Playing by the Rules: A Philosophical Examination of Rule-Based Decision-Making in Law and in Life

by Frederick Schauer

Rules are a central component of such diverse enterprises as law, morality, language, games, religion, etiquette, and family governance, but there is often confusion about what a rule is, and what rules do. Offering a comprehensive philosophical analysis of these questions, this book
challenges much of the existing legal, jurisprudential, and philosophical literature, by seeing a significant role for rules, an equally significant role for their stricter operation, and making the case for rules as devices for the allocation of power among decision-makers.

Genres: Law

272 pages, Hardcover

First published August 22, 1991

About the author

Frederick Franklin Schauer was an American legal scholar who served as David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. He was also the Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He was well known for his work on American constitutional law, free speech, and on legal reasoning, especially the nature and value of legal formalism.