The Status of Classical Natural Law: Plato and the Parochialism of Modern Theory

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Heinze
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Modern Theory ◽  
Critical Theories ◽  
Modern Thought ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
Justice Theories

The concept of modernity has long been central to legal theory. It is an intrinsically temporal concept, expressly or implicitly defined in contrast to pre-modernity. Legal theorists sometimes draw comparisons between, on the one hand, various post-Renaissance positivist, liberal, realist or critical theories, and, on the other hand, the classical natural law or justice theories of antiquity or the middle ages, including such figures as Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine or Aquinas. Many theorists, however, while acknowledging superficial differences among the various classical theories, fail to appreciate the variety and complexity of pre-modern thought. Unduly simplifying pre-modern understandings of law, they end up drawing false distinctions between modern and pre-modern legal theory. The pre-modern example considered in this article is Plato. Unlike scholars within the Humanities, who have continued to revise their approaches to pre-modern thought (often reflecting changes in ethical or political thought today), legal theorists, including many who claim to challenge much of traditional positivism, have scarcely moved beyond traditional positivists’ ahistorical and reductionist views.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian D. Liddy
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Urban Citizenship ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Middle Ages

This chapter underlines the deep continuities in urban political thought between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. It emphasizes the status of English towns as relatively autonomous, self-governing entities, and places them within a continental urban landscape. While debate about citizenship was persistent, it was at its most intense between the later fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The reasons lay primarily in the changed economic conditions of English towns. Civic elites tried to redefine citizenship. However, citizens spoke back, and they did so aggressively. Town officials helped to provoke the very antagonism that they feared. Urban citizenship remained the battleground of town politics at the end of the Middle Ages, and beyond.

Privacy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Olsen
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Economic Welfare ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Theories ◽  
The Status ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Critical Legal Theory

The distinction between private and public is both central to much legal and political thought and subject to serious challenge on philosophical, practical and political grounds by critics of the status quo. Privacy – the state of being withdrawn from the world, free from public attention, interference or intrusion – is a cherished social value that is being offered ever more protection. Increasingly, laws require people to respect the privacy of others: privacy is recognized as a fundamental right in international documents and national constitutions, and recent customs and social norms forbid intrusions that were once accepted. The concept of privacy is also widely abused: it has been used to justify private racial discrimination and state neglect of domestic violence, as well as social abdication of general economic welfare through laissez-faire policies and the so-called privatization of social services. Critique of the public–private distinction is an important part of many critical theories, especially feminism and critical legal theory. These critics object that the public–private distinction is exaggerated, manipulable or incoherent.

Political World

1990 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-153
Author(s):  
Brian Langille
Keyword(s):  
Ludwig Wittgenstein ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political World ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Status ◽  
Critical Legal Theory ◽  
The One

It is not transparently obvious why legal theorists are increasingly attracted to the ideas and methods of Ludwig Wittgenstein. After all, Wittgenstein’s writings are notoriously difficult and he said almost nothing, and certainly nothing sustained, about law. And why would self-proclaimed legal theorists be attracted to someone who was quite explicitly hostile to “theory”, who viewed philosophy as a sort of therapy, and who said, famously, “philosophy leaves everything as it is”? But a still more interesting question is, why has Wittgenstein received such curious and conflicting treatment at the hands of the critical legal theorists? On the one hand critical legal theory celebrates Wittgenstein’s work as a key to the dismantling of traditional jurisprudence, but on the other hand critical scholars bemoan his alleged debilitating endorsement of the status quo. It is this last question upon which this essay is focussed.

scholarly journals THE ANCIENT CONSTITUTION AND THE LANGUAGES OF POLITICAL THOUGHT

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARK GOLDIE
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Norman Conquest ◽  
Civic Humanism ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
The Status ◽  
Ancient Constitution ◽  
European Thought

AbstractHistorians of political thought speak of ‘languages’ of politics. A language provides a lexicon, an available resource for legitimating positions. It is looser than a ‘theory’, because protean, and not predictive of particular doctrines. Some languages attract considerable scholarly attention, while others languish, for all that they were ambient in past cultures. In recent scholarship on early modern European thought, natural law and civic humanism have dominated. Yet prescriptive appeals to national historiographies were equally pervasive. Many European cultures appealed to Tacitean mythologies of a Gothic ur-constitution. The Anglophone variant dwelt on putative Saxon freedoms, the status of the Norman ‘Conquest’, whether feudalism ruptured the Gothic inheritance, and how common law related to ‘reason’, natural law, and divine law. Whigs rooted parliaments in the Saxonwitenagemot; though, by the eighteenth century, ‘modern’ Whigs discerned liberty as the fruit of recent socio-economic change. Levellers and Chartists alike talked of liberation from the ‘Norman Yoke’. These themes were explored from the 1940s onwards under the stimulus of Herbert Butterfield; one result was J. G. A. Pocock's classicAncient constitution and the feudal law(1957).

GREENLAND INDEPENDENCE – A VOICE IN THE DISCUSSION

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (XIX) ◽  
pp. 233-255
Author(s):  
Dariusz Rozmus
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Foreign Capital ◽  
Foreign Workers ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Complete Independence ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One ◽  
The Eu

The pursuit of independence is deeply rooted in the soul of the inhabitants of Greenland. The difference in the approach to this problem amounts to the establishment of the time and the conditions on the basis of which Greenland is supposed to become independent. The island, which is the greatest island in the world, has huge deposits of minerals, including metals of rare-earth metals and uranium. On the one hand, complete independence may be an opportunity for the development for the inhabitants but on the other hand, independence may also become a source of numerous dangers. Is Greenland, a country with a slight native population, able to cope – in terms of organisation and the available staff – with the expansion of foreign capital, including the great numbers of foreign workers who are engaged in the development of industrial infrastructure? Is it not better to continue the status quo – a relationship (even a loose one) with Denmark, and thus a relationship with the European Union? A close relationship with the EU and the NATO may, in the future, be consistent with the interests of Greenlanders. In the remote and in the most recent past, Greenland was colonised by the peoples of the Far North (paleo-Eskimo and Eskimo peoples) and Scandinavians. Both Scandinavians – in the early Middle Ages – and subsequently the Inuit populated abandoned lands, lands which belonged to no one. To put it explicitly, no one stole land from anyone. Therefore it is important that in the discussion about the problem of independence which continues between Greenlanders and Danes one should not place historical problems as questions which render dialogue difficult.

scholarly journals On the Connection between Legal Understanding and Politics and Economics

Lex Russica ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 80-88
Author(s):  
A. R. Gilmullin
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Driving Mechanism ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
Legal Understanding

The paper is devoted to the fundamental issues of modern legal regulation, in particular, its grounds and limits. The author substantiates the position according to which the absence of certain essential imperatives of law that help direct and restrict the functioning of public authorities and other subjects, complicates the activities of the latter, concedes its inconsistency and spontaneity, creates conditions for the perception of law as a kind of "designer" of economic, political and other relations. According to the author, the lack of unified conceptual criteria in determining the essence of law leads to an imbalance in public relations, to their turbulence at all levels (national, international, etc.) and as a result has a detrimental effect on the life and security of a person, society and the state.The author notes that at the present stage of civilization development, it is the economy with its interests and principles that acts as the "nerve", as the main driving mechanism in recognizing the status of the subject state. From the author’s point of view, economic interests and relations today form the world agenda, set the tone for political and legal relations, and often directly correct the value bases of other social regulators.The author summarizes that in general, the current situation in the international legal space, associated with the lack of a generally recognized doctrine of legal understanding alongside the variability and inconsistency of views in the field of human rights and freedoms based on the natural law approach, allows some subjects to arbitrarily interpret and impose certain decisions and positions in the course of their political activities, based on their own resources and potential. This supports law usurpation, making it an instrument of manipulation and blackmail in the field of politics, economics, culture, ecology, etc. in order to create the most profitable conditions and obtaining the expected results.Thus, the natural law approach, on the one hand, needs to be rethought, transformed, on the other hand, it needs to be refined or analyzed in detail when building an original concept of legal understanding.

The Endless Dialectic of Legal Thought

Dialogue ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 815-820
Author(s):  
Theodore M. Benditt
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Legal Philosophy ◽  
Outstanding Problem ◽  
Legal Thought ◽  
The One

Norm and Nature: The Movements of Legal Thought, by Roger Shiner, is an intricate book with the perhaps surprising thesis that the outstanding problem in legal philosophy, the conflict between positivism and natural law, is irresolvable. The controversy is doomed to a never-ending cycle because “sophisticated positivism follows from positivism's difficulties with simple positivism … anti-positivism follows from sophisticated positivism's difficulties with simple positivism; [and] simple positivism follows from positivism's difficulties with anti-positivism” (p. 281). For legal theory, then, an understanding of law is simply an understanding of why legal theory is thus “condemned to endless dialectic” (p. 324). And the reason is found in the nature of law itself and the perennial tension between, on the one hand, certainty and procedure and, on the other, flexibility and substance.

scholarly journals The Body Politic Metaphor in Communal and Post-Communal Italy – Some Remarks on the Case of Lombardy

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-21
Author(s):  
Andrea Gamberini
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
State Formation ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
The One

Abstract This paper uses the body politic metaphor to explore the dialectic of power between different political players in communal and post-communal Lombardy. On the one hand, notions of corporeal links, drawing upon an ancient and venerable tradition, were key strands of public debate on state formation in the Late Middle Ages. On the other hand, there were distinctively communal and post-communal discourses based upon the body politic metaphor. My purpose is to investigate all of these aspects through analysis of the so-called “pragmatic writings” (such as letters, decrees, notarial deeds), sources usually overlooked by historians of political thought. As is shown in this paper, the novelty of this approach makes it possible to appreciate corporeal metaphors as performative tools and instruments of political action.

Das Ende der Postdemokratie, den Pessimismus überwinden.

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (188) ◽  
pp. 487-494
Author(s):  
Daniel Mullis
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
The Other ◽  
Economic Decline ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Windows Of Opportunity ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
The One

In recent years, political and social conditions have changed dramatically. Many analyses help to capture these dynamics. However, they produce political pessimism: on the one hand there is the image of regression and on the other, a direct link is made between socio-economic decline and the rise of the far-right. To counter these aspects, this article argues that current political events are to be understood less as ‘regression’ but rather as a moment of movement and the return of deep political struggles. Referring to Jacques Ranciere’s political thought, the current conditions can be captured as the ‘end of post-democracy’. This approach changes the perspective on current social dynamics in a productive way. It allows for an emphasis on movement and the recognition of the windows of opportunity for emancipatory struggles.

The Validity of Rector�s Circular Letter on the Covid-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fradhana Putra Disantara
Keyword(s):  
Legal Theory ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
State Universities ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Circular Letter ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Government

This study aims to analyze the relevance of the �health emergency� status to the existing legal theory and condition as well as to identify the validity of the Circular Letter of the Rector of State Universities. To this end, this study applied the statute and conceptual approach. The study was conducted by inventorying primary and secondary legal materials to obtain a proper and critical review of the legal issues under study. The results showed that the determination of the �health emergency� status by the government was inappropriate due to the uncertainty of the regulations issued by the government to determine the current condition. Thus, the status of the COVID-19 pandemic is a �legal emergency� status. Further, the Rector�s policy through the Circular Letter is valid judicially, sociologically, and philosophically. The determination of the �legal emergency� status can be done by issuing a Perppu without a �state of emergency� from the President. Finally, it is suggested to firstly get an approval from the Ministry of Education and Culture regarding the issuance of the Rector�s Circular Letter. Besides, further study is needed as this study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic.�Keabsahan Surat Edaran Rektor Perguruan Tinggi dalam Pandemi Covid-19Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisa relevansi status �darurat kesehatan� dengan teori hukum dan kondisi yang ada dan keabsahan atas Surat Edaran Rektor Perguruan Tinggi Negeri. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah statute approach dan conseptual approach. Penelitian dilakukan dengan menginventarisasi bahan hukum primer dan sekunder, guna mendapatkan kajian yang seyogianya dan telaah kritis terkait isu hukum. Hasil penelitian menyatakan penetapan status darurat kesehatan oleh pemerintah kurang tepat, dikarenakan tidak menentu-nya peraturan yang dikeluarkan oleh pemerintah untuk menetapkan kondisi saat ini. Sehingga, status pandemi COVID-19 merupakan status darurat hukum. Kebijakan rektor melalui Surat Edaran adalah absah secara aspek yuridis, sosiologis, dan filosofis. Penetapan darurat hukum cukup dilakukan dengan menerbitkan Perppu tanpa pernyataan darurat dari Presiden. Saran peneliti adalah di perlukan persetujuan pada Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan terkait terbitnya Surat Edaran Rektor, dan dibutuhkan penelitian lebih lanjut dikarenakan penelitian ini dilakukan pada masa COVID-19 yang bersifat temporal.�

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