From Socrates to the Supreme Court

Kenneth Glazer practiced law for more than three decades before studying and teaching philosophy at the University of Maryland. He is the author of numerous legal publications. He is also the author of Searching for Oedipus: How I Found Meaning in an Ancient Masterpiece (2018).

• Part 1: Foundations 1. “The Wisest Man in Athens”: Socrates and His Method 2. Runaway Trolleys and Veils of Ignorance: An Introduction to Moral and Political Philosophy and Their Relationship to the Law 3. Courts, Cases, and the Constitution: An Overview of the American Legal System Part 2: Knowledge, Reasoning, and Belief 4. Even a Broken Watch Is Right Twice a Day: Knowledge, Justification, and Evidence 5. The Dog That Didn’t Bark: Types of Inferential Reasoning 6. What Did Oedipus Know and When Did He Know it? Beliefs, Desires and Intentions Part 3: Language, Meaning, and Context 7. “This Meeting Is Adjourned”: Speech Acts in Philosophy and Law 8. Is a Hot Dog a “Sandwich”? Is Pluto a “Planet”? Indeterminacy in Language and Law 9. “The King of France is Bald”: Meaning and Context Part 4: Causation, Luck, Free Will, and Identity 10. Pinholes in a Poisoned Canteen: Causation in Philosophy and Law 11. Skulls As Thin as Eggshells: Luck and Consequences 12. Cannibalism and Conscious Cannonballs: Luck and Conduct 13. The Ship of Theseus: The Puzzle of Identity

“What a brilliant idea to teach law to philosophers and philosophy to lawyers and both to those innocent of but interested in both, via a text, that uses one to illuminate the other. Here are philosophy’s biggest hits, Gettier’s problem, Gricean implicature, Russel’s theory of descriptions, Hume’s Fork, the ship of Theseus, reasoning by abduction, referential opacity, and speech acts side-by-side with doctrines of mens rea, proximate causation, and hearsay, and legal cases raising questions such as whether the collapse of the twin towers constituted one or two accidents for insurance purposes. It works so beautifully because there are few philosophical problems that don’t show up in legal guise, and few cases that don’t raise interesting philosophical issues. I know of no other book that has done what this one does.” – Leo Katz, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and author of Bad Acts and Guilty Minds“The theme of Kenneth Glazer’s book From Socrates to the Supreme Court is that ‘Law and philosophy are inextricably linked… a greater understanding of the one leads to a greater understanding of the other.’ (253). Glazer does a wonderful job developing this theme. His book goes back and forth between insights and puzzles posed by philosophical discussions and actual cases in the law that use the insights or get stuck in a way the puzzles illuminate. An undergraduate course based on Glazer’s book would appeal to philosophy majors considering law as a next step in their lives, and to students already headed towards the law who are fascinated by philosophy. But it’s not just a textbook. Glazer is a gifted writer and the back and forth makes for great reading. As a philosopher, I did learn a lot about the law -- and also a fair amount about philosophy, for that matter. It would make a great book for adult reading groups, and a great gift for a lawyer who doesn’t appreciate philosophy -- or perhaps even for a Supreme Court Justice who doesn’t seem to appreciate logic.” – John Perry, Stanford University