Jurisprudence - HASO3
Title: Jurisprudence
Guaranteed by: International Office (22-ZO)
Faculty: Faculty of Law
Actual: from 2024
Semester: winter
Points: 0
E-Credits: 5
Examination process: winter s.:
Hours per week, examination: winter s.:1/0, Ex [HT]
4EU+: no
Virtual mobility / capacity: no
Key competences: 4EU+ Flagship 2
State of the course: taught
Language: English
Teaching methods: full-time
Level:  
Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan
enabled for web enrollment
Guarantor: Mgr. Petr Agha, LL.M., Ph.D.
Teacher(s): Mgr. Petr Agha, LL.M., Ph.D.
Examination dates   WS schedule   Noticeboard   
Annotation -
The aim of the course is to enhance students' understanding of law by placing it in its theoretical, philosophical and sociological contexts.
Last update: Marešová Svatava, Ing. (19.10.2022)
Requisites for virtual mobility

None

Last update: Kohout David, JUDr., Ph.D. (30.06.2022)
Syllabus -

Week 1: Carl Schmitt and the Theory of the State of Exception

  • Topics:
    • Carl Schmitt's critique of liberalism and democracy.
    • Sovereignty and the state of exception.
    • Schmitt’s influence on modern political and legal theory.
  • Why Controversial?
    • Schmitt's  critique of liberal democracy.
  • Readings:
    • Carl Schmitt, Political Theology (Chapters 1-3).
    • Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political.

Week 2: Michel Foucault and the Law as a Tool of Power

  • Topics:
    • Law as a mechanism of power and control.
    • Foucault’s analysis of institutions (prisons, hospitals, schools) and biopolitics.
    • Discipline, surveillance, and legal authority.
  • Why Controversial?
    • Foucault’s rejection of conventional notions of law as neutral or protective; his radical critique of state power.
  • Readings:
    • Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish (Part 1).
    • Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended (Lectures on Biopolitics).

Week 3: Friedrich Nietzsche and the Critique of Morality and Law

  • Topics:
    • Nietzsche’s attack on moral foundations of law.
    • Law, power, and the will to power.
    • The role of law in constructing values and societal norms.
  • Why Controversial?
    • Nietzsche’s radical rethinking of law’s relationship to morality, rejecting traditional moral frameworks.
  • Readings:
    • Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality (First and Second Treatise).
    • Selected aphorisms from Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.

Week 4: Robert Nozick and Libertarianism

  • Topics:
    • Libertarian critiques of the welfare state.
    • Nozick’s defense of individual rights, private property, and minimal government.
    • The entitlement theory of justice.
  • Why Controversial?
    • Nozick’s rejection of redistribution and social welfare; his vision of a minimal state is highly debated.
  • Readings:
    • Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (Chapters 1-4).

Week 5: Catharine A. MacKinnon and Radical Feminism

  • Topics:
    • Law as a tool of patriarchy.
    • MacKinnon’s critique of legal liberalism and the relationship between sexuality and power.
    • The legal framework’s complicity in gendered oppression.
  • Why Controversial?
    • MacKinnon’s uncompromising critique of traditional legal approaches to gender, sex, and power.
  • Readings:
    • Catharine A. MacKinnon, Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (Selected Chapters).
    • Catharine A. MacKinnon, Sexual Harassment of Working Women (Introduction).

Week 6: Giorgio Agamben and the Concept of Bare Life

  • Topics:
    • Sovereignty and the reduction of life to "bare life."
    • The legal state of exception and modern biopolitics.
    • Agamben’s critique of contemporary politics and the rule of law.
  • Why Controversial?
    • Agamben’s radical rethinking of the legal concept of sovereignty and his focus on the exclusionary nature of law.
  • Readings:
    • Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life (Introduction and Chapter 1).
    • Giorgio Agamben, State of Exception (Selected chapters).

Week 7: Slavoj Žižek and Ideology in Law

  • Topics:
    • Law, ideology, and psychoanalysis.
    • Žižek’s critique of liberal legalism and democracy.
    • Law’s role in sustaining capitalist structures.
  • Why Controversial?
    • Žižek’s provocative critiques of democracy, law, and ideology challenge mainstream liberal and legalist perspectives.
  • Readings:
    • Slavoj Žižek, The Sublime Object of Ideology (Chapters 1-2).
    • Slavoj Žižek, Welcome to the Desert of the Real (Selected chapters).

Week 8: Ayn Rand and the Virtue of Selfishness

  • Topics:
    • Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism and the moral defense of capitalism.
    • Individual rights, laissez-faire capitalism, and the critique of state intervention.
    • The concept of “rational self-interest” in law and politics.
  • Why Controversial?
    • Rand’s aggressive defense of individualism and capitalism, rejecting altruism and government welfare, has sparked significant debate.
  • Readings:
    • Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness (Selected essays).
    • Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (Selected passages).

Week 9: Leo Strauss and the Critique of Modernity

  • Topics:
    • Strauss’s critique of modern liberal democracy and moral relativism.
    • The tension between natural right and history.
    • Strauss’s influence on conservative legal and political theory.
  • Why Controversial?
    • Strauss’s rejection of Enlightenment ideals, advocacy for elitism, and his influence on neoconservative thought.
  • Readings:
    • Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History (Selected Chapters).
    • Leo Strauss, On Tyranny (Selected essays).

Week 10: Judith Butler and the Law of Gender Performativity

  • Topics:
    • The performative nature of gender and its legal implications.
    • Law’s role in constructing and policing gender norms.
    • Butler’s critique of identity categories and the possibilities for subversion.
  • Why Controversial?
    • Butler’s challenge to fixed categories of sex and gender has been both celebrated and heavily critiqued, particularly in legal and feminist theory.
  • Readings:
    • Judith Butler, Gender Trouble (Selected chapters).
    • Judith Butler, Bodies That Matter (Introduction)

Course Goals / Learning Outcomes:


On completion of the course, students will demonstrate an ability to state, analyse and evaluate the following:

· basic relations between law, justice and rights
· theories of natural law and human rights
· theories of legal system and legal order 
· basic approaches in the sociology of law

In addition, students will demonstrate an ability to

· think and argue about legal concepts, topics and issues
· demonstrate skills of selecting relevant ideas, balancing and evaluating them
· present concepts and arguments both orally and in written form coherently and effectively

 

Final Examination:

Essay or oral examination

Means of communication:

MS Teams

Last update: Marešová Svatava, Ing. (09.09.2024)