Legal Facts and Reasons for Action: Between Deflationary and Robust Conceptions of Law’s Reason-Giving Capacity

This chapter considers whether legal requirements can constitute reasons for action independently of the merits of the requirement at hand. While jurisprudential opinion on this question is far from uniform, sceptical views are becoming increasingly dominant. Such views typically contend that, while the law can be indicative of pre-existing reasons, or can trigger pre-existing reasons into operation, it cannot constitute new reasons. This chapter offers support to a somewhat less sceptical position, according to which the fact that a legal requirement has been issued can be a reason for action, yet one that is underpinned by bedrock values which law is apt to serve. Notions discussed here include a value-based conception of reasons as facts ; a distinction between complete and incomplete reasons ; and David Enoch’s idea of triggering reason-giving. Following a discussion of criticism against the view adopted here, the chapter concludes by considering some more ‘robust’ conceptions of law’s reason-giving capacity

The observatory for responsible research and innovation in ICT: identifying problems and sharing good practice

The implementation of responsible research and innovation (RRI) with the aim of ensuring socially acceptable and desirable outcomes of research and innovation activities requires coordinated action by numerous actors. RRI may be conceptualised as a network of interlinking responsibilities, some of which have long been established, others that will have to be defined. Actors in these networks of responsibilities will require knowledge about possible activities, normative foundations and good practice that they currently are unlikely to possess. In order to provide a platform for the exchange of knowledge and good practice that different actors can use, the UK EPSRC-funded project on a Framework for Responsible Research and Innovation in ICT is developing an Observatory meant to be a community-based resource that can provide the resources required by stakeholders of ICT research. This chapter describes the way the system is devel-oped and tested. In reflecting upon the development process of the observatory, the chapter provides insights into how the broader discourse on responsible inno-vation could benefit from this type of resource

Looking for the Nature of Law: On Shapiro's Challenge

This essay focuses on the methodological aspects jurisprudential work in contemporary legal philosophy. In particulare, a rencent contribution of Scott Shapiro on the matter is critically discussed and an original approach to the nature of jurisprudential inquiry is put forward