The Debate that Never Was

28 Pages Posted: 24 May 2017

See all articles by Nicos Stavropoulos

Nicos Stavropoulos

University of Oxford - Faculty of Law

Date Written: May 22, 2017

Abstract

The "Hart-Dworkin" debate, which is widely understood to have dominated jurisprudence since the late 1960s, is a philosophical fiction. Hart only responded to Dworkin's work in his Postscript to the Concept of Law (posthumously published in 1994), and although Dworkin wrote a rejoinder at the time, it had remained to this day unpublished. (It is now forthcoming in 130 Harvard Law Review.)

What has really dominated the field is a debate between Dworkin and his critics. The critics have resisted Dworkin’s assertion that morality plays a fundamental role in the explanation of legal rights and obligations. It is, however, doubtful that the role of morality that the critics have been denying is the one that Dworkin asserted.

Keywords: Jurisprudence, Legal Theory, Legal Philosophy, Grounds of Law, Dworkin, Hart

Suggested Citation

Stavropoulos, Nicos, The Debate that Never Was (May 22, 2017). Harvard Law Review, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2972256 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2972256

Nicos Stavropoulos (Contact Author)

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