Laws, Plans and Practical Rationality

Diritto & questioni pubbliche, Vol. 12 (2012): 211-254

45 Pages Posted: 2 Aug 2014

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

There is, according to many contemporary jurisprudential theories, a tight relationship between law and practical rationality: the law gives us, or at least it purports to give us, reasons for action. In his book, Legality (2011), Scott J. Shapiro puts forward what at first glance appears to be a new view in this vein. Shapiro calls it the “Planning Theory” of law; it provides an account of what the law is in terms of a particular kind of reasons: plans (a notion moulded, in his work in the philosophy of action, by Michael E. Bratman). In this paper, I provide a reconstruction of the Planning Theory as a view of the relationships between law and practical rationality, and I point to some fundamental issues which, when considered in this light, the theory leaves open, or which seem to raise trouble for it.

Keywords: Scott J. Shapiro, Planning theory of law, Practical rationality and the law, Legal reasons for action, Plans, Michael E. Bratman

Suggested Citation

Celano, Bruno, Laws, Plans and Practical Rationality (2012). Diritto & questioni pubbliche, Vol. 12 (2012): 211-254, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2474802

Bruno Celano (Contact Author)

University of Palermo ( email )

Piazza Bologni, 8
Palermo, Palermo 90100
Italy

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