The American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy (ASPLP) is a

learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an discipline (academia), academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and s ...

founded in 1955 by political theorist Carl Friedrich. Its aim is to bring together scholars in political science, law, and philosophy who are interested in interdisciplinary exploration of a range of problems in political and legal philosophy. The ASPLP's main activities are to hold an annual conference, on a topic chosen in advance by the membership, and to publish the papers, along with formal commentary and invited additional essays, in ''Nomos'', its yearbook. As Friedrich explained in the Preface t
''Authority''
the first yearbook: "We are calling the series NOMOS, which is the broadest Greek term for law, because in this term there are also traditionally comprised the notions of a basic political order and of customs and a way of life." He continued: "It describes reasonably well, and perhaps better than any term of modern English, what must be the focus of a society such as ours, uniting the several social sciences, law, and philosophy." That commitment to interdisciplinary normative inquiry has characterized the ASPLP and the ''Nomos'' series ever since. ''Nomos'', published by

New York University Press New York University Press (or NYU Press) is a university press that is part of New York University. History NYU Press was founded in 1916 by the then chancellor of NYU, Elmer Ellsworth Brown. Directors * Arthur Huntington Nason, 1916–1932 ...

from 1977 through the present, has included work by some of the leading political and legal theorists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, from a wide range of

ideological An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied prim ...

and

methodological In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

perspectives, including

Danielle Allen Danielle Susan Allen (born November 3, 1971) is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. She is also the Director of the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics. Prior to joining the faculty at Harvard in 2015, Allen ...

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. Arendt was born ...

Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...

Jon Elster Jon Elster (; born 22 February 1940, Oslo) is a Norwegian philosopher and political theorist who holds the Robert K. Merton professorship of Social Science at Columbia University. He received his PhD in social science from the École Normale Supe ...

Richard Epstein Richard Allen Epstein (born April 17, 1943) is an American legal scholar known for his writings on torts, contracts, property rights, law and economics, classical liberalism, and libertarianism. He is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at ...

Lon Fuller Lon Luvois Fuller (June 15, 1902 – April 8, 1978) was an American legal philosopher, who criticized legal positivism and defended a secular and procedural form of natural law theory. Fuller was a professor of Law at Harvard University for many ...

Jean Hampton Jean Elizabeth Hampton (June 1, 1954 – April 2, 1996) was an American political philosopher, author of ''Hobbes and the Social Contract Tradition'', ''Political Philosophy'', ''The Authority of Reason'', ''The Intrinsic Worth of Persons'' and, ...

Catharine MacKinnon Catharine Alice MacKinnon (born October 7, 1946) is an American radical feminist legal scholar, activist, and author. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she has been tenured since 1990, a ...

, Frank I. Michelman,

Robert Nozick Robert Nozick (; November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American philosopher. He held the Joseph Pellegrino University Professorship at Harvard University,

Martha Nussbaum Martha Craven Nussbaum (; born May 6, 1947) is an American philosopher and the current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, where she is jointly appointed in the law school and the philosoph ...

Richard Posner Richard Allen Posner (; born January 11, 1939) is an American jurist and legal scholar who served as a federal appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1981 to 2017. A senior lecturer at the University of Chica ...

John Rawls John Bordley Rawls (; February 21, 1921 – November 24, 2002) was an American moral, legal and political philosopher in the liberal tradition. Rawls received both the Schock Prize for Logic and Philosophy and the National Humanities Medal in 1 ...

Nancy L. Rosenblum Nancy Lipton Rosenblum (born November 10, 1947) is an American political scientist and political philosopher. She is the Senator Joseph S. Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government at Harvard University and co- editor of the '' Annual ...

Judith Shklar Judith Nisse Shklar (September 24, 1928 – September 17, 1992) was a philosopher and political theorist who studied the history of political thought, notably that of the Enlightenment period. She was appointed the John Cowles Professor of Govern ...

Cass Sunstein Cass Robert Sunstein (born September 21, 1954) is an American legal scholar known for his studies of constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, law and behavioral economics. He is also ''The New York Times'' best-selling author of ...

Jeremy Waldron Jeremy Waldron (; born 13 October 1953) is a New Zealand professor of law and philosophy. He holds a University Professorship at the New York University School of Law, is affiliated with the New York University Department of Philosophy, and was f ...

Michael Walzer Michael Laban Walzer (born 1935) is an American political theorist and public intellectual. A professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey, he is editor emeritus of ''Dissent'', an intellectual magazine ...

Sheldon Wolin Sheldon Sanford Wolin (; August 4, 1922 – October 21, 2015) was an American political theorist and writer on contemporary politics. A political theorist for fifty years, Wolin became Professor of Politics, Emeritus, at Princeton University, whe ...

, and

Iris Marion Young Iris Marion Young (2 January 1949 – 1 August 2006) was an American political theorist and socialist feminist who focused on the nature of justice and social difference. She served as Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago an ...

. The series was edited by Friedrich for volumes I-VIII, coedited by J. Roland Pennock and John Chapman for volumes IX-XXXI, and edited by Chapman alone for XXXI-XXXV. Since then, series editors have included

Ian Shapiro Ian Shapiro (born September 29, 1956) is a Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University. He served as the Henry R. Luce Director of the MacMillan Center at Yale University from 2004 to 2019. He is known primarily for interventions i ...

, Stephen Macedo, Melissa Williams,

Sanford Levinson Sanford Victor Levinson (born June 17, 1941) is an American legal scholar known for his writings on constitutional law. A professor at the University of Texas Law School, Levinson is notable for his criticism of the United States Constitution as ...

James E. Fleming James E. Fleming is an American legal scholar who serves as the Paul J. Liacos Professor of Law at the Boston University School of Law. He is a scholar in standard constitutional theory and constitutional interpretation, with special attention to ...

, and Jack Knight. In recent years, the series has been edited by

Melissa Schwartzberg Melissa Schwartzberg (born 1975) is an American political scientist. She is the Silver Professor of Politics at New York University, and is affiliated with its Department of Classics and School of Law. She studies democratic theory, constitutio ...

and, beginning in 2020, Eric Beerbohm.

Presidents

The presidency of the ASPLP rotates among the three disciplines of political science, law, and philosophy, with vice-presidents always representing the other two. The Presidents have been: *

Carl J. Friedrich Carl Joachim Friedrich (; ; June 5, 1901 – September 19, 1984) was a German-American professor and political theorist. He taught alternately at Harvard and Heidelberg until his retirement in 1971. His writings on state and constitutional theory ...

*Charles M. Hendel *

Lon L. Fuller Lon Luvois Fuller (June 15, 1902 – April 8, 1978) was an American legal philosopher, who criticized legal positivism and defended a secular and procedural form of natural law theory. Fuller was a professor of Law at Harvard University for many ...

*Frederick Watkins * Richard B. Brandt *

Jerome Hall Jerome Hall (February 4, 1901 – March 2, 1992) was an American legal scholar and academic. He is best known for his pioneering work in interdisciplinary legal analysis. Through his work with the United States Department of State, he offered adv ...

*J. Roland Pennock *

*Graham Hughes *

*John Ladd *

Paul A. Freund Paul Abraham Freund (February 16, 1908February 5, 1992) was an American jurist and law professor. He taught most of his life at Harvard Law School and is known for his writings on the United States Constitution and the Supreme Court of the United ...

* Judith N. Shklar *

Alan Gewirth Alan Gewirth (November 28, 1912 – May 9, 2004) was an American philosopher, a professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago, and author of ''Reason and Morality'' (1978), ''Human Rights: Essays on Justification and Applications'' (198 ...

Louis Henkin Louis Henkin (November 11, 1917 – October 14, 2010), widely considered one of the most influential contemporary scholars of international law and the foreign policy of the United States, who was "often credited with creating the field of human ...

Dennis Frank Thompson Dennis Frank Thompson (born 12 May 1940, in Hamilton, Ohio) is a political science, political scientist and professor at Harvard University, where he founded the university-wide Center for Ethics and the Professions (now the Edmond J. Safra Center ...

Joel Feinberg Joel Feinberg (October 19, 1926 in Detroit, Michigan – March 29, 2004 in Tucson, Arizona) was an American political and legal philosopher. He is known for his work in the fields of ethics, action theory, philosophy of law, and political phil ...

* Kent Greenawalt *

Frank Michelman Frank Isaac Michelman (born May 26, 1936) is an American legal scholar and the Robert Walmsley University Professor Emeritus at Harvard Law School. Early life In 1960, Michelman was graduated from Harvard Law School. He clerked for Justice W ...

Amy Gutmann Amy Gutmann (born November 19, 1949) is an American academic and diplomat who is the United States Ambassador to Germany. She was the eighth List of presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, president of the University of Pennsylvania. In No ...

Will Kymlicka William Kymlicka (; born 1962) is a Canadian political philosopher best known for his work on multiculturalism and animal ethics. He is currently Professor of Philosophy and Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy at Queen's University ...

Donald L. Horowitz Donald L. Horowitz (born 1939) is James B. Duke Professor of Law and Political Science at Duke Law School and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, United States. He earned his PhD from Harvard University in 1968 and also holds degrees from ...

Debra Satz Debra Satz is an American philosophy, American philosopher and the Vernon R. & Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. She is the Marta Sutton Weeks Professor of Ethics in Society, Professor o ...

* Stephen Macedo

Publications

The ASPLP holds an interdisciplinary conference every year, including papers by scholars from political science, philosophy, and law, on a topic chosen by the membership. It publishes those papers, along with formal commentary and invited additional essays, in ''NOMOS'', its yearbook. The volumes in the ''NOMOS'' series, and their publishers, have been: *I. Authority,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

, 1958 *II. Community The Liberal Arts Press, 1959 *III. Responsibility, The Liberal Arts Press, 1960 *IV. Liberty, Atherton Press, 1962 *V. The Public Interest, Atherton Press, 1962 *VI. Justice, Atherton Press, 1963 *VII. Rational Decision, Atherton Press, 1964 *VIII. Revolution, Atherton Press, 1966 *IX. Equality, Atherton Press, 1967 *X. Representation, Atherton Press, 1968 *XI. Voluntary Associations, Atherton Press, 1969 *XII. Political and Legal Obligation, Atherton Press, 1970 *XIII. Privacy, Atherton Press, 1971 *XIV. Coercion, Aldine-Atherton Press, 1972 *XV. The Limits of Law, Lieber-Atherton Press, 1974 *XVI. Participation in Politics, Lieber-Atherton Press, 1975 *XVII. Human Nature in Politics,

, 1977 *XVIII. Due Process, New York University Press, 1977 *XIX. Anarchism, New York University Press, 1978 *XX. Constitutionalism, New York University Press, 1979 *XXI. Compromise in Ethics, Law, and Politics, New York University Press, 1979 *XXII. Property, New York University Press, 1980 *XXIII. Human Rights, New York University Press, 1981 *XXIV. Ethics, Economics, and the Law, New York University Press, 1982 *XXV. Liberal Democracy, New York University Press, 1983 *XXVI. Marxism, New York University Press, 1983 *XXVII. Criminal Justice, New York University Press, 1985 *XXVIII. Justification, New York University Press, 1985 *XXIX. Authority Revisited, New York University Press, 1987 *XXX. Religion, Morality, and the Law, New York University Press, 1988 *XXXI. Markets and Justice, New York University Press, 1989 *XXXII. Majorities and Minorities, New York University Press, 1990 *XXXIII. Compensatory Justice, New York University Press, 1991 *XXXIV. Virtue, New York University Press, 1992 *XXXV. Democratic Community. New York University Press, 1993 *XXXVI. The Rule of Law, New York University Press, 1994 *XXXVII. Theory and Practice, New York University Press, 1995 *XXXVIII. Political Order, New York University Press, 1996 *XXXIX. Ethnicity and Group Rights, New York University Press, 1997 *XL. Integrity and Conscience, New York University Press, 1998 *XLI. Global Justice, New York University Press, 1999 *XLII. Designing Democratic Institutions, New York University Press, 2000 *XLIII. Moral and Political Education, New York University Press, 2001 *XLIV. Child, Family, and State, New York University Press, 2002 *XLV. Secession and Self-Determination, New York University Press, 2003 *XLVI. Political Exclusion and Domination, New York University Press, 2004 *XLVII. Humanitarian Intervention, New York University Press, 2005 *XLVIII. Toleration and Its Limits, New York University Press, 2008 *XLIX. Moral Universalism and Pluralism, New York University Press, 2008 *L. Getting to the Rule of Law, New York University Press, 2011 *LI. Transitional Justice, New York University Press, 2012 *LII. Evolution and Morality, New York University Press, 2012 *LIII. Passions and Emotions, New York University Press, 2012 *LIV. Loyalty, New York University Press, 2013 *LV. Federalism and Subsidiarity, New York University Press, 2014 *LVI. American Conservatism, New York University Press, 2016 *LVII. Immigration, Emigration, and Migration, New York University Press, 2017 *LVIII. Wealth, New York University Press, 2017 *LVIX. Compromise, New York University Press, 2018 *LX. Privatization, New York University Press, 2019 *LXI. Political Legitimacy, New York University Press, 2019 *LXII. Protest and Dissent, New York University Press, 2020 forthcoming from New York University Press: *LXIII. Democratic Failure, 2020 *LXIV. Truth and Evidence, 2021 The volumes from 1977 (''NOMOS'' XVII) to 2017 (''NOMOS'' LVIII) are available on JSTOR.JSTOR
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References

External links

* merican Society for Political and Legal Philosophy, https://political-theory.org/ {{Authority control Philosophical societies in the United States Philosophy of law