ABSTRACT
The questions in this chapter concern jurists who typify certain strands of thought in contemporary American jurisprudence. Those selected are Rawls (b 1921), his pupil, Nozick (b 1938), Posner (b 1939) and Unger (b 1950). These jurists share no common platform: Rawls and Nozick have diametrically opposite views on matters such as the distribution of wealth; Dworkin seems to be a lone figure, rooted in the doctrines of no particular movement, but owing some patterns of analysis to the early Realist school; and Posner, a judge and jurist, has fashioned a theory of ‘pragmatic jurisprudence’. The representatives of the Critical Legal Studies movement, such as Unger, appear to be mavericks, restating the doctrines of the ultra-left in novel fashion.
