Devoir de Philosophie

Austin, John

Publié le 22/02/2012

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Although written in the early nineteenth century, Austin's is probably the most coherent and sustained account of the theory of legal positivism. The complex relationships between legal positivism and the concepts of morality and politics are explored by him but are often neglected or misunderstood in modern commentaries. John Austin became in 1829 the first Professor of Jurisprudence at the newly established University of London, having previously spent a brief spell in the army, followed by a somewhat longer period of work in barristers' chambers as an equity draftsman. In preparation to take up his chair, he spent two years studying in Bonn, acquainting himself with classical Romano-German legal science. A neighbour of James Mill and Jeremy Bentham, he was much of their intellectual circle, and had John Stuart Mill as a student. His main work was a systematic explanation of some basic social concepts in terms which have been received as the classical statement of 'legal positivism', according to which law is dependent on the will of superior(s) over inferior(s) (see Legal positivism §2). Austin wanted all lawyers to commence their studies with the cognitive sciences, logic and ethics. Politics and the study of law were seen by him as subcategories of ethics. More than half of his introductory series of lectures was given over to an exposition of the principle of utility - seen either as the index to the laws of God, or as the rational basis of ethics.

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