Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Nietzschean Critique And Philosophical Hermeneutics, Francis J. Mootz Iii

Scholarly Works

This article appears as part of a Symposium on "Nietzsche and Legal Theory" published by the Cardozo Law Review. It addresses connections between philosophical hermeneutics and Nietzschean critique, and the relevance that these connections might have for legal theory.

Legal practice inevitably is hermeneutical, with lawyers and judges interpreting governing legal texts and the social situations in which they must be applied. Hans-Georg Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics describes this practice well, but he treats the question of the possibility of a critical hermeneutics in an ambiguous and under-developed manner. Consequently, Gadamer is frequently (and unfairly) accused of conventionalism and quietism. At …

Can A Theory Of Interpretation Make A Difference?, George H. Taylor

Articles

Can a theory of interpretation make a difference? The question has been posed most prominently by Judge Richard Posner, who, in recent work, has criticized the ability to make a difference of both theory writ large and of a theory of interpretation in particular. In other work I contend, contrary to Posner, that a theory of interpretation can make a difference at the level of methodology. Using the example of constitutional and statutory interpretation in law, I develop a theory that argues for the propriety and value of certain methods of interpretation over others. In the present essay, my concern …

Wanted: New Methodologies For Peace, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes problems with common methodological approaches to developing knowledge that will prevent war and attain peace.

Rhetorical Knowledge In Legal Practice And Theory, Francis J. Mootz Iii

Scholarly Works

Rhetorical Knowledge in Legal Practice and Critical Legal Theory has just been published by the University of Alabama Press as part of its series, Rhetoric, Culture and Social Critique. My central themes are that rhetorical knowledge - however imperfectly pursued and attained - is a feature of social life; that rhetorical knowledge plays an important role in legal practice; and that legal critique is appropriately grounded by the normative injunction to maximize the generation of and reliance on rhetorical knowledge in the administration of justice by legal actors. If nothing else, I want to make clear that by recovering and …

The Paranoid Style In Contemporary Legal Scholarship, Francis J. Mootz Iii

Scholarly Works

This paper criticizes Pierre Schlag's postmodern legal theory by arguing that his idealized critic exhibits the style of functioning that we commonly would attribute to a paranoid individual. The paper concludes that a dialogical model of postmodern thought inspired by Hans-Georg Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics provides a more helpful basis for contemporary legal theory.

Romanticism And The Rise Of Sociological Hermeneutics, Dmitri N. Shalin

Sociology Faculty Research

Although biblical exegesis and rhetoric, from which modern hermeneutics derived its first principles, are ancient arts, an effort to establish hermeneutics as a universal science, and especially to extend its principles to the science of society, is of a decidedly recent origin. "There is little doubt," states Gouldner, "that hermeneutics' roots in the modern era are traceable to Romanticism." Why is this so, what makes romanticism fertile ground for hermeneutical speculations? Hans-Georg Gadamer, a leading authority on hermeneutics, makes this intriguing suggestion about its origins:

The hermeneutical problem only emerges clearly when there is no powerful tradition present to absorb …

The Genesis Of Social Interactionism And Differentiation Of Macro- And Microsociological Paradigms, Dmitri N. Shalin

Sociology Faculty Research

This paper presents an historical outlook on the macro-micro distinction in modern sociology. It links the genesis of social interactionism and microsociology to the rise of Romantic philosophy and attempts to elaborate methodological principles dividing macro- and microscopic perspectives in sociology. Six ideal-typical distinctions are considered: natural vs. social universality, emergent properties vs. emergent processes, morphological structuralism vs. genetical interactionism, choice among socially structured alternatives vs. structuring appearance into reality, structural vs. emergent directionality, operational vs. hermeneutical analysis. The complementarity of the languages of macro- and microsociological theories is advocated as a foundation for the further elaboration of conceptual links …