Logic, Argumentation and Law
Prof. Giovanni SARTOR and Prof. Scott BREWER (Harvard)
7 – 9 December 2011, Sala del Capitolo (Badia) or Cappella
Administrative Assistant: Rosanna Lewis
3 credits
Seminar Description
The seminar aims at introducing the use of logic in analysing legal contents and legal arguments. It includes the basics of propositional and predicate logic as well as the the use of logic for capturing deontic and hohfeldian modalities. It further addresses some aspects of non-deductive reasoning in law, such as defeasible reasoning, argumentation schemes, analogy, cases-based reasoning and inference to the best explanation. Due to the short duration of the seminar not all mentioned aspects will be treated to a full extent, but we shall try to provide participants with a fairly accurate view of how logic can help us in understanding legal contents and analysing legal reasoning and argumentation.
Preliminary Programme
Day One: Introduction to logic, the tools of the trade
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Introduction: Logical models of legal arguments: Arguments and inferences, deductive and presumptive steps
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Basic predicate logic: introduction to propositional logic (propositional connectives and truth table) and predicate logic (predicates, variables and quantification), discussion of their differences
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Modelling legal rules in predicate logic: from natural language to formal representations
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Limits of propositional logics and of predicate logic. What else do we need for modelling legal rules and arguments?
Day Two: Legal logic beyond standard logic
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Deontic modalities and the logic of Hohfeldian concepts
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Defeasibility and argumentation in (legal) argument: argument schemes for the law
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Analogy and case-based reasoning (connect to tradition of casuistry)
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Inference to the best explanation
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Conclusion: Logic and legal epistemology, the role of logic in critical legal cognition.
For further information on the course content and background reading for this seminar, please visit the Law and Logic WordPress blog .