ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with what seems a nearly off hand remark in the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle’s association of philosophy—the remarkable, the admirable, the difficult, and the divine—with the 'useless'. It focuses on Richard Posner was misleading, mistaken, misdirected, or worse. The chapter follows that intricate move both historically and conceptually, examining claims for and beliefs about science generally, and legal science more particularly, beginning with Aristotle before moving to Sir William Blackstone and Christopher Columbus Langdell and finally to Posner, the most avid promoter of legal science. It describes the claims for legal science, whether implicit in their discussions or expressly advanced by Blackstone, Langdell, and Posner. The chapter utilizes the insights of Posner's economic theory to analyze his own judicial opinion in Carr v. Allison Gas Turbine Division. It also focuses on the economic theory of sexuality he provides in Sex and Reason.
