Robert C. L. Moffat

Stephen M. Griffin

The past two decades have seen an outpouring of work in legal theory that is self-consciously critical of aspects of American law and the institutions of the liberal state. In this lively volume, eminent scholars in philosophy, law, and political science respond to this recent scholarship by exploring what constitutes a "radical" critique of the law, examining such theories as critical legal studies, feminist theory and theories of "difference," and critical race theory. The authors consider whether the critiques advanced in recent legal theory can truly be called radical and what form a radical critique of American law should take. Writing at the cutting edge of the critique of critical legal theory, they offer insights first on critical legal scholarship, then on feminist political and legal theory. A third group of contributions questions the radicalness of these approaches in light of their failure to challenge fundamental aspects of liberalism, while a final section focuses on current issues of legal reform through critical views on criminal punishment, including observations on rape and hate speech. Each major essay describes the underlying principles in the development of a radical legal theory and addresses unresolved questions relating to it, while accompanying commentaries present conflicting views. The resulting dialogue explores wide-ranging issues like equity, value relativism, adversarial and empathic legal advocacy, communitarianism and the social contract, impartiality and contingency, "natural" law, and corrective justice. A common thread for many of the articles is a focus on the social dimension of society and law, which finds the individualism of prevailing liberal theories too limiting. Radical Critiques of the Law is particularly unique in presenting critical and feminist approaches in one volume-along with skeptical commentary about just how radical some critiques really are. Proposing alternative critiques that embody considerably greater promise of being truly radical, it offers provocative reading for both philosophers and legal scholars by showing that many claims to radicalism are highly problematic at best.

Radical Critiques of the Law

Tom Campbell

Setsuko Sato

Content: Bioethik, Technologie und Recht: A. Kaufmann: Biotechnologie und Bioethik u I. Kato: Why is Bioethics Sought in our Contemporary Society? uW. Maihofer: Gerechtigkeit und Zweckmaaigkeit u C. B. Lowy: Self-Regarding and Other-Regarding Commitment in Medical Decision Making u H. Nito: Evolutionary Process of the Principle of the Right to a Healthy Environment uM. Santos: Technol. Possibilities and the Dignity of Human Life u Naturrechtliche Grundlagen des positiven Rechts: R. P. Francis: Natural Law as Fundamental to Positive Law u H. Klenner: Widerstandsrecht bei Kant u J. Llompart: Dichot. Rechtsphilosophie u U. Z. Pak: Naturrechtsdenktradition u D. A. J. Richards: Liberalism and Theories of Virtue and Vice u Menschenrechte und soziale Gerechtigkeit: E. E. Dais: Rights and Judicial Reasoning: The Deprivational Theory u G. Lafrance: La rationalite des Droits de l'homme uU. Lohmann: Sozialstaat, Sozialpolitik, soziale Gerechtigkeit u S. Morimura: Paternalism and the Indeterminacy of Personal Identity u Y. Nawata: Grundrecht und das Staat-Burger-Verhaltnis u C. Wellman: Social Justice and Human Rights u W. Sadurski: Human Rights and Fundamental Values u Computer und Recht: C. Biagioli: Normative Texts and Representation Languages u M. Kitahara: Impact of the Computer on the Interpretation of Law u A. A. Martino: Legal Expert Systems u F. Lachmayer: Expertensysteme fur die Gesetzgebung u H. Matsumoto: Logical Formalization of Hohfeld's Fundamental Legal Conceptions u A. Saarenpaa: Legal Data Banks and Skills. (Franz Steiner 1991)

Biotechnologie, Ethik und Recht Im Wissenschaftlichen Zeitalter

Michael D. Bayles

Joseph Grčić

Among the themes treated in this volume are: what constitutes a family; responsibility of parents for their offspring; the relation between the state and the family; and effects of women's equality and feminist thinking.

Robert C. L. Moffat

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