_Naturalism and Democracy_, first published in German in 2014, presents a long-awaited commentary on Spinoza’s _Political Treatise _. It gives a detailed analysis of Spinoza’s latest theory of State and Law, with special attention to his democratic approach.

Naturalism and Democracy, first published in German in 2014, presents a long-awaited commentary on Spinoza’s Political Treatise (Tractatus politicus). It gives a detailed analysis of Spinoza’s latest theory of State and Law, with special attention to his democratic approach.

English summary: A commentary on Spinoza's final work, Tractatus Politicus has until recently remained a desideratum. In contrast to his metaphysics and his philosophy of religion, Spinoza's theories on politics, the state and law have received little attention in the German-speaking countries. It's only recently that Spinoza's political philosophy again become widely discussed in Germany. Having established the role of political philosophy and working always within the context of Spinoza's complete work, this volume comments firstly on Spinoza's theory on the (...) natural genesis of law and the state, including the foundations of political philosophy, the relationship between natural and national law and the theory of sovereignty and international relations. Continuing on this basis it moves on to his concept for the optimization of the system of political and legal institutions in all three forms of government. Finally, there is an analysis of the current relevance of Spinoza's thought and its impact on current debate. The work includes contributions by Tilman Altwicker, Wolfgang Bartuschat, Tobias Herbst, Gunnar Hindrichs, Rainer Keil, Stephan Kirste, Martin Leiner, Oliver W. Lembcke, Tilman Reitz and Manfred Walther. German description: Ein Kommentar zu Spinozas letztem Werk Tractatus politicus war bislang ein Desiderat. Spinozas Theorie der Politik, des Staates und des Rechts ist anders als seine Metaphysik und seine Religionsphilosophie im deutschsprachigen Bereich lange wenig beachtet worden. Erst in jungerer Zeit ist die Beschaftigung mit Spinozas politischer Philosophie auch in Deutschland wieder intensiver geworden. Nach einer Bestimmung des Ortes der Politischen Philosophie und stets im Kontext von Spinozas Gesamtwerk kommentiert der Band zunachst Spinozas Theorie der naturlichen Genese von Recht und Staat, so die Grundlagen der politischen Philosophie, das Verhaltnis von naturlichem und staatlichem Recht, die Theorie der Souveranitat und der internationalen Beziehungen. Auf dieser Grundlage folgt dann seine Konzeption einer Optimierung des Systems politisch-rechtlicher Institutionen fur alle drei Regierungsformen. Abschliessend werden die Aktualitat des Denkens Spinozas und sein Einfluss auf gegenwartige Debatten analysiert. Mit Beitragen von: Tilman Altwicker, Wolfgang Bartuschat, Tobias Herbst, G unnar Hindrichs, Rainer Keil, Stephan Kirste, Martin Leiner, Oliver W. Lembcke, Tilman Reitz, Manfred Walther. (shrink)

Angesichts der Globalisierung und der von ihr aufgeworfenen Probleme für das nationale und das internationale Recht gewinnt die Rechtsphilosophie immer stärker an Bedeutung. Zugleich verbinden sich rechtstheoretische Fragen wieder zunehmend mit philosophischen Überlegungen. Der vorliegende Band versammelt 20 Beiträge namhafter Rechtstheoretiker und Philosophen, die die eigenständige Begriffsbildung und die Entwicklung neuer Theorieansätze auf dem Gebiet der Rechtsphilosophie zum Ziel haben. Das Spektrum reicht dabei von grundbegrifflichen Klärungen bis hin zu konkreten Problemstellungen des globalisierten Rechts und bietet einen umfassenden Überblick über (...) die aktuelle deutsche und internationale Debatte. Mit Beiträgen u. a. von Robert Alexy, Klaus Günther, Gunther Teubner, Otfried Höffe und Jürgen Habermas. (shrink)

Modern societies often claim to be democracies in order to enjoy greater legitimacy. Still, to understand the concept of democracy and how to justify it, the definition of it as self-determined is not sufficient. A complex understanding has to take into account ideas of rule of law as well as human rights. Sometimes these three concepts compete with each other - particularly in societies with a pluralistic approach to what "the good life" should be, such as societies which are made (...) up of distinct cultural backgrounds. This book presents a concept of democracy that encompasses at the same time the ideas of rule of law, human rights and self-determination. It contains the main lectures of the XXVI World Congress of Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy, hosted by the Internationale Vereinigung fur Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil) in July 2013. (shrink)

In the course of its history since the Middle Ages law has shifted from a dependent object of the cultural memory to a forming power. By the selection and stabilization of certain values and norms and the discrimination of others it influences the general understanding of the past no less than by making the criminal offender a memory in the prosecution or on the opposite by demanding the deletion of data which could infringe the privacy of a person. This influence (...) is not without danger for fundamental freedoms, as the French laws on the debate about its colonial past show. Accordingly, the impact of the law on the cultural memory is limited by fundamental rights such as the freedom of science and the rights of personality. (shrink)

We can distinguish three forms of personification: Sensualizing personification, in which a presumed spiritual entity is presented in a material form; animating personification, in which a material object is given a symbolic spiritual meaning and finally the moral personification, in which an empirical subject receives a moral subjective status. Legal personification resembles the moral personification in its normativity and in giving the subject a new artificial status. This personification is carried out in the form of law, however, namely in a (...) reflective normative order. Only in this personified legal status, is the struggle of the individual for law (Jhering) in itself a legal procedure and the person rid of its subjection to mere power. (shrink)

Under the influence of a narrowly understood scientific legal positivism, jurisprudence has neglected interdisciplinary research for a long time. However, today there are strong practical and scholarly reasons for an interdisciplinary analysis of law triggered, e.g., by bioethics, life sciences, economics and ecology. And yet the very subject matter of law shimmering between normativity and descriptivity seems to resist all attempts to be taken in by common enterprises across disciplines: How then is the necessary interdisciplinary research in jurisprudence possible without (...) abandoning its core, legal dogmatics? This question was discussed at a special working group during the IVR-World Congress in Cracow. The papers have been polished and updated for publication. The volume falls into two parts: One is directed at the basic conceptual and institutional questions of interdisciplinary research in jurisprudence; the other one concentrates on one fruitful and highly important field of interdisciplinary research, constitutionalism. The volume brings together a truly international and in itself interdisciplinary group of experts in the field, from Finland to Brazil and from Spain to Greece. (shrink)

This book features essays that investigate the nature of legal validity from the point of view of different traditions and disciplines. Validity is a fascinating and elusive characteristic of law that in itself deserves to be explored, but further investigation is made more acute and necessary by the production, nowadays, of soft law products of regulation, such as declarations, self-regulatory codes, and standardization norms. These types of rules may not exhibit the characteristics of formal law, and may lack full formal (...) validity but yet may have a very real impact on people's lives. The essays focus on the structural properties of hard and soft legal phenomena and the basis of their validity. Some propose to redefine validity: to allow for multiple concepts instead of one and/or to allow for a gradual concept of validity. Others seek to analyze the new situation by linking it to familiar historical debates and well-established theories of law. In addition, coverage looks at the functions of validity itself. The discussion considers both international law as well as domestic law arrangements. What does it mean to say that something is valid? Should we discard validity as the determining aspect of law? If so, what does this mean for our concept of law? Should we differentiate between kinds of validity? Or, can we say that rules can be "more" or "less" valid? After reading this book, practitioners, scholars and students will have a nuanced understanding of these questions and more. Chapter 6 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com. (shrink)