PT110.S4.P3.Q21 > Analytics

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Philosopher Denise Meyerson views the Critical Legal Studies (CLS) movement as seeking to debunk orthodox legal theory by exposing its contradictions. ████████ ████████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ███ █████████ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ █████ ██ ████████ █████ ███████

Denise Myerson's (DM) Perspective · Criticism of Critical Legal Studies (CLS)

CLS tries to show contradictions in orthodox legal theory. But, CLS points to contradictions that don't exist.

CLS Perspective (according to DM) · Conflicting values in law make law irrational

Conflicting values means there are always multiple equally plausible answers to any legal question. And, choosing one answer over another is always irrational.

DM's response · Can rank conflicting values, so different answers are not always equal

Conflicting values may lead to multiple answers, but we can sometimes rationally choose one answer over another based on ranking of values.

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DM's additional response · Choice between equally plausible answers is not always irrational

Two answers can be equally plausible, but are both reasonable compared to a third answer.

CLS perspective (according to DM) · Legal formalism requires belief that law has moral authority

Legal formalism is the view that there's a method that can decide the correct answers to legal questions.

DM's response · Law does not need moral authority to provide unambiguous answers

Illustration: We can clearly identify the winner of game in which people try to steal the highest value item. This doesn't mean there's any moral authority in the game or the identification of the winner.

CLS's rebuttal · DM's game illustration isn't like actual legal cases

In legal cases, we have to appeal to things beyond the rules, such as the purpose of laws, and societal policies and values.

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DM's rebuttal · The game illustration is like actual legal cases

Purpose, policies, and values can be characterized as part of the rules of the game.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

21.

It can be inferred from ███ ███████ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ ███████ ████████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████ █████ ███ ████

Question Type

Implied

Other’s perspective

Recall the CLS proponents’ overall position about the law: because it’s based on conflicting values and can lead to equally valid but opposing answers, applying the law is arbitrary and irrational. They also believe that applying the law requires believing that it has moral authority and appealing to outside factors like policies and values.

It incorporates moral ██████████ ██ █████ ██ █████ ██████████ █████████ ██ █████ █████████

Anti-supported. We see here that CLS proponents believe that the law does not yield definitive solutions to legal problems.

17%

It does not ███████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████

Anti-supported. Meyerson holds this view, but CLS proponents believe that applying the law does imply approval of policies and values.

10%

It is insufficient ██ ██████ ██ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ █ █████ █████████

Supported. CLS proponents believe that applying the law is arbitrary and irrational, since the law leads to equally valid but opposing answers to legal questions. It also requires appealing to external considerations like policies and values. This implies that the law alone is not sufficient to determine the answers to legal questions.

62%

It is comparable ██ ███ ███████████ ██ █████ ██ █ █████

Anti-supported. According to the author, CLS proponents probably do not believe that applying the law is comparable to applying rules in a game.

It can be ████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ██████ ███████ ███████████ ███████

Anti-supported. Meyerson believes that we can rank conflicting values to determine the best answer to certain legal questions. But CLS proponents believe that applying the law is arbitrary and irrational because of its conflicting values.

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PrepTest 110 - Section 4 - Passage 3 - Question 21

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