Title:
The Paradox of Self-Amendment, A Study of Logic, Law, Omnipotence, and Change.
Author:
Publisher:
Peter Lang Publishing
Date:
1990
ISBN:
ISBN:Online version:
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/psa/index.htm
Description:
(by PeterSuber)
PSA is the first (so far the only) book-length study of self-reference problems in law. It focusses on one such problem from American constitutional law, but in the discussion of it ranges widely over other problems and other jurisdictions. That one central problem is whether the amendment clause of the constitution can be used to amend itself. Alf Ross, a notable jurist and logician, argued that it cannot. I argue that it can, and show in addition that self-amendment has frequently occurred in fact. In the process of showing the permissibility of self-amendment, I discuss much of the law of the U.S. federal amending process, the theological paradox of omnipotence, the nature of paradox, legal rationality, and legal change. Nomic is Appendix 3 of the book.
I can't recommend that every avid Nomic player buy the book, for it costs $70 US. But I can recommend that they persuade their local library to do so! The book would be helpful for anyone who took a serious theoretical interest in the game or in the logic of self-amendment. I can recommend this essay-length synopsis of the main argument of the book:
Peter Suber, "The Paradox of Self-Amendment in American Constitutional Law," Stanford Literature Review, vol. 7, nos. 1-2 (Spring-Fall 1990) pp. 53-78 (available online at: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/psaessay.htm)