The Dispositional Model Expounded
In this chapter, an alternative understanding of law’s relationship with practical reasons is introduced, which is labelled the dispositional model. According to this model, the existence and operation of a reasonably just and well-functioning legal system constitutes some reasons that are neither ordinary reasons for action nor pre-emptive ones, but rather reasons to adopt an (overridable) disposition that inclines its possessor towards compliance with the system’s requirements. Following an initial description of this model (Section 1), several aspects of the model are elucidated in further detail, including the sense in which notions such as ‘attitudes’ and ‘dispositions’ are used by the model (Section 7.2); the formation and components of the law-abiding attitude that features in the model (Section 7.3); and the key distinguishing traits that set this model apart from the pre-emption thesis and the weighing model (Section 7.4).