Jurisprudence for a Free Society:Studies in Law, Science and Policy (New Haven Studies in International Law and World Public Order) [Hardcover]

Harold Lasswell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 26, 1992 | ISBN-10: 0792309898 | ISBN-13: 978-0792309895 | Edition: 1

The pioneering work of Lasswell and McDougal on law and policy is already legendary. Most of the work produced by these scholars, together and in collaboration with their students, represent applications of their basic theory to a wide assortment of international and national legal and policy problems. This work brings together their legal philosophy. In Part 1 the authors develop their fundamental criteria for a theory about law, including the requirements of clarifying observational standpoint, focus of inquiry and the pertinent intellectual tasks incumbent on the scholar and decision-maker for determining and achieving common interests. Trends in theories about law, including natural law, the historical school, positivism, the sociological study of law, American legal realism and other contemporary theories, are explored for what they might contribute to the achievement to the authors' conception of an adequate jurisprudence. In Part 2, the social process as a whole and the particular value-institutional processes that comprise it, are described and analyzed. because people establish, maintain and change institutions, the dynamics of personality and personality's relation to law is delineated. Part 3 explores the intellectual tasks of policy thinking, from clarification of values, through description of trend, the scientific examination of conditions, projection of future developments and the invention of alternatives. Part 4 examines the structure of decision in a free society, a society in which the achievement of human dignity is confirmed in both word and deed. Six appendices bring together monographs by the auhotrs over a period of 40 years which deal, in more detail, with particular matters treated in the body of the book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1612 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (March 26, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792309898
• ISBN-13: 978-0792309895
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.8 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,974,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is definitely not for beginners., June 5, 1998

By 

Suzanne([e-mail] or [e-mail]) (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jurisprudence for a Free Society:Studies in Law, Science and Policy (New Haven Studies in International Law and World Public Order) (Hardcover)

I would save some money and order the paperback edition which comes in two volumes at around eighty dollars. It is an excellent breakdown of how to approach social/legal problems by using various intellectual tasks. The volumes start with a brief background on earlier juriprudential schools of thought that the Lasswell and McDougal Jurisprudence grew out of and then goes on to discuss how one must take stock of one's subjectivity when studying any problem; how one must clarify the object of one's observations; how onw must look at the larger context of how any problem fits into its social contexts; what are the current trends in decision-making regarding the problem; and what might be some future projections on how to solve the problem. The authors teach the core questions that any problem-solver must explore: who are the players involved? what are their various perspectives? is there a constitutive order within which these players operate? what are the! ! ir bases of power? For further explanation of the complex theories put forth in these volumes look for literature by Winston Nagan, Richard Falk, Richard Schwartz, and Anthony Kronman.