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Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy

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Issue 2, 2011 Expand all abstracts
Miscellaneous

Access_open In memoriam Koen Raes

Authors Carel Smith

Carel Smith

Rob Schwitters
Rob Schwitters is Associate Professor of Sociology of Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Amsterdam.
Article

Access_open Over de klassieke oorsprong van de rechten van de mens

Keywords human rights, natural law, perfectionism, Stoa, Cicero
Authors René Brouwer
AbstractAuthor's information

    In this article I reconstruct the contribution of some central Hellenistic political thinkers to a theory of human rights. Starting point is the traditional Stoic conception of the law of nature as a power in which only perfect human beings actively participate. In the 2nd century BC the Stoic Panaetius adjusted this traditional high-minded theory by also allowing for a lower level of human excellence. This second-rate human excellence can be achieved just by following ‘proper functions’, which are derived from ordinary human nature and can be laid down in rules. From here, it was only a small, yet decisive step – presumably to be attributed to one of Cicero’s teachers – to discard the highest level of human perfection altogether. This step, I argue, paved the way for an understanding of the rules of natural law in terms of human rights.


René Brouwer
René Brouwer is Lecturer in Legal Theory at the University of Utrecht.
Article

Access_open De halve waarheid van het populisme

Keywords populism, self-inclusion, vitalism, democracy, Lefort
Authors Bert Roermund
AbstractAuthor's information

    Does populism add value to the political debate by showing that the ideals of Enlightenment are too abstract and rationalist to understand politics in democratic terms? The paper argues two theses, critically engaging Lefort’s work: (i) instead of offering valuable criticism, populism feeds on the very principle that Enlightenment has introduced: a polity rests on self-inclusion with reference to a quasi-transcendent realm; (ii) populism’s appeal to simple emotions feeds on the vitalist (rather than merely institutionalist) pulse in any polity. Both dimensions of politics are inevitable as well as elusive. In particular with regard to the vitalist pulse we have no response to the half-truths of populism, as both national and constitutional patriotism seem on the wrong track.


Bert Roermund
Bert van Roermund has held the Chair in Legal Philosophy at Tilburg University and is currently Professor of (Political) Philosophy at the same University as well as 2010-2011 Visiting Professor at K.U. Leuven.
Article

Access_open Techno-regulation and law: rule, exception or state of exception?

A comment to Han Somsen and Luigi Corrias

Keywords code, citizenship, trans-generational justice, agency, ethics and politics
Authors Oliver W. Lembcke
AbstractAuthor's information

    Luigi Corrias challenged Han Somsen’s plea for an effective regulation in the wake of an impending ecological catastrophe. This article takes up some of the arguments that have been exchanged: First, the paper criticises Corrias’s call for an ‘eco-logos’ as an ethical evasion of the political dimension that regulations aiming at a radical policy change necessarily entail. Secondly, it disputes the assumption that Somsen’s argument invites the notion of Carl Schmitt’s state of exception. Thirdly, the paper discusses the possible effects that code law might have on the concepts of agency (lack of autonomy) and citizenship (loss of justice).


Oliver W. Lembcke
Oliver W. Lembcke is Associate Professor of Political Theory at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena.
Miscellaneous

Access_open Monotheïsme kan uw staat ernstige schade toebrengen

Paul Cliteur, The Secular Outlook & Het monotheïstisch dilemma

Authors Wouter de Been
AbstractAuthor's information

    Book review of Paul Cliteur, The Secular Outlook & Paul Cliteur, Het monotheïstisch dilemma


Wouter de Been
Wouter de Been is postdoctoral researcher in legal theory at the Erasmus School of Law (Rotterdam).
Miscellaneous

Access_open Elusive normativity

Stefano Bertea, The Normative Claim of Law

Authors Jaap Hage
AbstractAuthor's information

    Book review of Stefano Bertea, The Normative Claim of Law


Jaap Hage
Jaap Hage holds the Chair of Jurisprudence at Maastricht University.
Book Review

Access_open Stefan Sottiaux, De Verenigde Staten van België

Reflecties over de toekomst van het grondwettelijk recht in de gelaagde rechtsorde

Authors Stefan Rummens
AbstractAuthor's information

    Book review of Stefan Sottiaux, De Verenigde Staten van België


Stefan Rummens
Stefan Rummens is Assistant Professor of Political Theory at the Radboud University Nijmegen.
Book Review

Access_open Peter Rijpkema, Gijs van Donselaar, Bruno Verbeek, Henri Wijsbek (red.), Als vuur

Opstellen voor Govert den Hartogh ter gelegenheid van zijn emeritaat

Authors Femke Storm and Jaap Zwart
AbstractAuthor's information

    Book review of Peter Rijpkema, Gijs van Donselaar, Bruno Verbeek, Henri Wijsbek (red.), Als vuur


Femke Storm
Femke Storm studied Law and Psychology at VU University Amsterdam.

Jaap Zwart
Jaap Zwart is Lecturer at the Department of Legal Theory, VU University Amsterdam.

    Book review of Ronald Dworkin, Justice for Hedgehogs


Iris van Domselaar
Iris van Domselaar is Researcher/Lecturer in Legal Philosophy and Legal Ethics at the Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam.