JUR 2500 – Epistemology of Law

This course covers positivist and critical epistemology, as well as the relationship between positivism and law. It explores Gaston Bachelard's historical epistemology and Michel Foucault's genealogical matrix, analyzing the concepts of law, knowledge, and power. The course also examines Jürgen Habermas's critical theory, the relationship between law, morality, and politics, and the connection between epistemology and hermeneutics, with a focus on reason and modernity.

JUR 2502 – Theory of the Constitution

This course examines the concept and types of constitutions, constituent power, and constitutional reform. It covers the constitutionalist movement and liberalism, focusing on the first constitutions of England, the United States, and France, as well as the Brazilian imperial constitution of 1824 and the 1891 constitution's establishment of the Republic and Federation. The course also analyzes contemporary constitutions and state intervention in the economic and social order, with a look at Brazilian and North American jurisprudence on the matter, as well as socialist constitutions. It explores assembly government and the constitutional regime that stems from it, the supremacy of the constitution, judicial review of legal norms, constitutional mutation, and the relationship between jurisdiction and normative creativity. The course also discusses the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances, the problem of the delegation of powers, legality and legitimacy, the state, civil society, and intermediate institutions. It concludes by addressing current issues in constitutional law, including the interpretation and analysis of the constitution with practical examples.

JUR 2503 – Legal Theory

This course examines the 19th-century English tradition, focusing on the beginning of analytical theory with Jeremy Bentham's theory of law structure and John Austin's delimited theory of law. It then delves into American legal realism, including its antecedents in judicialism (Oliver Holmes Jr. and Benjamin Cardozo) and sociological jurisprudence (Roscoe Pound), as well as American realists like Karl Llewellyn and Jerome Frank. The course concludes with a study of 20th-century legal theory, covering Hans Kelsen's normativism, the realism of Alf Ross and Olivecrona, and H.L.A. Hart's reinvigorated analytical theory.

JUR 2507 – Methodology and Dissertation Seminar

This seminar focuses on the history of legal education and research methodology as applied to law. It includes jurisprudence research in Superior Courts, and a study of law and method, induction, deduction, and analogy. Students will also learn to prepare and present a model research project.

JUR 2512 – Modern Political Theory

This course treats modern political theory as a constitutive part of the paradigm of modernity. It explores its central categories, the natural law model, and contractarian theories, as well as the concepts of determinism and liberty.