Department of Philosophy, SUNY Buffalo

LAW AND ONTOLOGY

Graduate Seminar (PHI 531) FALL 1997 Monday 7-9pm. Baldy 684

Barry Smith, David Koepsell, Leonardo Zaibert

 

The course will explore the use of ontological methods in the study of law and legal objects. Topics to be treated will include:

 

1. Introduction to Ontology

2. The Ontology of Cultural Objects

3. The Ontology of Space and Spatial Artefacts

4. The Ontology of Institutions

5. The Ontology of the Civil Law

6. The Ontology of Social Facts

7. Law, Ontology and Geography

8. The Ontology of Property (Real Estate, the Doctrine of First Use)

9. The Ontology of Surveying (Boundaries and Fiat Objects)

10. The Ontology of Nations, States and Empires: Property and Sovereignty

11. The Ontology of International Law

12. The Ontology of War

13. The Ontology of Crime

14. The Ontology of Intellectual Property

15. The Ontology of Rights

 

READING:

Detailed reading lists will be supplied in due course. John Searle, The Construction of Social Reality, can serve as useful preliminary reading.