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The American Challenge To International Law: A Tentative Framework For Debate, Harlan G. Cohen

Scholarly Works

The United States often appears hypocritical in its commitment to International Law. It supports Nuremberg, Yugoslavia, and Rwandan tribunals, but opposes the International Criminal Court. It supports the creation of the United Nations, but seeks unilateral action in Iraq. This Essay explores these seeming contradictions in American stances toward international law. It argues that while such apparent hypocrisy might be explained by mere pragmatism, ideas prevalent in American foreign policy history seem to point in a more dangerous direction, that such divergent actions may actually be informed by a coherent, specifically American conception of international law. In particular, this Essay …

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 …