DOCSLIB.ORG

A Critical Review of Unger's Politics

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Critical Review of Unger's Politics Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University Schulich Law Scholars Articles, Book Chapters, & Blogs Faculty Scholarship 1990 On the Road to Radical Reform: A Critical Review of Unger's Politics Richard F. Devlin FRSC Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.schulichlaw.dal.ca/scholarly_works Part of the Public Law and Legal Theory Commons ON THE ROAD TO RADICAL REFORM:1 A CRITICAL REVIEW OF UNGER'S POLITICS0 BY RICHARD F. DEVLIN* Two aims drive this essay. The first is to provide the reader with an accessible, yet relatively comprehensive, introduction to Roberto Mangabeira Unger's social and legal theory. The second aim is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Unger's most recent scholarship and to make some suggestions as to where he goes awry. In particular, the author draws several parallels between the Ungerian enterprise and that of some feminists. The central motivation of the essay is to keep the critical conversation between male radicals and feminists open. To this end, the author posits the possibility of mutually beneficial contributions. I. INTRODUCTION ............ 643 II. A STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: A SNAPSHOT OF THE TWILIGHTENMENT . .. .. .. 644 A. The Paradox of Freedom Embedded in Domination 644 B. Theses of the Enlightenment . 645 C. The Three "D's" .. .. .. .. .. 646 ° Copyright, 1990, Richard F. Devlin. * Associate Professor of Law, University of Calgary. Special thanks to Alexandra Dobrowolsky, Dianne Pothier, and Leon Trakman, each of whom provided helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Shorter versions of this paper were presented at Dalhousie Law School, May 1988 and at the Feminism and Critical Theory Conference, Windsor, Ontario, June 1988. 1 See Soviet television nightly. B. Keller, "Local Control Brings Difficult Change for Soviets" The [Toronto] Globe & Mail (5 January 1988) B22. 642 OSGOODE HALL LAW JOURNAL [VOL. 28 NO. 3 III. POLITICS . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 647 A. Social Theory: Its Situation and its Task . 648 B. False Necessity: Anti-Necessitarian Social Theory in the Se,vice of Radical Democracy ................ 655 1. Explanatory: determinism vs.formative contexts . 655 2. Programmatic: institutional reconstruction . 663 a) Empowered democracy ................ 664 b) Constitutional reorganization - political . 666 c) Empowered democracy and the reorganization of the economy . 670 d) Rights . 675 i) Market . .. .. .. .. 676 ii) Immunity .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 677 iii) Destabilization . .. .. 678 iv) Solidarity ...................... 679 e) Deviationist legal doctrine .............. 681 f) Plasticity and Passion . 682 C. Plasticity into Power: Comparative-Historical Studies on the Institutional Conditions of Economic and Milita,y Success . -. 684 J IV. POINTS OF INTERSECTION BETWEEN UNGER AND FEMINISM . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 687 A. The Personal, the Political, and the Hierarchical . 687 B. Contextualism . 688 C. Restoration of Agency . 689 D. Rebellion against Linearity, Inevitability, and Laws .. 690 E. The Rebellion Against Objectivity . 691 V. UNGERIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO FEMINISM .... 692 A. Contours of the Feminist Political Agenda ........ 692 B. Self and Community ... Soluiarity and Care . 694 C. Institutional Reconst,uction . 700 1. Economic . .. .. .. .. .. 701 a) Liquefaction of task-definition and task-execution . 701 2. Legal . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 702 1990] A Critical Review of Unger's Politics 643 a) Disaggregation of the consolidated property right . .. .. .. .. .. 702 b) Equality of Circumstance .. .. .. .. .. 703 3. Political . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 704 a) Liquefaction: feminism and constitutional reform ........................... 704 VI. FEMINIST CONTRIBUTIONS TO UNGER ........ 705 A. The Trashing Job ......................... 705 B. The Assumption of Conflict . .. .. .. 706 C. The Retreat from Solida,ity . .. .. .. .. .. .. 708 D. Power and Plasticity ......................·. 709 E. Plasticity is not Enough ..................... 714 F. Getting too Real: The Personal and the Political Revisited . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 718 VIL CONCLUSION ............................. 720 I. INTRODUCTION Two· basic purposes underlie this review. The first is an / attempt to provide an accessible, yet reasonably comprehensive, introduction to the social a_nd legal theory of Roberto Mangabeira Unger, particularly as it is developed in his recently published three volume series Politics: A Work in Constrnctive Social Theory. The second purpose is to evaluate both the strengths and weaknesses of the Ungerian enterprise and, more particularly, to indicate where, in my opinion, he has gone wrong. In pursuing the latter, I will draw upon the contributions of recent feminist social theory.2 2 A caveat must be introduced at the outset. I am very conscious of the dangers involved in a process in which a man discusses feminism. What follows, I hope, is neither masculinist ventriloquism nor imperial scholarship. Richard Delgado describes the latter as white (or, in this case, male) analysis that is built upon "factual ignorance or naivete, ... failure of empathy, and inability to share values, desires and perspectives of the population whose rights are under consideration." See ''The Imperial Scholar: Reflections on a Review of Civil Rights Literature" (1984) 132 U. Pa. L. Rev. 561 at 568. In the light of these concerns, let me cautiously say that what is said in this paper is not said as a feminist because I am not 28 3 644 OSGOODE HALL LAW JOURNAL [VOL. NO. To achieve these aims, the essay is divided into six subsections. In Part II, I will attempt to provide a political and philosophical backdrop for Unger's work in order to indicate the nature of the problem that he and others - feminists, for example - are attempting to come to terms with. This I call the Paradox· of the Twilightenment. In Part III, I provide a self-contained overview of each of the three books that make up Politics. Part IV outlines some political and philosophical points of intersection between Unger and elements of the feminist enterprise and suggests the viability of a fruitful interchange. On this foundation, Part V provides several examples of the way in which critical theory a la Unger may be of some utility for feminist reconstruction. Part VI, on the other hand, identifies, from a feminist perspective, some of / the very serious weaknesses of U nger's theory as developed in Politics and makes some suggestions as to how they might be remedied. The conclusion returns to a brief discussion of why it may be worthwhile facilitating an exchange between feminist and Ungerian social theory. IL A STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: A SNAPSHOT OF THE TWILIGHTENMENT A. The Paradox of Freedom Embedded in Domination Our post-industrial, patriarchal condition disconcerts because it disempowers. Many of us are disempowered because our society has been unable to resolve the tension between freedom and equality on the one hand, and domination and subordination on the other, in a manner that allows all of us to fulfill our potentials as " human beings. Put differently, a fundamental problem with contemporary society is that some people's freedom is the cause of sure if it is possible - or desirable - for a man to be feminist. Yet at the same time, I do believe that it is legitimate for men to enter into conversations with feminists, and that such conversations can be for their mutual benefit. For a further discussion of this issue, see "Nomos and Thanatos (Part A). The Killing Fields: Modern Law and Legal Theory" (1989) 12 Dal L.J. 297 and "Nomos and Thanatos (Part B). Feminism as Jurisgenerative Transformation or Resistance Through Partial Incorporation?" (1990) 13 Dal. L.J. (forthcoming) (hereinafter Nomos and Thanatos (Part B)]. 1990] A Critical Review of Unger's Politics 645 other people's subordination. This I call the Paradox of the Twilightenment. Those of us who inhabit the rich Euro-yanqui societies confront an existential paradox: when we compare our cultural situation with those of the Third World and of communist societies, it appears that in relation to the bench-marks of freedom and domination we are ahead all the way. However, when we begin to seriously reflect upon our everyday realities, the finer textures of our intimate and civic relations, a discomforting feeling of unfulfillment begins to emerge. When we critically evaluate our interpersonal relations, whether in the realms of employment or our more vulnerable connections, it becomes apparent that domination and subordination, hierarchy and dependence, privilege and inequality are more pervasive than we might want to admit, and are, perhaps, even constitutive. Moreover, when we examine our political lives it seems that, in the main, our participation is minimal and our impact marginal. Freedom, although much touted, is seldom seen. It is more closely related to our ability as consumers to purchase, than it is to effective democratic participation in the polity. Thus, the normalcy of our societies, although superficially attractive when compared to what else appears to be available, is on closer inspection profoundly disturbing. It obscures the per­ vasiveness of domination, subordination, inequality, and harm through an ideology of freedom - an apologetic ideology that rationalizes domination, rather than challenging it. Several of the pieces I am currently working on are attempts to interrogate these connections between domination and subordination and to raise the possibility of theory and practice that could be otherwise to make freedom
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Unger, Berle, and the Derivatives Revolution
    The Peter A. Allard School of Law Allard Research Commons Faculty Publications Allard Faculty Publications 2010 Power Without Property, Still: Unger, Berle, and the Derivatives Revolution Cristie Ford Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia, [email protected] Carol Liao Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.allard.ubc.ca/fac_pubs Part of the Business Organizations Law Commons, and the Property Law and Real Estate Commons Citation Details Cristie Ford & Carol Liao, "Power Without Property, Still: Unger, Berle, and the Derivatives Revolution" (2010) 33:4 Seattle U L Rev 889. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Allard Faculty Publications at Allard Research Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Allard Research Commons. Power Without Property, Still: Unger, Berle, and the Derivatives Revolution Cristie Ford† and Carol Liao†† INTRODUCTION We are in a time when the notion of property is in flux.1 The deriv- atives revolution2 has shattered the “atom of property” well beyond what was originally imagined in 1932 by Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means.3 This disaggregation has had fascinating, and often adverse, effects on corporate law and securities regulation. Moreover, the phenomenon has had the unexpected effect of permitting some parties that already possess considerable social, economic, and political power to accumulate even more. Innovations in modern finance have generated a large-scale expe- riment, running live and on a global basis, on the impacts of disassem- bling classical notions of ownership and property rights.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Theory
    POLITICS: A WORK IN CONSTRUCTIVE SOCIAL THEORY by Roberto Mangabeira Unger SOCIAL THEORY: ITS SITUATION AND ITS TASK FALSE NECESSITY: ANTI-NECESSITARIAN SOCIAL THEORY IN THE SERVICE OF RADICAL DEMOCRACY PLASTICITY INTO POWER: COMPARATIVE­ HISTORICAL STUDIES ON THE INSTITUTIONAL CONDITIONS OF ECONOMIC AND MILITARY SUCCESS SOCIAL THEORY: ITS SITUATION AND ITS TASK A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO POLITICS A WORK IN CONSTRUCTIVE SOCIAL THEORY ROBERTO MANGABEIRA UNGER n, ro1h1 o/r� U1ti"rn1y of C<1mb,,dit 10 pr,M and stll ,,11 ""'""" of books '"'" 1ran1rd by H,nry nu,,. 1514 n.,, Un,w,rsi1y ltas p,,M,d a1tdpublish,d rontm..,,.,,/y '11ta/JU CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE NEW YORK PORT CHESTER MELBOURNE SYDNEY Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 !Rl' 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011, USA lO Stamford Road, Oaklcigh, Melbourne 3 166, Australia © Roberto Mangabeira Unger 1987 First published 1987 Reprinted 1988, 1990 Printed in the United States of America Library of C1111grc.1s Catalo,i;!illg-i11-Publiwtion Data Unger, Roberto Mangabcira. Social theory: its situation and its task. "A critical introduction to Politics, a work in constructive social theory." I. Sociology 2. Political science. 3. Philo;,ophy. I. Unger, Roberto Mangabcira. Politics, a work in constructive social theory. II. Title. HM24.u536 1987 301 1.0l 86--7882 British Library Catafogi11g in Pr1bliwtimi Data Unger, Roberto Mangabeira. Social theory its situation and its task : critical introduction
    [Show full text]
  • Science and Ideology Revisited: Necessity, Contingency and the Critique of Ideologies in Meillassoux and Malabou
    Science and Ideology Revisited: Necessity, Contingency and the Critique of Ideologies in Meillassoux and Malabou Ben Turner Theory & Event, Volume 21, Number 4, October 2018, pp. 865-890 (Article) Published by Johns Hopkins University Press For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/707014 [ Access provided at 24 Sep 2021 15:16 GMT with no institutional affiliation ] Science and Ideology Revisited: Necessity, Contingency and the Critique of Ideologies in Meillassoux and Malabou Ben Turner Abstract Political thought influenced by post-structuralism rare- ly invokes ideology critique as a meaningful category of analysis, criticizing the structuralist attribution of contingency and neces- sity to, respectively, ideology and science. This article will chal- lenge this position utilising recent philosophical considerations of necessity and contingency that rehabilitate ideology critique. Drawing on scientific materials, both Quentin Meillassoux and Catherine Malabou develop a form of necessity inhabited by con- tingency. It will be argued that this work allows a reconsideration of the usefulness of science for ideology critique in a manner that doesn’t rely on an attribution of scientific necessity to the politics of the critic. In political thought influenced by post-structuralism it is rare to see the concept of ideology, or the practice of ideology critique, invoked as meaningful categories of analysis.1 This reticence towards the Marxist conception of ideology, understood as the deliberate mystification and obscuring of a set of necessary political conditions, revolved around a rejection of the scientific ambitions of structuralism and its attempt to distinguish between contingent surfaces and deep, a-historical struc- tures.2 Quintessential to this separation was the attribution of contin- gency and necessity to, respectively, ideology and science.
    [Show full text]
  • Rule of Law, Democracy, Free Markets and False Contingencies
    American University in Cairo AUC Knowledge Fountain Theses and Dissertations 6-1-2015 Myanmar in transition: rule of law, democracy, free markets and false contingencies Claiton Fyock Follow this and additional works at: https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds Recommended Citation APA Citation Fyock, C. (2015).Myanmar in transition: rule of law, democracy, free markets and false contingencies [Master’s thesis, the American University in Cairo]. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/131 MLA Citation Fyock, Claiton. Myanmar in transition: rule of law, democracy, free markets and false contingencies. 2015. American University in Cairo, Master's thesis. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/131 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by AUC Knowledge Fountain. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of AUC Knowledge Fountain. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The American University in Cairo School of Global Affairs and Public Policy MYANMAR IN TRANSITION: RULE OF LAW, DEMOCRACY, FREE MARKETS AND FALSE CONTINGENCIES A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Law In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in International Human Rights Law By Claiton Fyock June 2015 The American University in Cairo School of Global Affairs and Public Policy THE REGULATION OF INTERFAITH MARRIAGES IN ISLAMIC LEGAL DISCOURSE A Claiton Thesis Fyock Submitted by to the Department of Law May 2015 in partial
    [Show full text]
  • Unger's Philosophy: a Critical Legal Study
    The Yale Law Journal Volume 97, Number 5, April 1988 Article Unger's Philosophy: A Critical Legal Study William Ewald t Of all the scholars associated with the CriticalLegal Studies movement, none has garnered greater attention or higher praise than Roberto Unger of Harvard Law School. In this Article, William Ewald argues that Professor Unger's reputation as a brilliantphilosopher of law is undeserved. Despite the seeming erudition of his books, Professor Unger's work displays little fa- miliarity with the basic philosophical literature, and the philosophical, legal, and political analysis in those works-in particular,the celebrated critique of liberalism in Knowledge and Politics-is so riddled with logical and histori- cal errors as to be unworthy of serious scholarly attention. t Junior Research Fellow, The Queen's College, Oxford. I should like to thank Robert Alexy, Delf Buchwald, Robert Clark, Jonathan Cohen, Ralf Dreier, Ronald Dworkin, Charles Fried, Geof- frey Hazard, Susan Hurley, Geoffrey Marshall, Brian McGuinness, Derek Parfit, Guinther Patzig, Hilary Putnam, W.V. Quine, Eric Rakowski, John Rawls, Joseph Raz, Paul Seabright, Thomasz Studnicki, and Robert Summers for their encouragement and suggestions. Much of the writing was done at the University of G6ttingen under the auspices of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung; I am grateful to both institutions for their generous support. The Yale Law Journal [Vol. 97: 665 I. INTRODUCTION In his first book, Professor Roberto Mangabeira Unger of Harvard Law School announced that he had discovered "the context of ideas and sentiments within which philosophy and politics must now be practiced."' Since that time, he has become a prominent thinker in Critical Legal Studies (CLS), a movement that, in his own words, "has undermined the central ideas of modern legal thought and put another conception of law in their place." 2 If anyone in CLS can claim to have undermined the central ideas of modern legal thought, that person is Professor Unger.
    [Show full text]
  • Constitutional Possibilities
    Georgetown University Law Center Scholarship @ GEORGETOWN LAW 2008 Constitutional Possibilities Lawrence B. Solum Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] This paper can be downloaded free of charge from: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/860 http://ssrn.com/abstract=949052 83 Ind. L.J. 307-337 (2008) This open-access article is brought to you by the Georgetown Law Library. Posted with permission of the author. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, Legal History Commons, and the Legal Theory Commons Constitutional Possibilities† ! LAWRENCE B. SOLUM INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM OF ILLUSORY CONSTITUTIONAL POSSIBILITIES What are our constitutional possibilities? The importance of this question is illustrated by the striking breadth of constitutional possibilities discussed recently in high constitutional theory. Contemporary constitutional theory ranges from Sotirios Barber’s reading of the United States Constitution as a guarantee of fundamental economic equality1 to Randy Barnett’s call to restore a lost constitution that guarantees individual liberty.2 The range of constitutional options includes James Fleming’s perfectionist reading of the Constitution as a charter for deliberative autonomy3 and Sanford Levinson’s proselytization for a revolutionary program of constitutional redesign that would abolish the Electoral College and equal representation of the states in the Senate.4 Are these constitutional possibilities real or
    [Show full text]
  • The Post-Modern Subject in Legal Theory
    IS SUBJECTIVITY POSSIBLE? THE POST· MODERN SUBJECT IN LEGAL THEORY· JAMES BOYLE·· Jurisprudence, in my judgement, need not vex itself about the "abysmal depths of personality." It can assume that a man is a real indivisible entity with body and soul; it need not busy itself with asking whether a man be anything more than a phenomenon, or at best, merely a succession of states of consciousness. It can take him as a reality and work with him, as geometry works with points, lines and planes. 1 The individual is not to be conceiv~d as a sort of elementary nu­ cleus, a primitive atom, a multiple and inert material on which power comes to fasten or against which it happens to strike, and in so doing crushes or subdues individuals. In fact, it is already one of the prime effects of power that certain bodies, certain gestures, certain discourses, certain desires come to be identified and consti­ tuted as individuals. The individual, that is, is not the vis-a-vis of power; it is I believe, one of its prime effects. 2 This article puts forward a thesis and then attempts to prove (or at least to develop) that thesis in two related areas. The thesis is that legal theory in general, and critical legal theory in particular, has con­ centrated too much on critiques of objectivity, wrongly assuming that "subjectivity" was an unproblematic term. 3 Subjectivity, like mortal­ ity, has seemed not only attainable but inevitable. It is objectivity which is presumed to be the problematic goal of our theories and our attempts at doctrinal interpretation.
    [Show full text]
  • Post-Modernism, Agency, and Democracy
    philosophies Article Post-Modernism, Agency, and Democracy Matthew McManus Department of Political Science and International Relations, Tec de Monterrey, C.P 52926 Atizapan, Mexico; [email protected] Received: 4 September 2018; Accepted: 16 October 2018; Published: 20 October 2018 Abstract: This essay presents a general summary of post-modern philosophy’s conception of agency. It argues that while post-modern philosophers offer formidable intellectual tools for criticizing contemporary restrictions on agency, their conception falters for a variety of philosophical and political reasons. This implies we should develop a more robust conception of agency to provide a foundation for progressive politics. The essay concludes by analyzing several recent steps to develop such a conception. Keywords: post-modern culture; Wittgenstein; Heidegger; agency 1. Introduction Post-modernism is currently one of the most highly contentious areas in academia. From the right, critics such as Jordan Peterson and Stephen Hicks have criticized post-modernism for abandoning the Enlightenment and embracing irrationalism.1 From the left, Slavoj Zizek and Alain Badiou have criticized post-modern “democratic materialists” for their sophistry and alleged support for PC culture [2] (p. 2). It has even attracted considerable attention in the media as part of the ongoing culture wars, with pundits and journalists taking sides in the ongoing academic furor. All this makes it ever more important to have a reasonably thorough grasp of the virtues and limits of post-modern discourse. This essay is designed as a contribution to the ongoing discussion. In particular, I discuss the post-modern account of agency, as presented in the work of several seminal authors.
    [Show full text]
  • The Confines of Modern Constitutionalism
    The University of New Hampshire Law Review Volume 3 Number 1 Pierce Law Review Article 3 December 2004 The Confines of Modern Constitutionalism David T. Butleritchie Appalachian School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/unh_lr Part of the Constitutional Law Commons Repository Citation David T. Butleritchie, The Confines of Modern Constitutionalism, 3 Pierce L. Rev. 1 (2004), available at http://scholars.unh.edu/unh_lr/vol3/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University of New Hampshire – Franklin Pierce School of Law at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in The University of New Hampshire Law Review by an authorized editor of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. File: ButleRitchie-Macroed Created on: 12/2/2004 9:54:00 AM Last Printed: 12/10/2004 10:08:00 AM The Confines of Modern Constitutionalism DAVID T. BUTLERITCHIE* I. INTRODUCTION Constitutionalism is an ambiguous concept, or at least the term is used in ambiguous ways. Virtually every political theorist of the modern pe- riod, certainly during the last two hundred years or more, has used the con- cept of a political constitution in some way or another. There is very little agreement, however, on what the term constitutionalism actually repre- sents. Some mean it in a restrictive way, others in a more expansive way. Some use it in a proscriptive manner, while others employ it prescriptively (some, perhaps, even use it pejoratively).
    [Show full text]
  • Consequences of Enlightenment
    job:LAY00 30-10-1998 page:1 colour:1 black±text Consequences of Enlightenment What is the relationship between contemporary intellectual culture and the European Enlightenment it claims to reject? In Consequences of En- lightenment, Anthony J. Cascardi revisits the arguments advanced in Horkheimer and Adorno’s seminal work Dialectic of Enlightenment. Cas- cardi argues against the view that postmodern culture has rejected En- lightenment beliefs and explores instead the continuities contemporary theory shares with Kant’s theory of judgment. The positive consequences of Kant’s failed ambition to bring the project of Enlightenment to comple- tion, he argues, are evident in the aesthetic basis on which subjectivity has survived in the contemporary world. Cascardi explores the link between aesthetics and politics in thinkers as diverse as Habermas, Derrida, Arendt, Nietzsche, Hegel, and Wittgenstein in order to reverse the ten- dency to see works of art simply in terms of the worldly practices among which they are situated. Works of art, he argues, are themselves capable of disclosing truth. The book explores the post-Enlightenment implica- tions of Kant’s claim that feeling, and not only cognition, may provide a ground for knowledge. anthony j. cascardi is Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at the University of California, Berkeley, where he teaches in the Departments of Comparative Literature, Rhet- oric, and Spanish. He is co-editor of the Literature, Culture, Theory series, and author of The Subject of Modernity, among numerous other books and articles. job:LAY00 30-10-1998 page:2 colour:1 black±text XXXXXX job:LAY00 30-10-1998 page:3 colour:1 black±text Literature, Culture, Theory 30 ✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥ General editors anthony j.
    [Show full text]
  • (Un)Contemporary Variations
    ANGELAKIHUMANITIES ANGELAKIHUMANITIES � editors Charlie� Blake Pelagia Goulimari Timothy S. Murphy Robert Smith SUBVERSIVE SPINOZA general editor Gerard Greenway (un)contemporary variations Angelaki Humanities publishes works which address and probe broad and antonio negri compelling issues in the theoretical humanities. The series favours path­ breaking thought, promotes unjustly neglected figures, and grapples with edited by timothy s. murphy established concerns. It believes in the possibility of blending, without translated by timothy s. murphy, michael hardt, ted stolze compromise, the rigorous, the well-erafted, and the inventive. The series and charles t. wolfe seeks to host ambitious writing from around the world. Angelaki Humanities is the associated book series of Angelaki -joumal of the theoretical humanities. Already published Evil Spirits; nihilism and the fate of modernity Gary Banham and Ch01"lie Blake (eds) The question of literature: the place of tIle literary in contemporary theory Elizabeth Beaumont Bissell Absolutely postcolonial: writing between the singular and the specific Peter Hallward The new Bergson Johrl Mullarkey MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS MANCHESTER AND NEW YORK distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave Copyright © Timothy S. Murphy, Michael Hardt, Ted Stolze and Charles T. Wolfe 2004 The right of Timothy S. Murphy to be identified as the editor of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by Manchester University Press Oxford Road, Manchester
    [Show full text]
  • The Great Alliance: History, Reason, and Will in Modern Law Paulo D
    Boston College Law School Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School Boston College Law School Faculty Papers 1-1-2015 The Great Alliance: History, Reason, and Will in Modern Law Paulo D. Barrozo Boston College Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/lsfp Part of the Jurisprudence Commons, Law and Politics Commons, and the Legal History Commons Recommended Citation Paulo D. Barrozo. "The Great Alliance: History, Reason, and Will in Modern Law." Law and Contemporary Problems 78, no.1 (2015): 235-270. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College Law School Faculty Papers by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BARROZO_FORMATTED_BOOKPROOF-CROSS-REFERENCED (DO NOT DELETE) 3/6/2015 11:46 AM THE GREAT ALLIANCE: HISTORY, REASON, AND WILL IN MODERN LAW PAULO BARROZO* I INTRODUCTION Modern revolutions remind observers of social and political phenomena that power ultimately rests with political masses. The stability of legal and political orders over time indeed depends on a sufficient level of consent on the part of the governed. Absent support by the will of the governed, mechanisms that operate to obstruct destabilizing collective action on their part are destined to ultimately fail. A gifted historian, David Hume, had this in mind when he wrote: Nothing appears more surprizing to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers.
    [Show full text]