39602 - Foundations of Legal Reasoning

Learning outcomes

Students will be introduced to a) the main kinds of arguments, their logical structure (schemes of inference) and their use in various cognitive situations; the fundamentals of rhetoric, in particular of the theory of argumentation; c) a collection of arguments which can be used in constructing a persuasive discourse, and c) their application to legal argumentation.

Course contents

The course will be organized around the following themes: 1) Rhetoric and Logic; 2) Law and Truth; 3) Law and Logic; 4) Law and Rhetoric; 5) Kinds of arguments. The organization is flexible. The arguments to be treated can vary according to the students' interests and the teacher's planning. They are likely to include: proof and argumentation; the philosophical problem of truth: objectivism and relativism; truth and truth-likeness; perception and reality; cognitive errors; deduction, induction, abduction; the method of hypothesis; the rhetorical system; ethos, pathos, logos; rhetoric and dialectic; the concept of evidente; intrinsic and extrinsic evidence; the trial: law, rhetoric and epistemology; real truth and legal truth; forensic oratory; argumenst and fallacies.

Readings/Bibliography

1

1) A. TRAVERSI, La difesa penale. Tecniche argomentative e oratorie, Giuffrè, Milano, 2014.

2) G. CAROFIGLIO, L'arte del dubbio, Sellerio, Palermo 2007.

3) A. ARTOSI, Ragionamento giuridico, in AAVV, Argomenti di teoria del diritto, Giappichelli, Torino, 2016.

The student will also read one of the following books:

4a) A. SCHOPENHAUER, L'arte di ottenere ragione, Adelphi, Milano, 1991

4b) M.T. CICERONE, L'arte di comunicare, Oscar Mondadori, Milano, 2007.

 

Teaching methods

The course is structured in frontal lectures (24 lectures of 2 hours, in all 48 hours). Each lecture will consiste in a presentation of a topic followed by an "open" discussion with the students in order to promote the students' involvement as well as to sharpen the students' critical abilities.

Assessment methods

There will be an oral final exam consisting in a discussion of three arguments, one of which chosen by the student and the other two chosen by the teacher, the aim being both to ascertain the knowledge acquired by the student and to evaluate the degree of the student's "response" to the course learning objecitves, in particular as regards the students' critical abilities..

Teaching tools

Philosoophic and/or literary texts provided by the teacher as a basis for discussion and aimed to stimulate students's interest and participation.

Office hours

See the website of Alberto Artosi