Promises, Morals, and Law

Oxford University Press [Published Date: 1982]. Soft cover, 218 pp. 1991 Reprint. [ From Publisher's Summary] This book attempts an analysis of the nature of promissory obligations. The subject is one which has attracted a great deal of attention among both moral and linguistic philosophers, but the book contends that much of the philosophical literature is flawed by its unreality and unfamiliarity with the serious problems that arise from the practice of promising. The book conducts a thorough survey of the various philosophical theories, injecting in the discussion many examples and illustrations drawn from law. The first part of the book examines theories of promising associated with Natural Lawyers, utilitarians, and a number of linguistic philosophers. All of these the book rejects as unsound. The last part of the book offers a theory of promissory obligation, which closely parallels theories of contractual obligation.