Intention in Law and Philosophy

by Ngaire Naffine (Editor), Rosemary J. Owens, John Matthew Williams

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 the dependence of intentions on good character, ordinary and legal meanings of intention, responsibility and intention, collective intention and the gender of intention. Author 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.

377 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2002