Joseph Raz 1939 – 2022
Joseph Raz (1939 – 2022) was an Israeli-British philosopher of the Contemporary era, associated with Analytic Philosophy.
Joseph Raz was an Israeli-British legal and moral philosopher and one of the leading legal positivists of his generation. Trained at Hebrew University and Oxford, he held the chair of philosophy of law at Balliol College, Oxford, and a long professorship at Columbia. His Authority of Law and Practical Reason and Norms developed an original positivist account of legal authority centered on the service conception of authority and the exclusionary character of legal reasons. The Morality of Freedom set out a sophisticated perfectionist liberalism in which autonomy, supported by a plurality of valuable options, is the primary good of political life. He shaped a generation of jurisprudence around the world.
Joseph Raz was born in Mandate Palestine in March 1939, the son of immigrants from Poland. He took his Magister Juris at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1963 and his DPhil at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1967 under H. L. A. Hart, with a thesis on legal systems. He taught at the Hebrew University from 1972, became a fellow of Balliol the same year, was appointed Professor of the Philosophy of Law at Oxford in 1985, and from 2002 held a research professorship at Columbia Law School and later one at King's College London.
His books include The Concept of a Legal System (1970), Practical Reason and Norms (1975), The Authority of Law (1979), The Morality of Freedom (1986), Ethics in the Public Domain (1994), Engaging Reason (1999), Value, Respect, and Attachment (2001), The Practice of Value (2003), Between Authority and Interpretation (2009), and From Normativity to Responsibility (2011).
Raz is best known for the service conception of authority, on which legitimate authority is justified by enabling its subjects to comply better with the reasons that already apply to them, and for the related doctrine of exclusionary reasons. He defended a perfectionist liberalism in which the state may promote the conditions of autonomy, argued for an objective and pluralist conception of value, and combined sources-based legal positivism with a robust account of the morality of law. He died in London in May 2022.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Israeli-British
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Analytic Philosophy
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Joseph Raz:
“The function of legitimate authority is to help us conform to right reason.”
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Attributed to Joseph Raz:
“An autonomous life is a life in which one is part-author of one's own existence.”
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Attributed to Joseph Raz:
“Reasons exclude as well as require.”
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Attributed to Joseph Raz:
“Liberalism without perfectionism leaves the goods of life unprotected.”
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Attributed to Joseph Raz:
“Rule by law is one thing; the rule of law is another.”
Joseph Raz by topic
Frequently asked about Joseph Raz
- When did Joseph Raz live?
- Joseph Raz was born in 1939 and died in 2022.
- Where was Joseph Raz from?
- Joseph Raz was an Israeli-British philosopher of the Contemporary era.
- What philosophical movements is Joseph Raz associated with?
- Joseph Raz was associated with Analytic Philosophy.
- What was Joseph Raz known for?
- Joseph Raz was an Israeli-British legal and moral philosopher and one of the leading legal positivists of his generation.
- How many quotes are attributed to Joseph Raz?
- There are 10 attributed quotations from Joseph Raz in the 1001Philosophers collection, organized by topic.
Quotes that are not actually from Joseph Raz
These lines are widely circulated as Joseph Raz, but they do not appear in Joseph Raz's works. Each entry below identifies the actual source.
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“A little nonsense now and then Is relished by the wisest men.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: This appears to be an anonymous proverb of unknown authorship, only occasionally attributed to Addison.
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“With regard to donations always expect the most from prudent people, who keep their own accounts.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: This is attributed to Addison in The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (1993) with a citation of "Economy and Benevolence" in Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, and Poetical Fragments (1794) but that was a publication of a contemporary "Mr. Addison" in several volumes, and not the p
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“Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: The earliest attributions of this remark to anyone are in 1941, to Mortimer Adler , in How To Read A Book (1940), although this actually a paraphrased shortening of a statement in his preface: Reading — as explained (and defended) in this book — is a basic tool in the living of a good life.
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“When you are at Rome, live as Romans live.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: St. Ambrose , Si fueris Romæ, Romano vivito more as translated in Latin Proverbs and Quotations (1869) by Alfred Henderson; very commonly paraphrased as "When in Rome do as the Romans do".
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“To say that authority, whether secular or religious, supplies no ground for morality is not to deny the obvious fact that it supplies a sanction.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Sir Alfred Jules Ayer , in his "The Meaning of Life", collected in The Meaning of Life, and Other Essays (1990)
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“To a man of pleasure every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivacity of amusement.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Very often attributed to Addison, this is apparently a paraphrase of a statement by Hugh Blair , published in Blair's Sermons (1815), Vol. 1, p. 219, where he mentions "men of pleasure and the men of business", and that "To the former every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivaci
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“The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Widely quoted as an Addison maxim this is actually by the American clergyman George Washington Burnap (1802-1859), published in Burnap's The Sphere and Duties of Woman : A Course of Lectures (1848), Lecture IV.
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“Justice is an unassailable fortress, built on the brow of a mountain which cannot be overthrown by the violence of torrents, nor demolished by the force of armies.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Moncure Daniel Conway , in The Sacred Anthology (Oriental) : A Book of Ethnical Scriptures 5th edition (1877), p. 386; this statement appears beneath an Arabian proverb, and Upton Sinclair later attributed it to the Qur'an , in The Cry for Justice : An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest (
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“It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: François Fénelon , in Selections from the Writings of Fenelon: With an appendix, containing a Memoir of his Life (1829) as translated by A Lady (Eliza Lee Cabot Follen) , Letter 37, p. 189.
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“He that would pass the latter part of life with honour and decency, must, when he is young, consider that he shall one day be old; and remember, when he is old, that he has once been young.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but the actual source is Samuel Johnson. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Samuel Johnson in The Rambler , no. 50 (8 September 1750); many of Johnson's remarks have been attributed to Addison
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“No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but the actual source is Samuel Johnson. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Samuel Johnson in The Rambler , no. 148 (17 August 1751)
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“That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but the actual source is Samuel Johnson. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Samuel Johnson in The Rambler , no. 148 (17 August 1751)
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“The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but the actual source is Samuel Johnson. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Samuel Johnson in The Rambler no. 148 (17 August 1751)
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“Education...is a companion which no misfortunes can depress, no clime destroy, no enemy alienate, no despotism enslave: at home a friend, abroad an introduction, in solitude a solace, in society an ornament: it chastens vice, it guides virtue, it gives at once a grace and government to genius. Without it, what is man? A splendid slave, a reasoning savage.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Though sometimes attributed to Addison, this actually comes from a speech delivered by the Irish lawyer Charles Phillips in 1817, in the case of O'Mullan v. M'Korkill, published in Irish Eloquence: The Speeches of the Celebrated Irish Orators (1834) pp. 91-92.
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“They were a people so primitive they did not know how to get money, except by working for it.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Attributed to Addison in (K)new Words: Redefine Your Communication (2005), by Gloria Pierre, p. 120, there are no indications of such a statement in Addison's writings.
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“Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: A translation of one of La Rochefoucauld 's maxims, published posthumously in 1693. In the original: " Force gens veulent être dévots, mais personne ne veut être humble.
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“The beloved of the Almighty are: the rich who have the humility of the poor, and the poor who have the magnanimity of the rich.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but the actual source is Saadi as translated. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Saadi as translated in The Gulistān : Or, Rose-garden, of Shek̲h̲ Muslihu'd-dīn Sādī of Shīrāz as translated by Edward Backhouse Eastwick (1880), p. 203
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“The utmost extent of man's knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: These words, sometimes attributed to Addison, are not found in his works, but in The Spectator , no. 54, he translates the following words of Socrates , as quoted in Plato 's Apology : "When I left him, I reasoned thus with myself: I am wiser than this man, for neither of us appears to know anything
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“The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise, are good nature, truth, good sense, and good breeding.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: William Temple , in "Heads Designed for an Essay on Conversation" in The Works of Sir William Temple, Bart. in Four Volumes (1757), Vol. III, p. 547
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“The union of the Word and the Mind produces that mystery which is called Life... Learn deeply of the Mind and its mystery, for therein lies the secret of immortality.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: The Life and Teachings of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus ", in The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928) by the Canadian occultist Manly Hall ; a few quotation websites credit this to Addison.