SOCIAL THEORY OF LAW
SEMINAR MINUTES
WEEK NINE
(Dumisani Williams)
Proposition: The Implications of Pragmatism and Postmodernism for Legal Theory Reveal Why Philosophy and Law Should Be Kept Apart
FOR
- Postmodernism reduces the law to philosophical discourse and causes you to question the fundamental assumptions of the law (e.g. that it is more than discourse and it actually constrains society)
AGAINST
- Postmodernism raises the question of wherein lies the value of the law.
- Postmodernism's discourse approach demystifies the law, very much like Critical Legal Studies. This can help devolve some power from the courts as people revert to less formal means of dispute resolution
- The Wittgensteinian approach of 'language therapy' (partly modeled on psychoanalysis) enables people to repair ordinary social relations and not think that justice is only possible through litigation and formal legislation
- Prevents overdependence on the law as the solution to all problems in an increasingly fragmented world.
