Facing the flood of contradictory interpretations of Nietzsche’s writings, is it still possible to assert anything positive about the political and intellectual stance of the author of « Zarathoustra »? In his massive study, Domenico Losurdo, Professor of Philosophy at the university of Urbino, argues that Nietzsche’s thoughts, even the most provocative, such as his defence of slavery or eugenics, should not be read as simple metaphors or innocent speculations aiming at the moral improvement of man, but constitute a specific, (...) agressively aristocratic, response to what, according to Nietzsche, is the main threat of his time : the rise of revolutionary ideals, and global democratisation of society. (shrink)

« The form within which contractions can move ». The case for a reconstruction of the materialist theory of law The article begins with an appraisal of the legacy of Marxist legal theory in the last century as the starting-point from which to update the various attempts to grasp the connection between the capitalist mode of production and modern law. By way of a critical inquiry of its merits and failures, the article tries to re-construct the findings of Marxist legal (...) theory and thus propose an updated version of a materialist legal theory. The main argument is that law in capitalist societies takes the form of a technology of cohesion which possesses its own logic of self reproduction. Law’s ´relational autonomy` is both an effect of its autonomisation from social relations, behind the back of its producers, and the main condition for a deferral of power. Under the structural conditions of the legal form, juridical intellectuals organise hegemony via the infrastructure of a seemingly neutral legal argumentation. (shrink)

Facing the flood of contradictory interpretations of Nietzsche’s writings, is it still possible to assert anything positive about the political and intellectual stance of the author of « Zarathoustra »? In his massive study, Domenico Losurdo, Professor of Philosophy at the university of Urbino, argues that Nietzsche’s thoughts, even the most provocative, such as his defence of slavery or eugenics, should not be read as simple metaphors or innocent speculations aiming at the moral improvement of man, but constitute a specific, (...) agressively aristocratic, response to what, according to Nietzsche, is the main threat of his time : the rise of revolutionary ideals, and global democratisation of society. (shrink)