Laying Down the Law: Mysticism, Fetishism, and the American Legal Mind (Critical America)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.99 (981 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0814780539 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 206 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-08-10 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Pierre Schlag is Nicholas Rosenbaum Professor of Law at the University of Colorado.
M. All one can say to the latter is, better take cover.--J. The book brings into question the dominant normative orientation that shapes so much academic thought in law and in the humanities and social sciences. Balkin, Lafayette S. To read them one after another is exhilarating; Schlag's sophistication shines through. In chapter after chapter he tackles the most vexing problems of law and legal thinking, but at the heart of his concern is the questions of normativity and the normative claims made by legal scholars. By pulling the curtain on the rhetorical techniques by which the law represents itself as coherent, rational, and stable, Laying Down the Law discloses the grandiose (and largely futile) attempts of American academics to control social and political meaning by means of scholarly missives.. Few law professors today are so consistently original, funny, and provocative. But behind his playful manner is a serious goal: bringing the study of l
"Shameless deconstructionism, but hey that can be good" according to Amazon Customer. Schlag's mission to point out what is wrong with the law and legal academia leaves one wondering if he isn't really a nihilist after all. He does sound at some points like he is just playing the fiddle as Rome burns. This is the frustrating half of postmodernism: the purely deconstructionist process that seems to deny the constructivist process that is inevitably to follow.Nevertheless, this is one of my favorite books on jurisprudence, because it sharply exposes so many of the fictions that academics, lawyers and judges all engage in, often in a way that is highly entertaining. Schlag's ideas resonate in your hea. Schlag established himself as one of the most creative In the previously published essays collected here, Schlag established himself as one of the most creative thinkers in the contemporary legal academy. To read them one after another is exhilarating; Schlag's sophisication shines through. In chapter after chapter he tackles the most vexing problems of law and legal thinking, but at the heart of his concern is the question of normativity and the normative claims made by legal scholars. Learned readers of modern social thought and of the legal brand of postmodernism will find little new in Schlag's arguments anout the linguistic and rhetorical status of value statemen. Taylor Burke said Left with an empty stomach. This series of essays is probably useful to anyone wanting to get a grasp for Schlag, but the Conclusion left me wanting much more. Shlag lists a series of questions that the masses would ask, akin to "what is next in jurisprudence?" His answer is, "Maybe nothing. Maybe what comes next is that we learn to stop treating "law" as something to celebrate, expand, and worship. Maybe, we learn to lay down the law." I have no idea what that last sentence means, and it is never developed. If this is postmodernism, I feel almost compelled to live my life as liberal humanist at least I can believe in something. He then uses
In chapter after chapter he tackles the most vexing problems of law and legal thinking."-Choice"Pierre Schlag has been through the collapse of legal theory and lived to tell the tale, a tale that is burdened by as few illusions as possible except for the saving one of hope. To read these essays one after another is exhilarating; Schlag's sophistication shines through. He is also a great (and serious) comic." -Stanley Fish,Duke UniversityPierre Schlag is the great iconoclast of the American legal academy. "Schlag has established himself as one of the most creative thinkers in the contemporary legal academy. Few professors today are so consistently original, funny, and provocative." -Jack Balkin,Yale Law School