عنوان

Political Theology between Reason and Will

Number

LA116124

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Political Theology between Reason and Will

General Material Designation

[Article]

First Statement of Responsibility

Richard Amesbury

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill | Nijhoff

Text of Note

Contemporary practitioners of political theology make use of Carl Schmitt's account of sovereignty to criticize liberal political theory. But whereas Schmitt focused on "states of exception," the new decisionism holds that decision-making is a quotidian feature of jurisprudence: the interpretation of law depends upon judicial decisions that serve to impose meaning on otherwise semantically indeterminate norms. Ironically, it is possible to detect in the contemporary decisionist critique of liberal theory, with its focus on law's meaning, a liberalizing tendency: by insisting on the ubiquity of decision-making, the exception is made to seem unexceptional. In this way, Schmitt is tamed, and sovereignty is diffused into the mundane world of administrative governance. I want to resist this normalizing account on philosophical grounds: if one is to appreciate the exceptional character of the decision, it is important to retain some background of regularity with which it can be contrasted. Contemporary practitioners of political theology make use of Carl Schmitt's account of sovereignty to criticize liberal political theory. But whereas Schmitt focused on "states of exception," the new decisionism holds that decision-making is a quotidian feature of jurisprudence: the interpretation of law depends upon judicial decisions that serve to impose meaning on otherwise semantically indeterminate norms. Ironically, it is possible to detect in the contemporary decisionist critique of liberal theory, with its focus on law's meaning, a liberalizing tendency: by insisting on the ubiquity of decision-making, the exception is made to seem unexceptional. In this way, Schmitt is tamed, and sovereignty is diffused into the mundane world of administrative governance. I want to resist this normalizing account on philosophical grounds: if one is to appreciate the exceptional character of the decision, it is important to retain some background of regularity with which it can be contrasted.

Date of Publication

2018

Physical description

49-67

Title

Journal of Law, Religion and State

Volume Number

6/1

International Standard Serial Number

2212-4810

Subject Term

Carl Schmitt

Subject Term

decisionism

Subject Term

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Subject Term

Paul W. Kahn

Subject Term

philosophy of law

Subject Term

political theology

Subject Term

the self

Subject Term

voluntarism

Richard Amesbury

Call Number

10.1163/22124810-00601003

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y