Books by Mario Ricciardi
Nel suo lavoro più importante, The Concept of Law (1961), H.L.A. Hart difende la tesi che ci sare... more Nel suo lavoro più importante, The Concept of Law (1961), H.L.A. Hart difende la tesi che ci sarebbe un “contenuto minimo di diritto naturale” ovvero che tutti i sistemi giuridici delle società che hanno raggiunto almeno un certo livello di complessità organizzativa conterrebbero regole dal contenuto simile, la cui funzione sarebbe quella di rispondere ad alcuni problemi della convivenza tra esseri umani. Tra gli esempi di questo contenuto minimo di diritto naturale Hart menziona la promessa. Negli anni settanta la tesi di Hart fu attaccata dai coniugi Korn (lui un filosofo, lei un’antropologa) che scrissero un articolo, pubblicato su Ethics, che pretendeva di refutare la tesi di Hart sulla base di un contro esempio: l’arcipelago di Tonga, dove, a detta dei Korn, gli abitanti ignorano la promessa. In questo saggio Mario Ricciardi ripercorre gli argomenti dei Korn e mostra che essi sono basati su gravi fraintendimenti della natura della promessa. La conclusione cui giunge è che anche a Tonga si promette, ma che la promessa è un’istituzione molto più complessa di quel che si potrebbe pensare.
According to John Austin, “status” is “the most difficult problem in the whole science of jurispr... more According to John Austin, “status” is “the most difficult problem in the whole science of jurisprudence”, traditional definitions of such concept as “a quality” were dismissed by the British legal philosopher as a paradigmatic instance of the “jargon of occult qualities” which Bentham deplored. Austin’s attitude towards the concept of status is the natural outcome of his conception of conceptual analysis as a kind of intellectual dissection whose aim is to bring to light the ultimate building blocks of legal thought. Austin’s “decompositive” analysis is still the dominant mode of conceptual elucidation among analytic legal philosophers. The aim of this book is to put forward an alternative “connective” model of conceptual clarification, which takes seriously the historical dimension of legal thought and culture. Through the analysis of ancient (Seneca) and modern (Pufendorf) texts, two different understanding of status are isolated and described: (i) status as condition, or mode of being; and status as position. In this way the concept of status is placed in its proper context, and explained as a device that is part of a sophisticated intellectual strategy to cope with the problem of giving an account of legal relations among agents in an institutional setting, and hence as an attempt to represent a central aspect of the ontology of the social world
Books Edited by Mario Ricciardi
This is a companion to the philosophy of law written in Italian.
This collection of new essays on political and legal theory concentrates on themes dealt with in ... more This collection of new essays on political and legal theory concentrates on themes dealt with in the work of Felix Oppenheim, including fundamental political and legal concepts and their implications for the scope of morality in politics and international relations. Among the issues addressed are the relationship between empirical and normative definitions of 'freedom', 'power' and 'interests', whether governments are free to act against the national interest, and whether they can ever be morally obliged to do so.
Papers by Mario Ricciardi
IRIS, May 13, 2009
In recent years we have witnessed a renewed interest in the work of the Neapolitan jurist and phi... more In recent years we have witnessed a renewed interest in the work of the Neapolitan jurist and philosopher Gaetano Filangieri (1752-1788): the studies that appeared in the 1980s and 1990s1 were followed by monographs by Vincenzo Ferrone2 and by Francesco Berti and, then, by the collected essays edited by Antonio Trampus. This rich harvest of studies is, moreover, not fortuitous, and gravitates around the useful initiative, promoted and directed by Vincenzo Ferrone, of launching a philologically reliable and annotated edition of The ...
According to John Austin, “status” is “the most difficult problem in the whole science of jurispr... more According to John Austin, “status” is “the most difficult problem in the whole science of jurisprudence”, traditional definitions of such concept as “a quality” were dismissed by the British legal philosopher as a paradigmatic instance of the “jargon of occult qualities” which Bentham deplored.
Austin’s attitude towards the concept of status is the natural outcome of his conception of conceptual analysis as a kind of intellectual dissection whose aim is to bring to light the ultimate building blocks of legal thought. Austin’s “decompositive” analysis is still the dominant mode of conceptual elucidation among analytic legal philosophers. The aim of this paper is to put forward an alternative “connective” model of conceptual clarification, which takes seriously the historical dimension of legal thought and culture. Through the analysis of ancient (Seneca) and modern (Pufendorf) texts, two different understanding of status are isolated and described: (i) status as condition, or mode of being; and status as position. In this way the concept of status is placed in its proper context, and explained as a device that is part of a sophisticated intellectual strategy to cope with the problem of giving an account of legal relations among agents in an institutional setting, and hence as an attempt to represent a central aspect of the ontology of the social world.
This was written shortly after Jerry Cohen died. A revised version has been published in Mondoper... more This was written shortly after Jerry Cohen died. A revised version has been published in Mondoperaio, a socialist monthly review.
Originally presented at the conference Ethics, Biology and the Representation of Human Behaviour,... more Originally presented at the conference Ethics, Biology and the Representation of Human Behaviour, Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici, Venice, 14-15 December 2001 and at the Colloque, La Personne – Corps, Esprit, Valeurs, Université de Genève, 27-29 Mai 2002. In slightly different form this paper was also presented at a seminar held at Trinity College, Oxford – 6th March 2002, and given as a Public Lecture arranged with the support of the Belfast Branch of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, School of Philosophical Studies, Queen’s University, Belfast, Thursday 7th March 2002. Although I no longer hold most of the views expressed in it, I have posted it here because it is a remote ancestor of my book on Hart.
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Books by Mario Ricciardi
Books Edited by Mario Ricciardi
Papers by Mario Ricciardi
Austin’s attitude towards the concept of status is the natural outcome of his conception of conceptual analysis as a kind of intellectual dissection whose aim is to bring to light the ultimate building blocks of legal thought. Austin’s “decompositive” analysis is still the dominant mode of conceptual elucidation among analytic legal philosophers. The aim of this paper is to put forward an alternative “connective” model of conceptual clarification, which takes seriously the historical dimension of legal thought and culture. Through the analysis of ancient (Seneca) and modern (Pufendorf) texts, two different understanding of status are isolated and described: (i) status as condition, or mode of being; and status as position. In this way the concept of status is placed in its proper context, and explained as a device that is part of a sophisticated intellectual strategy to cope with the problem of giving an account of legal relations among agents in an institutional setting, and hence as an attempt to represent a central aspect of the ontology of the social world.
Austin’s attitude towards the concept of status is the natural outcome of his conception of conceptual analysis as a kind of intellectual dissection whose aim is to bring to light the ultimate building blocks of legal thought. Austin’s “decompositive” analysis is still the dominant mode of conceptual elucidation among analytic legal philosophers. The aim of this paper is to put forward an alternative “connective” model of conceptual clarification, which takes seriously the historical dimension of legal thought and culture. Through the analysis of ancient (Seneca) and modern (Pufendorf) texts, two different understanding of status are isolated and described: (i) status as condition, or mode of being; and status as position. In this way the concept of status is placed in its proper context, and explained as a device that is part of a sophisticated intellectual strategy to cope with the problem of giving an account of legal relations among agents in an institutional setting, and hence as an attempt to represent a central aspect of the ontology of the social world.
the current debate on political morality in Italy. One might object, however, to Pellegrino’s description of his own
normative stance as distinct from political realism.