14 April 2015

BOOK: Amaya on the Nature of Coherence and its Role in Legal Argument


Recently legal scholarship has been heavily influenced by coherence theories of law and adjudication. These theories significantly advance the case for coherentism in law, yet a number of problems remain. This ambitious new work is the first to develop a coherence-based theory of legal reasoning, and in so doing address, or at least mitigate, these problems. The book is organised in three parts. Part one critically analyses the main coherentist approaches to both normative and factual reasoning in law. Part two investigates coherence theory in a number of fields that are relevant to law: coherence theories of epistemic justification, coherentist approaches to belief revision and theory-choice, coherence theories of practical and moral reasoning and coherence-based approaches to discourse interpretation. Taking this interdisciplinary analysis as a starting point, part three develops a coherence-based model of legal reasoning, building upon the standard theory of legal reasoning, leading to a reconsideration of some of the basic assumptions that characterise this theory and suggesting some lines along which it may be further developed. Thus, the book not only improves upon the current state of coherence theory in law, but also helps to articulate a theory of legal reasoning that results in better decision-making.

THE AUTHOR
Amalia Amaya is a Researcher in the Institute of Philosophical Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

BOOK DETAILS
March 2015   9781849460705  560pp   Hbk   RSP: £75 / US$150
Discount Price: £60 / US$120

If you would like to place an order for the book you can do so through the Hart Publishing website (link below). To receive the discount please type the reference ‘CV7’ in the voucher code field and click ‘apply’

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