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Full-Text Articles in Law

Relativism, Reflective Equilibrium, And Justice, Justin Schwartz Jan 1997

Relativism, Reflective Equilibrium, And Justice, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

THIS PAPER IS THE CO-WINNER OF THE FRED BERGER PRIZE IN PHILOSOPHY OF LAW FOR THE 1999 AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE BEST PUBLISHED PAPER IN THE PREVIOUS TWO YEARS.

The conflict between liberal legal theory and critical legal studies (CLS) is often framed as a matter of whether there is a theory of justice that the law should embody which all rational people could or must accept. In a divided society, the CLS critique of this view is overwhelming: there is no such justice that can command universal assent. But the liberal critique of CLS, that it degenerates into …


Habermas's Discourse Theory Of Law And The Relationship Between Law And Religion, Mark C. Modak-Truran Jan 1997

Habermas's Discourse Theory Of Law And The Relationship Between Law And Religion, Mark C. Modak-Truran

Mark C Modak-Truran

Jürgen Habermas's discourse theory of law poignantly sets forth the modern legitimation crisis of law. Relying on Max Weber's social theory and sociology of law, he argues that the rationalization of society has eliminated religious and metaphysical justifications for law and has differentiated law from politics and morality. Law must now be legitimated based on its legality. The legal positivists (including Weber, H.L.A. Hart, John Austin) and John Finnis attempt to define legality merely in terms of procedural requirements. Habermas, however, demonstrates the circularity of this definition of legality. Legal positivists fail to legitimate the procedural requirements that are claimed …