Intention in Law and Philosophy

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Legal systems are posited on the assumption that people are rational intentional agents who can choose to follow or break the law. This book connects the common interests of lawyers and philosophers in the meaning of "intention" and its relation to responsibility in legal, moral and political contexts. Contributors include the distinguished philosophers, Frank Jackson and Philip Pettit, former Chief Justice of Australia, Sir Anthony Mason, criminologist John Braithwaite, bioethicist and neurosurgeon Grant Gillett and many of Australia's leading legal scholars. Topics covered include: the dependence of intentions on good character, ordinary and legal meanings of intention, responsibility and intention, collective intention and the gender of intention.

Author Biography: Ngaire Naffine, Professor, Law School, Adelaide University, Australia; Rosemary J Owens, Ms, Senior Lecturer in Law, Law School, Adelaide University, Australia; John Williams, Dr, Senior Lecturer in Law, Law School, Adelaide University, Australia.

SYNOPSIS

From a 1999 seminar series at the University of Adelaide contributors in various specialties of law or philosophy, most from Australia, trade views on intentionality within both professions with the goal of getting philosophers to think in practical terms and layers to give a theoretical justification to their practical legal decisions. The 16 essays cover the philosophy of intention; intention and individual responsibility regarding crimes, torts, and contracts; intention and groups and legal texts; and beyond intention to reactive fault.