Postmodern Philosophy And Law

The author presents a two-tiered analysis that views postmodern legal thought as both a collective intellectual movement, and as the work of particular theorists, notably Friedrich Nietzsche, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Francois Lyotard, and Richard Rorty. He concludes that even though postmodern thought does not give rise to a normative theory of right that can be used as a framework for deciding cases, it can focus attention on genealogy and discourse, and can empower those who have been denied a voice in the legal system. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This discussion asserts that legal theory is being transformed by postmodern and critical social theory. The author argues for a familiarity with postmodern legal and social theory, as postmodernism could potentially fundamentally alter the legal meaning of agency, rationality, and intention.

What do Catharine MacKinnon, the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, and Lani Guinier have in common? All have, in recent years, become flashpoints for different approaches to legal reform. In the last quarter century, the study and practice of law have been profoundly influenced by a number of powerful new movements; academics and activists alike are rethinking the interaction between law and society, focusing more on the tangible effects of law on human lives than on its procedural elements. In this wide-ranging and comprehensive volume, Gary Minda surveys the current state of legal scholarship and activism, providing an indispensable guide to the evolution of law in America.

The intellectual development of American legal thought has progressed remarkably quickly form the nation's founding through today. Stephen Feldman traces this development through the lens of broader intellectual movements and in this work applies the concepts of premodernism, modernism, and postmodernism to legal thought, using examples or significant cases from Supreme Court history. Comprehensive and accessible, this single volume provides an overview of the evolution of American legal thought up to the present.

This timely and assured book provides a unique guide to critical legal studies which is one of the most exciting developments within contemporary jurisprudence. It is the first book to systematically apply a critical philosophy to the substance of common law. The book develops a coruscating and interdisciplinary overview of the politics and cultural significance of the institutions of the law.

This title was first published in 2001. This discussion asserts that legal theory is being transformed by postmodern and critical social theory. The aim of the text is three-fold. Firstly, it sets out the work of four particular scholars of critical social theory, all of them Continental Europeans - Jurgen Habermas, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and Jacques Lacan. Secondly, it seeks to demonstrate that although the work of Foucault, Derrida and Lacan is often juxtaposed to that of the arch (neo-)liberal social theorist Habermas, all four scholars of this small corpus share similar philosophical roots. To this end, it particularly refers to the original formation of critical theory by the early Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. Thirdly, it analyzes, with respect to Derrida and Habermas the two issues that opponents of the postmodern approach argues to be the Achilles' heel of postmodernism: does postmodernism introduce a pernicious relativism to judgement, making ethics and values a performative impossibility?

Kantianism, Postmodernism and Critical Legal Thought presents a challenging alternative theory of legal philosophy. The central thesis of the book suggests an accommodation between three of the most influential contemporary theories of law, Kantianism, postmodernism and critical legal thought. In doing so, it further suggests that the often perceived distance between these theories of law disguises a common intellectual foundation. This foundation lies in the work of Immanuel Kant. Kantianism, Postmodernism and Critical Legal Thought presents an intellectual history of critical legal thinking, beginning with Kant, and then proceeding through philosphers and legal theorists as diverse as Heidegger and Arendt, Foucault and Derrida, Rorty and Rawls, and Unger and Dworkin. Ultimately, it will be suggested that each of these philosophers is writing within a common intellectual tradition, and that by concentrating on the commonality of this tradition, contemporary legal theory can better appreciate the reconstructive potential of the critical legal project.

This title was first published in 2003. This book examines the interrelationship between the unravelling of the post-war welfare state and legal change. By reference to theorists of postmodernity such as Zygmunt Bauman, Scott Lash and John Urry, and David Harvey, the principal argument is that contemporary law and legal institutions can be best understood as having changed in ways that mirror the recent transformation of the interventionist welfare state and its Fordist, Keynesian economic infrastructure. The key changes identified in the legal field include:- the shift toward marketized regulatory structures as reflected in privatization and deregulation, the attenuation of welfare rights, the privatization of justice, legal polycentricity, the reconfiguration of the welfare state’s social citizenship and the globalization of law. Empirical evidence from a number of jurisdictions is adduced to indicate the general direction of change.