•  134
    Acts Owing to Ignorance
    Analysis 27 (1). 1966.
    Criticism of H.L.A. Hart's account of how the movements of a person during the performance of an act that is done by mistake or owing to ignorance are not uncontrolled or involuntary. movements.
  •  66
    Ignorantia Juris: A plea for justice
    Ethics 78 (1): 32-42. 1967.
    The author contends that none of the rationales for not allowing ignorance of the law as an excuse in criminal law cases is persuasive. The paper begins by analyzing the condition under which "reasonable" ignorance of the law ought to be allowed as an excuse. Second, the author indicates in greater detail the sense in which 'justice' requires that we recognize these conditions. Third, the author critically examines the arguments used by legal theorists for disregarding the claims of justice t…Read more
  •  61
    This is a review of Laurence Houlgate's "Family and State: the Philosophy of Family Law. It takes a look at the moral theory from which Houlgate begins and raises questions about is correctness and appropriateness, but it finds more to agree with with respect to his middle-level principles. It considers his definition of "family" in the context of contemporary political controversy over such definitions. It looks at his consequentialist justification for the family, agrees with it, and suggests …Read more
  •  57
    Virtue is Knowledge
    The Monist 54 (1): 142-153. 1970.
    I. Although there has been considerable recent dispute as to what Socrates meant by saying that Virtue is Knowledge, if the claim is, as it is sometimes taken to be, that knowledge of the essential nature of virtue is sufficient for virtuous behavior, then it is only necessary to point out what seem to be quite obvious counter in stances. The fact of moral weakness, coupled with what large numbers of scientists and lawyers and plain men now believe about the capacity of human beings for self-con…Read more
  •  54
    The object of this article is to clarify the relationship between morality and family law in a variety of legal situations. This will give the reader a better grasp of the kind of case to be included in the traditionalist claim that the idea of legal intervention in the family is a coherent notion. Once this is sorted, we will be in a position to discuss and clarify the radical thesis that "the personal is political."
  •  48
    The paradigm‐case argument and 'possible doubt'1
    Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 5 (1-4): 318-324. 1962.
    This article is primarily a defense of the Paradigm Case Argument (PCA). It is secondarily a comment on a recent controversy over the validity of its use in philosophy. I argue that the controversy rests on a misinterpretation. By extending the analysis of the objections (and here I invoke Descartes' famous method of possible doubt) I show that the occurrence of a paradigm and the fact that a concept is normally used to describe that paradigm logically entails not that the paradigm is instantiat…Read more
  •  45
    Causation, recipes and theory
    Theoria 29 (3): 265-276. 1963.
    A critical discussion of the "recipe" theory of causation, as proposed by Douglas Gasking. The author also proposes his own theory of the ordinary meaning of statements of the form "A causes B."
  •  43
    Mistake in performance
    Mind 75 (298): 257-261. 1966.
    This paper is an analysis of the concept "Mistake in Performance," a phrase first coined by Miss Elizabeth Anscombe in her monograph On Intention. The author shows that examples of a mistake in performance are nothing but cases of ordinary mistakes of judgment. The only difference between the two is that in cases of mistake in performance the agent acts on the basis of an erroneous judgment, that is, he fails to do what he intended to do.
  •  35
    Malcolm on mind and the human form
    Mind 77 (308): 584-587. 1968.
    This paper is a critique of Norman Malcolm's claim that things that do not have the human form (e.g. trees, tables, computers) cannot' understand' or 'think' because they cannot point at, reach for, go to, look at, fetch or get something.
  •  33
    Excuses and the criminal law
    Southern Journal of Philosophy 13 (2): 187-195. 1975.
    The purpose of the paper is to discover a rationale for the practice of attaching excuses to criminal responsibility. I do this by criticizing the theory of h l a hart that we adopt this practice largely because it gives persons more power to predict and determine their liability to punishment than would a system of "strict" liability. I extract from my criticisms of hart the alternative theory that we adopt the institution of excuses because it insures that persons do not assume burdens beyond …Read more
  •  31
    The status of children in a liberal society (review)
    Law and Philosophy 15 (4): 431-436. 1996.
  •  22
    Knowledge and Responsibility
    American Philosophical Quarterly 5 (2). 1968.
    This author (1) offers an analysis of the familiar type of excuse that Aristotle categorized as "acts owing to ignorance." (2) exhibits the conditions under which ignorance of fact either fails or succeeds in absolving an agent of responsibility, and (3) shows how these considerations can be used to illuminate the nature of the mental element in responsibility.
  •  21
    Review: The Status of Children in a Liberal Society (review)
    Law and Philosophy 15 (4). 1996.
  •  15
    The Child & the State: A Normative Theory of Juvenile Rights
    Johns Hopkins University Press. 1980.
    This book begins with an overview of the current legal status of children under U.S. federal and state law, It includes an analysis of relevant Supreme Court decisions and an extended critique of the philosophical arguments for treating children differently from adults under the law. Sections in the book include discussions of the need for a theory of juvenile rights, the moral arguments that prop up such theories, Professor Houlgate's proposal for a theory, and a final discussion of the appli…Read more
  •  14
    This book is a unique introduction to the philosophy of law that repairs an enormous gap in the philosophy of law -- a lack of philosophical attention to family law. (In fact, PhilPapers does not recognize the philosophy of family law as a category.) This book uses only cases drawn from family law to illustrate the traditional problems of legal philosophy. This is why I wrote this book as a textbook rather than as a monograph. My hope is that students will learn more about the problems of l…Read more
  •  13
    Excuses and the Criminal Law
    Southern Journal of Philosophy 13 (2): 187-195. 2010.
  • Rights, Health, and Mental Disease
    Wayne Law Review 22 (67): 87-95. 1975.
    Laurence Houlgate's critique of Shuman's "The Right to be Unhealthy" appearing at page 81 of the same issue of the Wayne Law Review.
  • Child Abuse and Neglect
    with Laurence D. Houlgate
    In Laurence D. Houlgate (ed.), Philosophy, Law and the Family: A New Introduction to the Philosophy of Law, Springer Nature. 2017.
  • Three Concepts of Children's Constitutional Rights: Reflections on the Enjoyment Theory
    University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 2 (1): 77-94. 1999.
    In its long history of rulings on the constitutional rights of children, the U.S. Supreme has struggled with a dilemma: either regard children as persons with fundamental rights that the state must respect, or regard them as human beings who are always in some form of custody. This paper describes and critically discusses three solutions to this dilemma. Only the third solution -- "the enjoyment or rights-in-trust theory" -- solves the problem.
  • Mistake in Performance
    Mind: A Quarterly Review of Psychology and Philosophy 298. 1966.
    A critique of Elizabeth Anscombe's distinction between mistake in performance and mistake of judgement, as it appears in her monograph Intention.
  • The Platonic Minos and the Classical Theory of Natural Law
    with Ronald F. Hathaway
    American Journal of Jurisprudence 14 105-124. 1969.
    The Minos is one of thirty-five dialogues that ancient editors and commentators regarded as one of the authentic works of Plato. Although it is now regarded as spurious, in both the classical and modern eras, the Minos was treated as a suitable problematic introduction to Plato's Laws. The co-authors (Houlgate and Hathaway) believe that it is still an excellent introduction to the Laws. It has philosophical significance whether or not it is authentic. It is the philosophical significance tha…Read more