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"Though this be madness, yet there is method in it"In the academic year 2003-2004, the Department of Philosophy offers courses in English on the subjects of ethics and legal philosophy. The course described on this page is scheduled as a course in legal philosophy, but (depending on definitive decisions by the programma committee) could possibly be taken as a course in ethics as well.
- Shakespeare, Hamlet, II, ii, 205
Politics,
law, and (mythical) authority
Period: 1st semester,
Time: wednesday 15-17h, from September 3 through December 14, 2003.
Level: this course is offered at the Master level in the legal philosophy program at EUR
Content:
Law and politics both rule our lives in the sense that they necessarily
claim authority. Without such a claim, a legal norm would merely be a
request,
an exhortation, or a threat to use force. A political decision would be
the expression of a mere preference, instead of an authoritative
allocation
of values. But what is the foundation of this presumed authority of
law,
and of politics? Can their claims be justified at all, or do we always
and necessarily get stuck with some ‘undeconstructible’ remainder, a
trace
of violence, that always haunts the theory and practice of law and of
politics?
In this course,
we will discuss modern and postmodern views on the authority of law and
of politics, including insights from field as diverse as philosophy,
law,
anthropology, sociology, political theory, gender studies and cultural
studies. Authors to be read and discussed include Walter Benjamin, Carl
Schmitt, Sigmund Freud, Herbert Hart, Jacques Derrida, Hent de Vries,
and Slavoj Zizek.
Structure: seminar. 15 weekly 2-hour meetings. Group discussion and the formation of (reasoned) opinions is strongly encouraged.
Literature: see the course listing for this program.
Assessment: Oral examination based on paper (ca 15 pp)
Lecturer: Dr Gijs van Oenen, room 4.02, Department of Philosophy. Tel 4088999, email vanoenen@fwb.eur.nl
Weight and credits: 7 ECTS (196 hours)
Entry
requirements:
basic knowledge of poststructuralist or postmodern philosophy.
Recommended as
introductory
reading:
Anthony Elliott,
Social theory and psychoanalysis in transition. Self and society from
Freud
to Kristeva, 2nd edition (Free association books, London 1999)
Application:
preferably
by email, with the lecturer, Gijs van Oenen: vanoenen@fwb.eur.nl.
For more info, do not hesitate to
contact
the instructor:
Dr Gijs van Oenen, Department of
Philosophy,
Oostmaaslaan 950 (5 minutes from Woudestein campus),
tel. +31.10.4088999 or +31.20.6860948.
email:vanoenen@fwb.eur.nl.
Last change: September 3, 2003
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