Homo Juridicus: On the Anthropological Function of the Law

ISBN-13: 9781786630605 / Angielski / Miękka / 2017 / 246 str.

Alain Supiot

Opis

In this groundbreaking work, French legal scholar Alain Supiot examines the relationship of society to legal discourse.
He arguesthat the law is how justice is implmented in secular society, but it isnot simply a technique to be manipulated at will: it is also anexpression of the core beliefs of the West. We must recognize itsuniversalizing, dogmatic nature and become receptive to otherinterpretations from non-Western cultures to help us avoid the clashof civilizations.
In Homo Juridicus, Supiotdeconstructs the illusion of a world that has become -flat'' andundifferentiated, regulated only by supposed -laws- of science andthe economy, and peopled by contract-makers driven only by thecalculation of their individual interests. Such a liberal perspectiveis nothing but the flipside of the notion of the withering away of lawand the state, promoted this time not under the banner of the strugglebetween classes, but rather in the name of the free competition betweensovereign individuals.
Supiot's exploration of the development of the-legal subject---the individual as formed through a dense web ofcontracts and laws--is set to become a classic work of social theory.

Recenzje

"France's most incisive jurist, Alain Supiot ... has renewed the idea that all significant belief-systems require a dogmatic foundation by focusing its beam sharply, to the discomfort of their devotees, on the two most cherished creeds of our time: the cults of the free markets and of human rights."
-Perry Anderson, London Review of Books

"The book addresses some contemporary issues with great erudition, and, as such, can profitably be read by anyone interested in the legal direction of advanced capitalism."
-Robert Knox, Historical Materialism

"If Supiot's corrective is a shade utopian, his diagnosis that something is amiss with contemporary trends in law and jurisprudence is an apposite and welcome contribution to a dissenting tradition."
-Tor Krever, New Left Review

"Alain Supiot develops an original and ambitious approach of the place and role of the law for man with the curiosity and audacity of an anthropologist, but all the while avoiding the trap of universalism ... The use of an anthropological wide-focus lens furnishes him with a wealth of observations which ground a high-calibre reflection, rigorously documented with examples drawn from the legal domain."
-Études

"After centuries of triumphalism on behalf of homo economicus, one had given up hope of hearing one day about homo juridicus. We can only congratulate Alain Supiot for this work which defends the anthropological function of the law, reminding us that the human being is a metaphysical animal which exists not only in thew universe of things (the economic) but also in a universe of signs."
-Revue trimestrielle de droit civil

O autorze

Alain Supiot is Professor at the Collège de France. His previous books include Beyond Employment: Changes in Work, The Future of Labour Law in Europe, and The Spirit of Philadelphia.