Belief in the rule of law characterizes our society, our political order, and even our identity as citizens. The Cultural Study of Law is the first full examination of what it means to conduct a modern intellectual inquiry into the culture of law. Paul Kahn outlines the tools necessary for such an inquiry by analyzing the concepts of time, space, citizen, judge, sovereignty, and theory within the culture of law's rule. Charting the way for the development of a new intellectual discipline, Paul Kahn advocates an approach that stands outside law's normative framework and looks at law as...
Belief in the rule of law characterizes our society, our political order, and even our identity as citizens. The Cultural Study of Law is the f...
This powerfully conceptualized book is both a rich intellectual history of two hundred years of American constitutional theory and an original philosophical inquiry into the possibility of self-government. Legitimate government in the United States means self-government. Yet Americans also believe that their government must be constrained by a Constitution that is now two hundred years old. Paul W. Kahn sees the development of constitutional theory as a continuous effort to resolve this conflict between self-government and history. Rejecting the conventional idea that constitutional...
This powerfully conceptualized book is both a rich intellectual history of two hundred years of American constitutional theory and an original philoso...
"A brilliantly innovative and provocative work of pathfinding dimensions."-Robert M. Ireland, Journal of the Early Republic "No scholar of the American constitution or American history can afford not to read this book-at least twice."-Herbert A. Johnson, Law and History Review "Kahn is clearly a scholar of great intelligence and creativity."-Scott D. Gerber, Journal of American History In this ground-breaking book, Kahn uses modern cultural theory to investigate America's most profound political myth: the belief that the rule of law is rule by the people. Kahn explores the elements of the...
"A brilliantly innovative and provocative work of pathfinding dimensions."-Robert M. Ireland, Journal of the Early Republic "No scholar of the America...
In Out of Eden, Paul W. Kahn offers a philosophical meditation on the problem of evil. He uses the Genesis story of the Fall as the starting point for a profound articulation of the human condition. Kahn shows us that evil expresses the rage of a subject who knows both that he is an image of an infinite God and that he must die. Kahn's interpretation of Genesis leads him to inquiries into a variety of modern forms of evil, including slavery, torture, and genocide.
Kahn takes issue with Hannah Arendt's theory of the banality of evil, arguing that her view is an instance...
In Out of Eden, Paul W. Kahn offers a philosophical meditation on the problem of evil. He uses the Genesis story of the Fall as the starting...
The terrorist attacks of 9/11, followed by the expose of torture in US detainment camps, dampened hopes for a peaceful world in the 21st century and challenged the belief that humanity was on a course of progress toward rational deliberation, the rule of law, and human rights. This book investigates the reasons for the resort to violence.
The terrorist attacks of 9/11, followed by the expose of torture in US detainment camps, dampened hopes for a peaceful world in the 21st century and c...
In Sacred Violence, the distinguished political and legal theorist Paul W. Kahn investigates the reasons for the resort to violence characteristic of premodern states. In a startling argument, he contends that law will never offer an adequate account of political violence. Instead, we must turn to political theology, which reveals that torture and terror are, essentially, forms of sacrifice. Kahn forces us to acknowledge what we don't want to see: that we remain deeply committed to a violent politics beyond law.
Paul W. Kahn is Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the...
In Sacred Violence, the distinguished political and legal theorist Paul W. Kahn investigates the reasons for the resort to violence characte...
This provocative book is both a rich intellectual history of 200 years of American constitutional theory and a major contribution to that theory. Paul Kahn argues that self-government is impossible within the constraints placed on government by the Constitution, and that constitutional theory-which attempts to reconcile self-government and history-will never achieve its goal. "I do not know of another book that participates in the constitutional dialogue with the mixture of historical perspective and acute critical eye displayed in this book. It demonstrates sweep, originality, careful...
This provocative book is both a rich intellectual history of 200 years of American constitutional theory and a major contribution to that theory. Paul...
Academic philosophy may have lost its audience, but the traditional subjects of philosophy--love, death, justice, knowledge, and faith--remain as compelling as ever. To reach a new generation, Paul W. Kahn argues that philosophy must take up these fundamental concerns as we find them in contemporary culture. He demonstrates how this can be achieved through a turn to popular film. Discussing such well-known movies as Forrest Gump (1994), The American President (1995), The Matrix (1999), Memento (2000), The History of Violence (2005), Gran Torino...
Academic philosophy may have lost its audience, but the traditional subjects of philosophy--love, death, justice, knowledge, and faith--remain as comp...