Authors: Beyleveld, Deryck; Bos, Gerhard

Source: King's Law Journal, Volume 20, Number 1, February 2009 , pp. 1-20(20)

Publisher: Hart Publishing

Abstract:

The legal idealism associated with the 'Sheffield School' rests on Gewirth's argument for the dialectical necessity of the 'PGC,' in which an interim derivation is the dialectically necessity for agents to claim the 'generic rights' for themselves. Andrew Chitty has recently contended that this interim derivation is essentially deliberator-relative on prudential grounds, which prevents it being dialectically necessary for agents to grant the generic rights to others. In response, we argue that agents need only consider that they have the generic rights on prudential grounds because it is dialectically necessary for them to reason instrumentally. The epistemological priority of logical/analytic considerations over prudential ones renders it dialectically necessary for agents to grant the generic rights to others independently of any prudential considerations though not of deliberator-relative ones. We also briefly examine and qualify Chitty's analysis of the implications for legal idealism of alternative dialectically contingent arguments for the PGC.

Keywords: LEGAL IDEALISM; SHEFFIELD SCHOOL; PGC; PRINCIPLE OF INSTRUMENTAL REASON; GEWIRTH

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2009-02-01

More about this publication?

• Until 2007 the King's Law Journal was known as the King's College Law Journal. It was established in 1990 as a legal periodical publishing scholarly and authoritative Articles, Notes and Reports on legal issues of current importance to both academic research and legal practice. It has a national and international readership, and publishes refereed contributions from authors across the United Kingdom, from continental Europe and further afield (particularly Commonwealth countries and USA). The journal includes a Reviews section containing critical notices of recently published books.
• Editorial Board
• Information for Authors
• Subscribe to this Title
• Information for Advertisers
• Contents
• Sample Paper
• Email alerts (Hart books and journals)
• ingentaconnect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites

Related content

• In this: publication
• By this: publisher
• In this Subject: Law ,  Political Science ,  Social Science (General)
• By this author: Beyleveld, Deryck ;  Bos, Gerhard

Website © Publishing Technology. Article copyright remains with the publisher, society or author(s) as specified within the article.

• Terms and conditions
• Privacy policy
• Information for advertisers