk with Professor Altman himself. He’ll be giving a public lecture at KU on Tuesday, April 19. Then he will be our guest in class on Wednesday, April 20.
    2. So as you read the book, keep in mind that he’ll be visiting, and think about things that you would like to talk to him about.
  5. presentations and related activities
    1. determining reading selections, if necessary
    2. writing study questions
    3. making a presentation
    4. responding to partner’s presentation
    5. writing test and paper questions
  6. bid sheet for segment schedule
  7. in-class writing: Olmstead v. United States