Lectures

• 

  1. What Is Law?

  In our introductory lecture, Dr. Orr examines the fundamental question of what law is and what distinguishes it from mere commands. Central to the discussion is H.L.A. Hart's contrast between a masked gunman and a tax collector, which raises questions about legal authority, obligation, and the "internal point of view" within a legitimate legal system. The lecture also introduces the debate between natural law theorists, who argue that law must reflect moral principles, and legal positivists, who maintain that a law's validity is independent of its moral content, while addressing consent theory, democratic legitimacy, the coordination function of law, and anarchism.
• 

  2. The Source of Law

  In lecture two, the conflict between natural law and legal positivism is explored in greater depth by examining Sophocles' work Antigone and the tension between human-made law and higher moral law. The lecture traces natural law theory from Augustine and Aquinas to John Finnis, whose 1980 book Natural Law and Natural Rights revived the tradition by grounding it in self-evident basic goods such as life, knowledge, and friendship without requiring theological commitments. Dr. Orr contrasts this with the legal positivist tradition—represented by Hobbes, Bentham, Hart, and Raz—which holds that legal validity depends on proper enactment and enforcement rather than moral content.
• 

  3. Classical Natural Law

  In lecture three, we trace the origins of classical natural law theory through influential thinkers, examining how they argued that the principles underpinning law are discovered in nature and reason rather than created by human authority. Key themes include Plato's vision of law as embodied reason, Aristotle's distinction between natural and conventional law and his emphasis on practical wisdom, the Stoic idea of universal justice, Cicero's synthesis of Greek philosophy and Roman legal tradition, and Aquinas's integration of these ideas into a Christian theological framework. Dr. Orr also connects these classical ideas to modern concepts such as human rights, the rule of law, equity, and international law, setting the stage for the next lecture's examination of the Nuremberg trials as a test case for natural law theory.
• 

  4. Law Applied: The Nuremberg Trials

  In lecture four, the discussion begins with the Nuremberg trials as a case study of Nazi war criminals who argued they had broken no existing laws, leading to the emergence of "crimes against humanity" and international human rights frameworks such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The lecture then traces the development of the English common law tradition as a bottom-up expression of natural law reasoning, contrasting it with top-down continental codification traditions. Dr. Orr also examines contemporary applications of these philosophical tensions, including debates over abortion, capital punishment, the role of religion in natural law theory, and secular political philosophy.
• 

  5. The Emergence of Legal Positivism

  In lecture five, we study the emergence of legal positivism as a response to the decline of natural law theory, tracing how religious conflict, the rise of secular nation-states, and the Scientific Revolution weakened confidence in deriving law from universal moral principles. The lecture focuses on three key thinkers: Thomas Hobbes, who developed the concept of sovereign authority and social contract theory; John Austin, who defined law through commands, sovereignty, sanctions, and obedience; and Hans Kelsen, who advanced the pure theory of law as a hierarchical system of norms grounded in a fundamental Grundnorm, separating law from morality. The lecture concludes by introducing H.L.A. Hart's critiques of these influential theories.
• 

  6. The Hart-Fuller Debate

  In lecture six, we examine H.L.A. Hart's influential legal philosophy, focusing on his distinction between primary rules directing citizens and secondary rules governing how laws are made, applied, and changed. We explore the rule of recognition and Hart's internal point of view. Dr. Orr then analyzes the landmark 1958 Hart-Fuller debate, where Fuller proposes a procedural natural law based on eight principles for good lawmaking, while Lon Fuller argues that even Nazi law fails to satisfy law’s inner morality of procedure. These perspectives on whether Nazi laws constituted true law are considered, highlighting a debate that has shaped legal philosophy ever since.
• 

  7. Rights

  In lecture seven, the focus shifts from domestic legal systems to rights that transcend political communities, examining what rights are, their origins, and their justification. Dr. Orr explores the distinction between natural and legal rights, the relationship between rights and duties, and debates over who or what can hold rights, including children, animals, corporations, and future generations. The lecture also addresses criticisms of rights-based frameworks, including rights inflation, the difficulty of universal justification, competing rights claims, and Jeremy Bentham's argument that natural rights lack meaning without legal recognition and enforcement.
• 

  8. International Law

  In our eighth and final lecture, we examine the challenges of international law, including the absence of a global sovereign, enforcement difficulties, and tensions between international obligations and national sovereignty. We explore how thinkers such as Hart and Dworkin address international law and rights, while noting the struggles of institutions such as the International Criminal Court. Dr. Orr concludes our course by revisiting the question of what law is and emphasizing that, despite ongoing debates among natural law theorists, positivists, and others, law remains essential to human flourishing and meaningful freedom.