The aim of the course is to enhance students' understanding of law by placing it in its theoretical, philosophical and sociological contexts.
Last update: Marešová Svatava, Ing. (19.10.2022)
This course explores key concepts in jurisprudence through the lens of controversial authors who challenge mainstream legal and political thought. We will critically engage with radical perspectives on law, justice, rights, and democracy, examining how these thinkers confront contemporary legal and political issues such as inequality, state power, globalization, and human rights. The course will consider the impact and legacy of these thinkers and their enduring relevance to today's legal challenges.
Course Objectives:
Engage with radical and controversial perspectives on law and political theory.
Understand the critiques these authors offer against mainstream legal doctrines and political systems.
Analyze contemporary legal and political issues using alternative theoretical frameworks.
Critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of these controversial approaches.
Course Aims
The aim of the course is to enhance students' understanding of law by placing it in its theoretical, philosophical and
sociological contexts.
Intended Learning Outcomes of Course
On completion of the course, students will demonstrate an ability to state, analyse and evaluate the following:
· basic relations between law, justice and rights
· theories of natural law and human rights
· theories of legal system and legal order
· basic approaches in the sociology of law
In addition, students will demonstrate an ability to
· think and argue about legal concepts, topics and issues
· demonstrate skills of selecting relevant ideas, balancing and evaluating them
· present concepts and arguments both orally and in written form coherently and effectively
Last update: Marešová Svatava, Ing. (09.09.2024)
Requisites for virtual mobility
None
Last update: Kohout David, JUDr., Ph.D. (30.06.2022)
Syllabus -
Week 1: Carl Schmitt and the Theory of the State of Exception
Topics:
Carl Schmitt's critique of liberalism and democracy.
Sovereignty and the state of exception.
Schmitt’s influence on modern political and legal theory.
Why Controversial?
Schmitt's critique of liberal democracy.
Readings:
Carl Schmitt, Political Theology (Chapters 1-3).
Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political.
Week 2: Michel Foucault and the Law as a Tool of Power
Topics:
Law as a mechanism of power and control.
Foucault’s analysis of institutions (prisons, hospitals, schools) and biopolitics.
Discipline, surveillance, and legal authority.
Why Controversial?
Foucault’s rejection of conventional notions of law as neutral or protective; his radical critique of state power.
Readings:
Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish (Part 1).
Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended (Lectures on Biopolitics).
Week 3: Friedrich Nietzsche and the Critique of Morality and Law
Topics:
Nietzsche’s attack on moral foundations of law.
Law, power, and the will to power.
The role of law in constructing values and societal norms.
Why Controversial?
Nietzsche’s radical rethinking of law’s relationship to morality, rejecting traditional moral frameworks.
Readings:
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality (First and Second Treatise).
Selected aphorisms from Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
Week 4: Robert Nozick and Libertarianism
Topics:
Libertarian critiques of the welfare state.
Nozick’s defense of individual rights, private property, and minimal government.
The entitlement theory of justice.
Why Controversial?
Nozick’s rejection of redistribution and social welfare; his vision of a minimal state is highly debated.
Readings:
Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (Chapters 1-4).
Week 5: Catharine A. MacKinnon and Radical Feminism
Topics:
Law as a tool of patriarchy.
MacKinnon’s critique of legal liberalism and the relationship between sexuality and power.
The legal framework’s complicity in gendered oppression.
Why Controversial?
MacKinnon’s uncompromising critique of traditional legal approaches to gender, sex, and power.
Readings:
Catharine A. MacKinnon, Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (Selected Chapters).
Catharine A. MacKinnon, Sexual Harassment of Working Women (Introduction).
Week 6: Giorgio Agamben and the Concept of Bare Life
Topics:
Sovereignty and the reduction of life to "bare life."
The legal state of exception and modern biopolitics.
Agamben’s critique of contemporary politics and the rule of law.
Why Controversial?
Agamben’s radical rethinking of the legal concept of sovereignty and his focus on the exclusionary nature of law.
Readings:
Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life (Introduction and Chapter 1).
Giorgio Agamben, State of Exception (Selected chapters).
Week 7: Slavoj Žižek and Ideology in Law
Topics:
Law, ideology, and psychoanalysis.
Žižek’s critique of liberal legalism and democracy.
Law’s role in sustaining capitalist structures.
Why Controversial?
Žižek’s provocative critiques of democracy, law, and ideology challenge mainstream liberal and legalist perspectives.
Readings:
Slavoj Žižek, The Sublime Object of Ideology (Chapters 1-2).
Slavoj Žižek, Welcome to the Desert of the Real (Selected chapters).
Week 8: Ayn Rand and the Virtue of Selfishness
Topics:
Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism and the moral defense of capitalism.
Individual rights, laissez-faire capitalism, and the critique of state intervention.
The concept of “rational self-interest” in law and politics.
Why Controversial?
Rand’s aggressive defense of individualism and capitalism, rejecting altruism and government welfare, has sparked significant debate.
Readings:
Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness (Selected essays).
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (Selected passages).
Week 9: Leo Strauss and the Critique of Modernity
Topics:
Strauss’s critique of modern liberal democracy and moral relativism.
The tension between natural right and history.
Strauss’s influence on conservative legal and political theory.
Why Controversial?
Strauss’s rejection of Enlightenment ideals, advocacy for elitism, and his influence on neoconservative thought.
Readings:
Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History (Selected Chapters).
Leo Strauss, On Tyranny (Selected essays).
Week 10: Judith Butler and the Law of Gender Performativity
Topics:
The performative nature of gender and its legal implications.
Law’s role in constructing and policing gender norms.
Butler’s critique of identity categories and the possibilities for subversion.
Why Controversial?
Butler’s challenge to fixed categories of sex and gender has been both celebrated and heavily critiqued, particularly in legal and feminist theory.
On completion of the course, students will demonstrate an ability to state, analyse and evaluate the following:
· basic relations between law, justice and rights · theories of natural law and human rights · theories of legal system and legal order · basic approaches in the sociology of law
In addition, students will demonstrate an ability to
· think and argue about legal concepts, topics and issues · demonstrate skills of selecting relevant ideas, balancing and evaluating them · present concepts and arguments both orally and in written form coherently and effectively
Final Examination:
Essay or oral examination
Means of communication:
MS Teams
Last update: Marešová Svatava, Ing. (09.09.2024)
Introduction: Anarchy or Obligation?
Raz, The Authority of Law (Oxford 1979), Ch 12.
Law as a Social Fact
Hart, The Concept of Law , chapters 5 - 6.
Law & Morality
Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously (London 1977), ch. 2 (‘Model of Rules I’).
Raz, Authority, Law, and Morality, Chapter 10 in Ethics in the Public Domain.
Law and Rights
Joseph Raz, The Morality of Freedom, Ch: 7 The Nature of Rights.
Liberty and Justice
John Gray, Hayek on Liberty, Chapter 3 “The Law of Liberty,” pp 56 - 78
Rawls, A Theory of Justice (Cambridge, Mass. 1971), sections 2 - 4, 6 - 11
Solidarity and the Limitations of Liberalism
Kymlicka, Contemporary Political Philosophy, Chapter 6
Michael J. Sandel, “The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self”, Political Theory, 1984: 12, pp. 81- 96 .
Liberalism and Its Discontents
Bielefeldt, ‘Carl Schmitt’s Critique of Liberalism’ in Dyzenhaus (ed) pp. 23 - 36.
