Lawrence Solum's Books

“Mirabilis Dubitatio”

Understanding Formal Production in Thomas Aquinas and its Role in his Metaphysics of ‘Esse’

By: Lawrence Joseph Kaiser

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“Mirabilis Dubitatio”

Understanding Formal Production in Thomas Aquinas and its Role in his Metaphysics of ‘Esse’

By: Lawrence Joseph Kaiser

Amid the so-called “crisis of metaphysics” of the last several hundred years, philosophers in the 20th century re-encountered – and began a reappreciation of – the mediaeval thought of Thomas Aquinas. This crisis can be traced, at least in part, to modern Western philosophy’s rejection of a specifying or “formal” cause in metaphysical analysis. Drawing from Aristotle of Stagira, Aquinas placed the formal cause on prominent display as the foundation for his metaphysics of esse. Yet nowhere did St. Thomas offer a systematic presentation of the key elements for this central doctrine. In response to this absence, Mirabilis dubitatio presents the reader with the doctrine’s fundamental passages gleaned from Aquinas’s entire opera omnia, as well as a systematic analysis of the doctrine which Aquinas himself called, a topic of “wondrous difficulty”. Kaiser’s work argues this central feature of Aquinas’s thought – the formal cause – must be reintegrated into any metaphysical analysis in the 21st century. Such a reintegration can only begin through a presentation and understanding of Aquinas’s coherent account as presented here.

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Page Count

320

Publisher

BoD – Books on Demand

Published Date

ISBN 10

3868382240

ISBN 13

9783868382242

Ideology in the Supreme Court

By: Lawrence Baum

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Ideology in the Supreme Court

By: Lawrence Baum

Ideology in the Supreme Court is the first book to analyze the process by which the ideological stances of U.S. Supreme Court justices translate into the positions they take on the issues that the Court addresses. Eminent Supreme Court scholar Lawrence Baum argues that the links between ideology and issues are not simply a matter of reasoning logically from general premises. Rather, they reflect the development of shared understandings among political elites, including Supreme Court justices. And broad values about matters such as equality are not the only source of these understandings. Another potentially important source is the justices' attitudes about social or political groups, such as the business community and the Republican and Democratic parties. The book probes these sources by analyzing three issues on which the relative positions of liberal and conservative justices changed between 1910 and 2013: freedom of expression, criminal justice, and government "takings" of property. Analyzing the Court's decisions and other developments during that period, Baum finds that the values underlying liberalism and conservatism help to explain these changes, but that justices' attitudes toward social and political groups also played a powerful role. Providing a new perspective on how ideology functions in Supreme Court decision making, Ideology in the Supreme Court has important implications for how we think about the Court and its justices.

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Page Count

283

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691175527

ISBN 13

9780691175522

Constitutional Originalism

A Debate

By: Robert W. Bennett,Lawrence B. Solum

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Constitutional Originalism

A Debate

By: Robert W. Bennett,Lawrence B. Solum

Problems of constitutional interpretation have many faces, but much of the contemporary discussion has focused on what has come to be called "originalism." The core of originalism is the belief that fidelity to the original understanding of the Constitution should constrain contemporary judges. As originalist thinking has evolved, it has become clear that there is a family of originalist theories, some emphasizing the intent of the framers, while others focus on the original public meaning of the constitutional text. This idea has enjoyed a modern resurgence, in good part in reaction to the assumption of more sweeping power by the judiciary, operating in the name of constitutional interpretation. Those arguing for a "living Constitution" that keeps up with a changing world and changing values have resisted originalism. This difference in legal philosophy and jurisprudence has, since the 1970s, spilled over into party politics and the partisan wrangling over court appointments from appellate courts to the Supreme Court. In Constitutional Originalism, Robert W. Bennett and Lawrence B. Solum elucidate the two sides of this debate and mediate between them in order to separate differences that are real from those that are only apparent. In a thorough exploration of the range of contemporary views on originalism, the authors articulate and defend sharply contrasting positions. Solum brings learning from the philosophy of language to his argument in favor of originalism, and Bennett highlights interpretational problems in the dispute-resolution context, describing instances in which a living Constitution is a more feasible and productive position. The book explores those contrasting positions, to be sure, but also uncovers important points of agreement for the interpretational enterprise. This provocative and absorbing book ends with a bibliographic essay that points to landmark works in the field and helps lay readers and students orient themselves within the literature of the debate.

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Page Count

223

Publisher

Cornell University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0801461111

ISBN 13

9780801461118

Constitutional Originalism

A Debate

By: Robert W. Bennett,Lawrence B. Solum

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Constitutional Originalism

A Debate

By: Robert W. Bennett,Lawrence B. Solum

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Page Count

223

Publisher

Cornell University Press

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ISBN 10

0801461111

ISBN 13

9780801461118

Book's by Lawrence Solum

“Mirabilis Dubitatio”

“Mirabilis Dubitatio”

Ideology in the Supreme Court

Ideology in the Supreme Court

Constitutional Originalism

Constitutional Originalism

Constitutional Originalism

Constitutional Originalism

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