Philosophy of Law Books

New and Published Books

1. Althusser and Law

   Edited by Laurent de Sutter

   Series: Nomikoi Critical Legal Thinkers

   Althusser & Law is the first book specifically dedicated to the place of law in Louis Althusser’s philosophy. The growing importance of Althusser’s philosophy in contemporary debates on the left has - for practical and political, as well theoretical reasons - made a sustained&...

   Published February 20th 2013 by Routledge
2. Law and Art

   Justice, Ethics and Aesthetics

   Edited by Oren Ben-Dor

   In engaging with the full range of 'the arts', contributors to this volume consider the relationship between law, justice, the ethical and the aesthetic. Art continually informs the ethics of a legal theory concerned to address how theoretical abstractions and concrete oppressions overlook...

   Published February 19th 2013 by Routledge-Cavendish
3. Law and the Question of the Animal

   A Critical Jurisprudence

   Edited by Yoriko Otomo, Edward Mussawir

   Series: Law, Justice and Ecology

   This book addresses the problem of ‘animal life’ in terms that go beyond the usual extension of liberal rights to animals. The discourse of animal rights is one that increasingly occupies the political, ethical and intellectual terrain of modern society. But, although the question of the status of...

   Published February 7th 2013 by Routledge
4. Rethinking Law as Process

   Creativity, Novelty, Change

   By James MacLean

   Rethinking Law as Process draws on insights from 'process philosophy' in order to rethink the nature of legal decision-making. While there have been significant developments in the application of ‘process’ thought across a number of disciplines, little notice has been taken of Whiteheadian...

   Published February 4th 2013 by Routledge
5. Evil and Moral Psychology

   By Peter Brian Barry

   Series: Routledge Studies in Ethics and Moral Theory

   This book examines what makes someone an evil person and how evil people are different from merely bad people. Rather than focusing on the "problem of evil" that occupies philosophers of religion, Barry looks instead to moral psychology—the intersection of ethics and psychology. He provides...

   Published December 18th 2012 by Routledge
6. Jacques Derrida: Law as Absolute Hospitality

   Law as Absolute Hospitality

   By Jacques de Ville

   Series: Nomikoi Critical Legal Thinkers

   Jacques Derrida: Law as Absolute Hospitality presents a comprehensive account and understanding of Derrida’s approach to law and justice. Through a detailed reading of Derrida’s texts, Jacques de Ville contends that it is only by way of Derrida's deconstruction of the metaphysics of presence, and...

   Published November 29th 2012 by Routledge
7. The Ends of History

   Questioning the Stakes of Historical Reason

   Edited by Amy Swiffen, Joshua Nichols

   Over two decades ago we were confronted by the end of the Soviet Union and collapse of the geo-political divisions that had defined much of the twentieth century. From this particular end, the ‘end of history’was proclaimed. But is it still possible to argue that liberal democracy and free market...

   Published November 22nd 2012 by Routledge
8. The Experience of Tragic Judgment

   By Julen Etxabe

   Adjudication between conflicting normative universes that do not share the same vocabulary, standards of rationality, and moral commitments cannot be resolved by recourse to traditional principles. Such cases are always in a sense tragic. And what is called for, in our pluralistic and conflictual...

   Published November 20th 2012 by Routledge
9. Punishment

   By Thom Brooks

   Punishment is a topic of increasing importance for citizens and policymakers. Why should we punish criminals? Which theory of punishment is most compelling? Is the death penalty ever justified? These questions and many others are addressed in this highly engaging guide. Punishment is a critical...

   Published November 12th 2012 by Routledge
10. Re-reading Foucault

    On Law, Power and Rights

    Edited by Ben Golder

    Re-reading Foucault: On Law, Power and Rights is the first collection in English fully to address the relevance of Michel Foucault’s thought for law. Foucault is the best known and most cited of the late twentieth-century’s ‘theory’ academics. His work continues to animate a range of different...

    Published October 23rd 2012 by Routledge