Now that contemporary scholars have begun to extend postmodern theory to law, an appraisal of its relevance in that sphere is especially important. This book offers a critical introduction to writings on law by key postmodern philosophers--Nietzsche, Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard, and Rorty--and articulates the strengths and weaknesses of postmodern legal theory.

Douglas Litowitz takes a critical stance on these thinkers and determines that postmodern philosophy falls short of a positive jurisprudence--a vision of a just state and a moral legal system--because it takes an unduly external...

Now that contemporary scholars have begun to extend postmodern theory to law, an appraisal of its relevance in that sphere is especially important. This book offers a critical introduction to writings on law by key postmodern philosophers--Nietzsche, Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard, and Rorty--and articulates the strengths and weaknesses of postmodern legal theory.

Douglas Litowitz takes a critical stance on these thinkers and determines that postmodern philosophy falls short of a positive jurisprudence--a vision of a just state and a moral legal system--because it takes an unduly external...

The legal system is often denounced as "Kafkaesque"--but what does this really mean? This is the question Douglas E. Litowitz tackles in his critical reading of Franz Kafka's writings about the law.

Going far beyond Kafka's most familiar works--such as The Trial--Litowitz assembles a broad array of works that he refers to as "Kafka's legal fiction"--consisting of published and unpublished works that deal squarely with the law, as well as those that touch upon it indirectly, as in political, administrative, and quasi-judicial procedures. Cataloguing, explaining, and critiquing this...