Category Archives: Uncategorized

Originally posted on prior probability:
(a) The Good 🙂: This is by far the most entertaining book we’ve ever read explaining the evils of communism and the hypocrisy of most intellectuals. One can choose to dismiss these “big ideas” as…

Originally posted on prior probability:
We have been exploring the most original ideas and insights contained in Ayn Rand’s cult-classic Atlas Shrugged, such as the depiction of Robin Hood as an anti-hero and the comparison between trademarks and coats of…

Originally posted on prior probability:
So much has been written about Ayn Rand’s magnum opus Atlas Shrugged that we have decided to focus on the three most original insights contained in this monumental novel. (Of course, just because an idea is…

Originally posted on prior probability:
Is Robin Hood a good guy or a bad guy? Our previous post identified three original ideas in Atlas Shrugged. One of these is Ayn Rand’s revisionist critique of Robin Hood, the legendary outlaw who…

Hello. Because this is a one-man blog, and because I will be taking a vacation for the rest of July and for most of August, I will be blogging much more sporadically, if at all, during the next few weeks. … Continue reading →

Because I teach business law, I am interrupting my series of blog posts about H.L.A. Hart’s influential theory of law to share this fascinating map (circa 2018) with the world. Hat tip: u/OttoOnTheFlippside (via Reddit). As an aside, compare the … Continue reading →

Alternative Title: Leiter’s Legal Pyramid We identified three potential problems with H.L.A. Hart’s “rule of recognition” in my previous post. In summary, Problem #1 is that Hart’s rule of recognition is not really a “rule” in any conventional sense; problem … Continue reading →

Alternative Title: Three Blind Spots with Hart’s Theory of Law We devoted our previous two blog posts to H.L.A. Hart’s influential theory of positive law. Here, I will identify three blind spots in Hart’s theory of law. The source of … Continue reading →

I introduced H.L.A. Hart’s influential theory of positive law in my previous post. Specifically, we saw that Hart famously defined “law” as the union of primary and secondary rules: the primary rules are “the rules of the game,” i.e. rules … Continue reading →

What is law, and how is law different from morality? Last week, we reviewed John Austin’s “command theory of law” (or Legal Positivism 1.0) and Hans Kelsen’s idea of a “basic norm” (Legal Positivism 2.0). This week, we will introduce … Continue reading →