Luhmann’s ›Other‹ Book on Law: Observations on the Reception of Niklas Luhmann’s A Sociological Theory of Law

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Hanna

AbstractEven though Niklas Luhmann’s general sociology of law has made a substantial impact upon socio-legal scholarship in the Anglophone world in recent years, his first book on the subject to be translated into English has received relatively little attention. The paper presents this as something of an anomaly by highlighting both the relative accessibility of the book and the way in which it has proved foundational for systems theoretical accounts of law in world society. In tracing the book's reception in both Britain and North America, the paper identifies the general problems of timing and communication the book faced. But it also considers whether the relatively humanist undertones of the book's focus on the development of law from the interaction of individuals proves unsettling to the now relatively more accepted concept of law as autopoiesis. The paper concludes, however, that it is this which should recommend the book to a contemporary audience, as offering a more nuanced understanding of Luhmann’s sociology of law and the potential contained therein.

1873 ◽  
Vol 10 (111) ◽  
pp. 385-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Sterry Hunt

It is proposed in the following pages to give a concise account of the progress of investigation of the lower Palæozoic rocks during the last forty years. The subject may naturally be divided into three parts: 1. The history of Silurian and Upper Cambrian in Great Britain from 1831 to 1854; 2. That of the still more ancient Palæozoic rocks in Scandinavia, Bohemia, and Great Britain up to the present time, including the recognition by Barrande of the so-called primordial Palæozoic; fauna; 3. The history of the lower Palæozoic rocks of North America.


1994 ◽  
Vol 165 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Shepherd

During several recent international meetings on classification, there have been frequent references to national systems of classification developed and used in Europe, North America and many other countries. The UK has been notably absent from this list. As Professor Kendell, in his brief historical survey of the subject, points out: “British psychiatry does not have, and indeed never has had, any important diagnostic concepts of its own in the way that French, American, and Scandinavian psychiatry still do” (Kendell, 1985).


2006 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 456-457
Author(s):  
Reeta Chowdhari Tremblay

Does Civil Society Matter? Governance in Contemporary India, Rajesh Tandon and Ranjita Mohanty, eds., New Delhi: Thousand Oaks, London: Sage Publications, 2003, pp. 363.In the last decade in North America, there has been an explosion of books on the subject of civil society. Like so many other concepts in contemporary political science, the notion of civil society has been imported to analyze other polities outside the North American hemisphere, and India is no exception. However, Tandon and Mohanty's edited book presents a fresh perspective by combining academic analysis with that of on-the-ground practitioners to examine the relationship between civil society and governance. The book is divided into two parts: the first deals with the theoretical conceptualization of civil society and the second with actual case studies.


2005 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark W Bufton ◽  
Joseph Melling

The growth of statutory compensation for industrial injuries and illness has attracted considerable attention from historians of state welfare and students of organized labour in both Europe and North America. The rights of legal redress for disease and accidents in the workplace have become the subject of some debate among historians of occupational health and safety, most particularly in regard to asbestos-related illnesses. Among the most detailed and scholarly accounts of the subject in Britain are those by Peter Bartrip and his collaborators. In contrast to many accounts in labour and medical history which express strong empathy with the plight of workers who faced injury and death in the workplace, Bartrip adopts a model of industrial behaviour which is closer to rational-choice assumptions of mainstream economics. His recent account of government regulation of occupational diseases since the nineteenth century offers limited comment on the attitudes of trade unionists to accidents, though he broadly maintains that British unions have historically been more concerned with winning compensation awards than pressing for the prevention of hazards in the industrial workplace.


Author(s):  
Iuliia Rossius

The goal of this article consists in demonstration of the impact of research in the field of history and theory of law alongside the hermeneutics of Emilio Betti impacted the vector of this philosophical thought. The subject of this article is the lectures read by Emilio Betti (prolusioni) in 1927 and 1948, as well as his writings of 1949 and 1962. Analysis is conducted on the succession of Betti's ideas in these works, which is traced despite the discrepancy in their theme (legal and philosophical). The author indicates “legal” origin of the canons of Bettis’ hermeneutics, namely the canon of autonomy of the object. Emphasis is placed on the problem of objectivity in Betti's theory, as well as on dialectical tension between the historicity of the interpreted subject and strangeness of the object that accompanies legal, as well as any other type of interpretation. The article reveals the key moment of Betti's criticism of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Regarding the question of historicity of the subject of interpretation. The conclusion is made that the origin of the general theory of interpretation lies in the approaches and methods developed and implemented by Betti back in legal hermeneutics and in studying history of law.   Betti's philosophical theory was significantly affected by the idea on the role of modern legal dogma in interpretation of the history of law. Namely this idea that contains the principle of historicity of the subject of interpretation, which commenced  the general hermeneutical theory of Emilio Betti, was realized in canon of the relevance of understanding in the lecture in 1948, and later in the “general theory of interpretation”. The author also underlines that the question of objectivity of understanding, which has crucial practical importance in legal hermeneutics, was transmitted into the philosophical works of E. Betti, finding reflection in dialectic of the subject and object of interpretation.


Author(s):  
Lucyna Kopciewicz

Social construction of the body and the performative magic: Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological theory in performance studiesPerformance studies are a developing field of social science which draws on the insights of sociology, ethnography, cultural studies, cultural anthropology, theatre studies and communication studies. The object of performance studies is human activity seen as expression which constitutes the process of production and reproduction of subjectivity. In this text the author analyses Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological theory from the perspective of performance studies: of questions about social agency, understood as constructing the subject within a specific field of power. The author focuses particularly on the following aspects of individual and collective practices as described by Pierre Bourdieu: spatial practices, bodily practices, and masculine domination. Społecznie konstruowane ciała i performatywna magia: Teoria socjologiczna Pierre’a Bourdieu w badaniach performatywnychPerformatyka jest rozwijającą się dziedziną badań społecznych, która korzysta z dorobku socjologii, etnografii, studiów kulturowych, antropologii kulturowej, teatrologii, studiów nad komunikowaniem. Przedmiotem badań performatywnych jest aktywność ludzka rozumiana jako ekspresja, która stanowi proces wytwarzania i reprodukowania podmiotowości. W niniejszym tekście autorka analizuje teorię socjologiczną Pierre’a Bourdieu w perspektywie performatyki: pytań o społeczną sprawczość rozumianą jako konstruowanie podmiotu w określonym polu władzy. Szczególnemu namysłowi autorka poddaje następujące aspekty indywidualnych i zbiorowych praktyk opisane przez Pierre’a Bourdieu: praktyki przestrzenne, praktyki cielesne, męska dominacja.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Barnard

In the past twenty years, there have been exciting new developments in the field of anthropology. This second edition of Barnard's classic textbook on the history and theory of anthropology has been revised and expanded to include up-to-date coverage on all the most important topics in the field. Its coverage ranges from traditional topics like the beginnings of the subject, evolutionism, functionalism, structuralism, and Marxism, to ideas about globalization, post-colonialism, and notions of 'race' and of being 'indigenous'. There are several new chapters, along with an extensive glossary, index, dates of birth and death, and award-winning diagrams. Although anthropology is often dominated by trends in Europe and North America, this edition makes plain the contributions of trendsetters in the rest of the world too. With its comprehensive yet clear coverage of concepts, this is essential reading for a new generation of anthropology students.


1993 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. 419-422
Author(s):  
L. M. Fatkhutdinova ◽  
I. K. Vaziev ◽  
E. B. Reznikov

Video display terminals (VDT) are widely used in all spheres of human activity. It is estimated that 30 million RCCBs are in use in North America alone. Like any new technology, production with the use of VDT is the subject of serious attention of specialists in the field of labor protection. Currently, there is no doubt that VDTs cause severe discomfort in those working with them, accompanied by numerous complaints (asthenopic phenomena, musculoskeletal and headaches, increased anxiety and irritability). In addition, information is accumulating about the development of more serious disorders (myopization, skin diseases, spontaneous abortions and birth defects of the fetus).


Author(s):  
Вадим Леонидович Афанасьевский

Предметом статьи является экспликация методологического базиса разработанной французским правоведом Жаном-Луи Бержелем концепции общей теории права. Автор фиксирует, что методология этой конструкции отличается принципиальной спецификой от классического рационализма научного знания. Бержель для разработки проблем теории права использовал импрессионистский метод, принципиально выходящий за рамки научной методологии. Это приводит к тому, что читатель превращается в соавтора, выстраивая свое представление о предмете теории права. Причем фантазия автора и читателя ничем не ограничена, ибо она уходит от исторических трансформаций развития правовой реальности и традиций теоретического правового дискурса. В статье показано, что предложенная методология привела Бержеля к размытости и непроясненности понятийного аппарата и «терминологическому анархизму». Представив свой анализ его концепции общей теории права, автор статьи приходит к выводу, что основанием методологии Бержеля являются характерные для французской социогуманитарной мысли принципы экзистенциальной философии и постмодернистских штудий. Именно в этом коренится отсутствие целостности в теоретических построениях, наличие эклектизма и туманности употребляемых терминов и понятий. В эту парадигму прекрасно укладывается импрессионистский метод, используемый французским правоведом. Если читатель сам определяет понимание читаемого текста, то смысл уже не определяется объективной реальностью. Он выступает проблемой изолированного индивида, находящегося в произвольно выстроенном им фрагментированном мире, в том числе и мире права The subject of the article is the explication of the methodological basis of the concept of the general theory of law developed by the French jurist Jean-Louis Bergel. The author notes that the methodology of this construction differs in fundamental specificity from the classical rationalism of scientific knowledge. Bergel used the impressionist method to develop problems in the theory of law, which fundamentally went beyond the framework of scientific methodology. This leads to the fact that the reader turns into a co-author, building his own idea of the subject of the theory of law. Moreover, the imagination of the author and the reader is not limited by anything, for it moves away from the historical transformations of the development of legal reality and the traditions of theoretical legal discourse. The article shows that the proposed methodology led Bergel to a vague and unclear conceptual apparatus and «terminological anarchism». Having presented his analysis of his concept of the general theory of law, the author of the article comes to the conclusion that the basis of Bergel's methodology is the principles of existential philosophy and postmodern studies that are characteristic of French socio-humanitarian thought. This is the root of the lack of integrity in theoretical constructions, the presence of eclecticism and the vagueness of the terms and concepts used. The impressionistic method used by the French jurist fits perfectly into this paradigm. If the reader himself determines the understanding of the text being read, then the meaning is no longer determined by objective reality. It acts as a problem of an isolated individual who is in a fragmented world arbitrarily built by him, including the world of law


PMLA ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 116 (2) ◽  
pp. 392-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Cohen

“You claim to be entirely able to do your book selection with only a few suggestions from us here and there—how can that be'?” Thus Professor X to Librarian Y, all over North America. Well, granted, we librarians are proud of the subject know-how that we've acquired, some by earning higher degrees in the subject, others by just having learned our way around the literature of the subject after years in the trenches. We have to admit, though, that approval-plan buying has made a big difference: the vendor allows you to see the book before you decide whether or not to add it to the collection. (People do this when they buy a car or a cabbage; why not a book?) Approval-plan buying is a great deal more reliable than the reading of blurbs, which are all too often deliberately uninformative, or than waiting for reviews before ordering, which takes too long. However, since debate springs up from time to time about whether libraries with straitened budgets can afford approval plans (a red herring, in my view), I thought I'd speak up in defense of them, especially in my area, foreign language book selection.


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