Richard H. Gaskins's Books

Burdens of Proof in Modern Discourse

By: Richard H. Gaskins

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Burdens of Proof in Modern Discourse

By: Richard H. Gaskins

Public and professional debates have come to rely heavily on a special type of reasoning: the argument-from-ignorance, in which conclusions depend on the lack of compelling information. "I win my argument," says the skillful advocate, "unless you can prove that I am wrong." This extraordinary gambit has been largely ignored in modern rhetorical and philosophical studies. Yet its broad force can be demonstrated by analogy with the modern legal system, where courts have long manipulated burdens of proof with skill and subtlety. This legal, philosophical, and rhetorical study by Richard H. Gaskins provides the first systematic treatment of arguments-from-ignorance across a wide range of modern discourse--from constitutional law, scientific inquiry, and moral philosophy to organizational behavior, computer operation, and personal interaction. Gaskins reviews the historic shifts in constitutional proof burdens that have shaped public debate on fundamental rights and, by analogy, on the fundamental status of intellectual and cultural authority. He shows how similar shifts have dominated polemical battles between scientific and ethical modes of authority, affecting both academic and popular discussion. Finally, he discovers the philosophical roots of default reasoning strategies in the arguments of Kant and nineteenth-century Kantian schools. Concluding that shifting proof burdens are inescapable in a world of scientific and moral uncertainty, Gaskins emphasizes the common strategic ground shared by dogmatic and skeptical reasoning. Using Hegelian strategies, he describes a more pluralistic temper that can move critical thinking beyond polemics and strengthen our capacities for common discourse.

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Page Count

390

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300063067

ISBN 13

9780300063066

Overcoming Law

By: Richard A. Posner

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Overcoming Law

By: Richard A. Posner

Legal theory must become more factual and empirical and less conceptual and polemical, Richard Posner argues in this wide-ranging new book. The topics covered include the structure and behavior of the legal profession; constitutional theory; gender, sex, and race theories; interdisciplinary approaches to law; the nature of legal reasoning; and legal pragmatism. Posner analyzes, in witty and passionate prose, schools of thought as different as social constructionism and institutional economics, and scholars and judges as different as Bruce Ackerman, Robert Bork, Ronald Dworkin, Catharine MacKinnon, Richard Rorty, and Patricia Williams. He also engages challenging issues in legal theory that range from the motivations and behavior of judges and the role of rhetoric and analogy in law to the rationale for privacy and blackmail law and the regulation of employment contracts. Although written by a sitting judge, the book does not avoid controversy; it contains frank appraisals of radical feminist and race theories, the behavior of the German and British judiciaries in wartime, and the excesses of social constructionist theories of sexual behavior. Throughout, the book is unified by Posner's distinctive stance, which is pragmatist in philosophy, economic in methodology, and liberal (in the sense of John Stuart Mill's liberalism) in politics. Brilliantly written, eschewing jargon and technicalities, it will make a major contribution to the debate about the role of law in our society.

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Page Count

612

Publisher

Harvard University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0674649257

ISBN 13

9780674649255

Burdens of Proof in Modern Discourse

By: Richard H. Gaskins

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Burdens of Proof in Modern Discourse

By: Richard H. Gaskins

This legal, philosophical, and rhetorical study by Richard H. Gaskins provides the first systematic treatment of arguments-from-ignorance across a wide range of modern discourse-from constitutional law, scientific inquiry, and moral philosophy to organizational behavior, computer operation, and personal interaction.

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362

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300057164

ISBN 13

9780300057164

Environmental Accidents

Personal Injury and Public Responsibility

By: Richard H. Gaskins

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Environmental Accidents

Personal Injury and Public Responsibility

By: Richard H. Gaskins

In this sweeping indictment of law and social policy regarding accidents, Richard Gaskins charges that the United States has seriously neglected its responsibility to protect public health, safety, and welfare against the hazards of modern industrial environments. The main reason for this neglect, he claims, is the antiquated view perpetuated by the American legal system: that accidents are essentially legal disputes between private individuals. Citing the failure of our judicial system to cope with the recent surge in personal injury and "mass toxic torts," he contends that the dimensions of the accident problem could not be handled even by a perfect judicial structure. Highly publicized suits involving accidents resulting from vaccines, asbestos, Agent Orange, nuclear power, toxic wastes, defective or dangerous products, and occupational diseases dramatize the need for a better solution. The occasional million-dollar jury award simply underlines the eccentricities of the legal system, which has been aptly characterized as a form of "lottery." Unlike earlier treatments of accidents and public policy--including economic approaches to tort law, moral philosophy, and policy reform--Gaskins provides a critical overview of each position and shows how they relate to one another. He then proposes an entirely different national approach to the emerging problems of environmental accidents, based on distinct but coordinated policies for compensation and prevention. The topic of accidents must be expanded to include not just traumatic injuries but also a larger portion of illness and disability. And because these events are so deeply embedded in modern social, technological, and environmental relations, the responsibility for future accident prevention rests with more vigorous programs for public control. As we are beginning to learn from such problems as acid rain and the "greenhouse effect," a high-technology environment provides great wealth and convenience, but carries an inevitable toll in personal illness, disability, and long-term ecological problems. Environmental Accidents calls for a recognition of the common hazards encountered daily in the home, workplace, or natural surround, and offers new solutions for handling such threats to ourselves and to future generations. Author note: Richard H. Gaskins is Associate Professor in the College at the University of Chicago. He is former Dean of the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research and Director of the Law and Social Policy Program at Bryn Mawr College.

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Page Count

440

Published Date

ISBN 10

087722708X

ISBN 13

9780877227083

Book's by Richard H. Gaskins

Burdens of Proof in Modern Discourse

Burdens of Proof in Modern Discourse

Overcoming Law

Overcoming Law

Burdens of Proof in Modern Discourse

Burdens of Proof in Modern Discourse

Environmental Accidents

Environmental Accidents

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