Vol. 9 No. 10 (October 1999) pp. 424-427.
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES ON LAW & POLITICS: READINGS FROM PLATO
TO DERRIDA by Patrick Hayden (Editor). New York: Peter Lang
Publishing, 1999. 364pp. Paper $29.95.
Reviewed by Artemus Ward, Department of Political Science,
California State University, Chico.
As the 21st century rapidly approaches, we continue to
grapple with issues relating to the role of law and politics in
society. Age-old questions about law's influence on individuals
and their relationship to the wider political community continue
to be debated not only in college classrooms but also in society
as a whole. As a result, teaching courses in legal philosophy and
political thought can be very challenging. With over two thousand
years of western legal and political philosophy to choose from,
instructors often have a difficult time knowing where to begin and
what to include.
Fortunately, Patrick Hayden has culled together a group of
classic readings by important philosophers that encompass a wide-
range of perspectives on the role of law and politics in society.
Hayden broadly divides the anthology into three chronological
sections. Each selection ranges from twenty to forty pages in
length and includes each author's original footnotes.
In part one, selections from Plato's REPUBLIC (1888),
Aristotle's POLITICS (1885), and St. Thomas Aquinas' SUMMA
THEOLOGICA (1915) are offered as examples of classical reflections
on the nature of law, politics, and the ideal state. The
inclusion of Plato and Aristotle will allow students to see a
number of important similarities and differences in
conceptualizing the ideal state. For example, while Plato
searched for perfect justice, the selection from Aristotle
demonstrates that the laws of men can never attain true justice.
Still, Aristotle's faith in the rule of law provides students with
a solid foundation for the subsequent readings. It is not
surprising then that St. Thomas Aquinas is Hayden's next choice.
Aristotle's views gained acceptance in the 13th century largely
due to St. Thomas' influence. He fused the political ideals of
ancient Greece with church doctrine to promote the necessity of
government. Getting students excited and interested in these
works, while always a challenge, is not out of the realm of the
impossible. After all, each author does argue that monarchy is
the desired form of government.
Part two is the largest section of the book and focuses on
modern conceptions of law, the common good, and political society.
The eight selections are comprised of Benedict De Spinoza's
POLITICAL TREATISE (1951), Thomas Hobbes' LEVIATHAN (1839), John
Locke's SECOND TREATISE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT (1764), Baron de
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Montesquieu's SPIRIT OF THE LAWS (1878), Jean Jacques Rousseau's
SOCIAL CONTRACT (1902), Immanuel Kant's PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL
RIGHT (1891), G.W.F. Hegel's PHILOSOPHY OF RIGHT (1896), and
Jeremy Bentham's PRINCIPLES OF MORALS AND LEGISLATION (1789).
Although I won't go into the arguments of each author here, it is
in these readings that students begin to question their own
presuppositions about the nature of law and government. Students
should come away with questions about human nature from reading
Hobbes and Rousseau and ask whether a particular view of human
nature necessarily dictates a specific view of the law and a
particular form of government.
The final part of the anthology will arguably prove the most
challenging for students. It contains more contemporary views on
law and politics and is where the book's greatest contribution
lies. Included is an excerpt from Hannah Arendt's ORIGINS OF
TOTALITARIANISM (1915), a law review article by John Rawls (1989)
on "The Domain of the Political and Overlapping Consensus," an
article by Jurgen Habermas (1995) "On the Internal Relation
Between the Rule of Law and Democracy," and an essay by Jacques
Derrida (1990) entitled the "Force of Law: The 'Mystical
Foundation of Authority.'" Hayden's choice of these essays
deserves much applause. Rather than using the most well known of
these author's writings, he has included their more recent pieces
that are specific to the book's topic. Although many of us are
familiar with Rawls' THEORY OF JUSTICE (1971), for example, the
inclusion of this more recent and more targeted piece is
refreshing. Here, students will move beyond their conceptions of
the rule of law and good government and return to fundamental
questions. In this sense, students will come full circle from the
fundamental questioning of Plato to Derrida's critique of
authority.
Of course it is impossible to include every important author
and still keep an edited volume relatively short and accessible.
Although an argument could be made for the inclusion of works
by Machiavelli, Tocqueville, Mill, Marx, Lenin, Nietzsche, Gandhi,
and others, one has to draw the line somewhere.
If there is one shortcoming to this collection, from a
teaching perspective, it is Hayden's choice of a minimalist
approach. Unlike other anthologies, the selections in this book
stand alone, meaning that Hayden has not provided any introductory
remarks, reading questions, or analysis about the authors or works
included. He has also made no attempt to link the readings in any
explicit way. One benefit of this minimal approach is that it
permits instructors and students to make their own interpretations
and connections between the selections. Instructors can provide
as much or as little direction as the like depending on how well
the students are grasping the material. By the same token, an
obvious drawback is that outside the classroom, non-specialists
and lay readers may have a more difficult time with the more
challenging selections due to the lack of direction. My own
preference would be the inclusion of short introductory essays
placing the authors in their historical context and providing some
analytic component. Unlike similar
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compilations, Hayden does provide a brief index that should make
it easier for students to compare the authors' views on such
concepts as authority, freedom, justice, liberty, morality and
security. This book would be best used as an undergraduate text
for a course in legal philosophy or western political thought.
One might also want to use it as a supplement in a class on law
and politics or the judicial process. The books accessible yet
probing selections are sure to provoke students for in-class
discussions. And despite its minimalist approach, this anthology
should prove interesting and challenging to the non-specialist.
REFERENCES
Aquinas, St. Thomas. 1915. SUMMA THEOLOGICA. Trans. English
Dominican Fathers. New York: Benziger Brothers.
Arendt, Hannah. 1951. THE ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIANISM. New York:
Harcourt Brace.
Aristotle. 1885. POLITICS," in THE POLITICS OF ARISTOTLE. Trans.
Benjamin Jowett. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.
Bentham, Jeremy. 1789. THE PRINCIPLES OF MORALS AND LEGISLATION.
London: T. Payne and Son.
Derrida, Jacques. 1990. "Force of Law: The 'Mystical Foundation of
Authority,'" CARDOZO LAW REVIEW 11: 919.
Habermas, Jurgen. 1995. "On the Internal Relation Between the Rule
of Law and Democracy." EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY 3: 1.
Hegel, G.W.F. 1896. PHILOSOPHY OF RIGHT. Trans. S. W. Dyde.
London: George Bell and Sons.
Hobbes, Thomas. 1839. "Leviathan." In THE ENGLISH WORKS OF THOMAS
HOBBES. Ed. Sir William Molesworth. London: John Bohn.
Kant, Immanuel. 1891. PRINCIPLES OF POLITICS. Trans.W. Hastie.
Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.
Locke, John. 1764. TWO TREATISES OF GOVERNMENT, Book II. London:
A. Miller.
Montesquieu, Baron de. 1878. THE SPIRIT OF THE LAWS. Trans. Thomas
Nugent. London: George Bell and Sons.
Plato. 1888. THE REPUBLIC OF PLATO. 3rd ed. Trans. Benjamin
Jowett. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.
Rawls, John. 1971. A THEORY OF JUSTICE. Cambridge, Mass.: The
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Rawls, John. 1989. "The Domain of the Political and Overlapping
Consensus," NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 64: 233.
Rousseau, Jean Jacques. 1902. THE SOCIAL CONTRACT. , 3rd ed.
Trans. Henry J. Tozer. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co.
Spinoza, Benedict de. 1951. "A Political Treatise." In THE WORKS
OF
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SPINOZA, Vol. 1. Trans. R. H. M. Elwes. New York: Dover
Publications.
Copyright 1999