Background
Kramer, Matthew Henry was born on June 9, 1959 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Alton Marshall and Alma Eunice (Bixon) Kramer.
(How are law and morality connected, how do they interact,...)
How are law and morality connected, how do they interact, and in what ways are they distinct? These questions have been a fundamental concern in the modern analytic philosophy of law. In Where Law and Morality Meet Matthew Kramer reviews the most influential accounts of legal and moral reasoning and presents his own conception of whether moral principles should be incorporated into a concept of law. In Part One, Kramer argues that moral principles can enter into the law of any jurisdiction. He contends that legal officials can invoke moral principles as laws for resolving disputes, and that they can also invoke them as threshold tests which ordinary laws must satisfy. In opposition to many other theorists, Kramer argues that these functions of moral principles are consistent with the essential characteristics of any legal system. Part Two reaffirms the legal positivist argument that law and morality are separable, arguing against the position of natural-law theory, which portrays legal requirements as a species of moral requirements. Kramer contends that even though the existence of a legal system in any sizeable society is essential for the realization of fundamental moral values, law is not inherently moral either in its effects or in its motivational underpinnings. In the final part, Kramer contests the widespread view that people whose conduct is meticulously careful cannot be held morally responsible for harmful effects of their actions. Through this argument, he reveals that fault-independent liability is present even more prominently in morality than in the law.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199546134/?tag=2022091-20
(This book is an uncompromising defense of legal positivis...)
This book is an uncompromising defense of legal positivism that insists on the separability of law and morality. After distinguishing among three facets of morality, Kramer explores a variety of ways in which law has been perceived as integrally connected to each of those facets. The book concludes with a detailed discussion of the obligation to obey the law--a discussion that highlights the strengths of legal positivism in the domain of political philosophy as much as in the domain of jurisprudence.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019926483X/?tag=2022091-20
(What is objectivity? What is the rule of law? Are the ope...)
What is objectivity? What is the rule of law? Are the operations of legal systems objective? If so, in what ways and to what degrees are they objective? Does anything of importance depend on the objectivity of law? These are some of the principal questions addressed by Matthew H. Kramer in this lucid and wide-ranging study that introduces readers to vital areas of philosophical enquiry.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521854164/?tag=2022091-20
(At least since the publication of Isaiah Berlin's famous ...)
At least since the publication of Isaiah Berlin's famous essay "Two Concepts of Liberty" nearly half a century ago, political philosophers have argued vigorously over the relative merits of "positive" and "negative" accounts of freedom. Matthew Kramer writes squarely within the negative-liberty tradition, but he incorporates a number of ideas that are quite often associated with theories of positive liberty. Much of The Quality of Freedom is devoted to elaborating the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of particular freedoms and unfreedoms; however, the book's cardinal objective is to establish the measurability of each person's overall freedom and of each society's aggregate freedom. On the one hand, Kramer contends that the existence of any particular instance of liberty or unfreedom is a matter of fact that can be confirmed or disconfirmed without any reliance on evaluative or normative considerations. On the other hand, he argues that the extent of each person's overall freedom or unfreedom cannot be ascertained entirely in the absence of evaluative assumptions. By combining those two positions and developing them in detail, Kramer pits himself against all positive accounts of liberty and most negative accounts. In the course of so doing, he aims to demonstrate the rigorous measurability of overall liberty--something that many writers on freedom have casually dismissed as impossible. Although Kramer concentrates principally on constructing a systematic analysis of sociopolitical freedom, he engages critically with the work of many of the leading contemporary writers on the topic.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199545731/?tag=2022091-20
(John Locke's attempt to justify private property is one o...)
John Locke's attempt to justify private property is one of the central elements in his political philosophy. Matthew Kramer's new book explores in depth the Lockean theory of property, along with many other aspects of Locke's political thought. Drawing on the techniques of analytic philosophy, Kramer offers some rigorous and extensive techniques of Locke's arguments. While subsequently investigating the consequences of the shortcomings in Locke's reasoning, Kramer maintains that our understanding of Locke's political vision must change considerably. Kramer's book will be of interest to political philosophers, legal philosophers, and intellectual historians.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/052154890X/?tag=2022091-20
(In this wide-ranging investigation of many prominent issu...)
In this wide-ranging investigation of many prominent issues in contemporary legal, political, and moral philosophy, Matthew Kramer combines critiques with theorizing as he examines the writings of numerous major theorists (including Ronald Dworkin, H.L.A. Hart, Alan Gewirth, Ronald Coase and Richard Posner). Among the many topics covered by Kramer's essays are the relative merits of legal positivism and natural law theory, the appropriate understanding of justice, the role of consequences in moral decision making, and the ultimate foundations of moral judgements. This work is intended for use in departments of philosophy (courses in legal philosophy, political philosophy, moral philosophy and epistemology), law and politics.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0333743253/?tag=2022091-20
( This book expounds an analytical method that focuses on...)
This book expounds an analytical method that focuses on paradoxes - a method originally associated with deconstructive philosophy, but bearing little resemblance to the interpretive techniques that have come to be designated as 'deconstruction' in literary studies. The book then applies its paradox-focused method as it undertakes a sustained investigation of Thomas Hobbe's political philosophy. Hobbes's theory of the advent and purpose of government turns out to reveal the impossibility of the very developments which it portrays as indispensable.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312165498/?tag=2022091-20
(This collection of essays forms a lively debate over the ...)
This collection of essays forms a lively debate over the fundamental characteristics of legal and moral rights. The essays examine whether rights fundamentally protect individuals' interests or whether they instead fundamentally enable individuals to make choices.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0198298994/?tag=2022091-20
law educator legal philosopher
Kramer, Matthew Henry was born on June 9, 1959 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Alton Marshall and Alma Eunice (Bixon) Kramer.
Bachelor, Cornell University, 1981. Juris Doctor, Harvard University, 1985. Doctor of Philosophy, Cambridge University, 1989.
Doctor of Laws, Cambridge University.
Research fellow Darwin College, Cambridge, England, 1989-1991. Visiting fellow Institute Research in Humanities, Madison, Wisconsin, 1991-1994. Lecturer law faculty Cambridge University, 1994-1999, reader, 1999—2002.
Fellow, director studies in law Churchill College, Cambridge, since 1994. Professor Cambridge University, since 2002. Leverhulme major research fellow, 2005—2007.
(What is objectivity? What is the rule of law? Are the ope...)
(This book expounds an analytical method that focuses on p...)
( This book expounds an analytical method that focuses on...)
(In this wide-ranging investigation of many prominent issu...)
(At least since the publication of Isaiah Berlin's famous ...)
(How are law and morality connected, how do they interact,...)
(This book is an uncompromising defense of legal positivis...)
(This collection of essays forms a lively debate over the ...)
(John Locke's attempt to justify private property is one o...)
Member United Kingdom Association Legal and Social Philosophy (vice president since 1998), Society Public Teachers Law, Mind Association.