On Legal Positivism’s Word and our ‘Form-of-(non-)Living’

Luca Siliquini-Cinelli

doi:10.1515/gj-2016-0003

On Legal Positivism’s Word and our ‘Form-of-(non-)Living’

Luca Siliquini-Cinelli

Dundee Law School

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

355 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper is about two stories. The more reassuring one states that by establishing that a norm is valid because of its source, not its merit, legal positivism is, in its various forms, perhaps one of the greatest achievements in Western legal theory and practice. From constitutionalism to human rights policies, from criminal to international law and free trade agreements, from contracts to torts and e-commerce, legal validity, predictability, and coherence have found their most powerful ally in positivist thought. This contribution argues that it is time for a different, neorealist story: the metaphysical, ontological and biopolitical essence of its language demonstrates that legal positivism has in fact played a fundamental role in the substitution of action with behaviour, and consequently, in the normalisation of humankind’s self-annihilating animality as post-historical and post-political ‘form-of-(non-)living.’

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	211-241
Journal	Global Jurist
Volume	16
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1515/gj-2016-0003
Publication status	Published - 1 Jul 2016

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Keywords

Legal positivism
legal language
liberal thought
reasons for action
Homo juridicus

Access to Document

10.1515/gj-2016-0003

Author Accepted ManuscriptAccepted author manuscript, 536 KB

Cite this

@article{8e52cc0ac78e4ac598ea514e2ae3b8f7,

title = "On Legal Positivism{\textquoteright}s Word and our {\textquoteleft}Form-of-(non-)Living{\textquoteright}",

abstract = "This paper is about two stories. The more reassuring one states that by establishing that a norm is valid because of its source, not its merit, legal positivism is, in its various forms, perhaps one of the greatest achievements in Western legal theory and practice. From constitutionalism to human rights policies, from criminal to international law and free trade agreements, from contracts to torts and e-commerce, legal validity, predictability, and coherence have found their most powerful ally in positivist thought. This contribution argues that it is time for a different, neorealist story: the metaphysical, ontological and biopolitical essence of its language demonstrates that legal positivism has in fact played a fundamental role in the substitution of action with behaviour, and consequently, in the normalisation of humankind{\textquoteright}s self-annihilating animality as post-historical and post-political {\textquoteleft}form-of-(non-)living.{\textquoteright}",

keywords = "Legal positivism, legal language, liberal thought, reasons for action, Homo juridicus",

author = "Luca Siliquini-Cinelli",

year = "2016",

month = jul,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1515/gj-2016-0003",

language = "English",

volume = "16",

pages = "211--241",

journal = "Global Jurist",

issn = "1934-2640",

publisher = "Walter de Gruyter GmbH",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - On Legal Positivism’s Word and our ‘Form-of-(non-)Living’

AU - Siliquini-Cinelli, Luca

PY - 2016/7/1

Y1 - 2016/7/1

N2 - This paper is about two stories. The more reassuring one states that by establishing that a norm is valid because of its source, not its merit, legal positivism is, in its various forms, perhaps one of the greatest achievements in Western legal theory and practice. From constitutionalism to human rights policies, from criminal to international law and free trade agreements, from contracts to torts and e-commerce, legal validity, predictability, and coherence have found their most powerful ally in positivist thought. This contribution argues that it is time for a different, neorealist story: the metaphysical, ontological and biopolitical essence of its language demonstrates that legal positivism has in fact played a fundamental role in the substitution of action with behaviour, and consequently, in the normalisation of humankind’s self-annihilating animality as post-historical and post-political ‘form-of-(non-)living.’

AB - This paper is about two stories. The more reassuring one states that by establishing that a norm is valid because of its source, not its merit, legal positivism is, in its various forms, perhaps one of the greatest achievements in Western legal theory and practice. From constitutionalism to human rights policies, from criminal to international law and free trade agreements, from contracts to torts and e-commerce, legal validity, predictability, and coherence have found their most powerful ally in positivist thought. This contribution argues that it is time for a different, neorealist story: the metaphysical, ontological and biopolitical essence of its language demonstrates that legal positivism has in fact played a fundamental role in the substitution of action with behaviour, and consequently, in the normalisation of humankind’s self-annihilating animality as post-historical and post-political ‘form-of-(non-)living.’

KW - Legal positivism

KW - legal language

KW - liberal thought

KW - reasons for action

KW - Homo juridicus

U2 - 10.1515/gj-2016-0003

DO - 10.1515/gj-2016-0003

M3 - Article

SN - 1934-2640

VL - 16

SP - 211

EP - 241

JO - Global Jurist

JF - Global Jurist

IS - 2

ER -

On Legal Positivism’s Word and our ‘Form-of-(non-)Living’

Abstract

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this