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38 Liverpool L. Rev. 1 (2017)

handle is hein.journals/lvplr38 and id is 1 raw text is: Liverpool Law Rev (2017) 38:1-10 CrssMark DOI 10.1007/s10991-017-9196-4 Introduction to the Special Issue on Reimagining Justice: Aesthetics and Law Julia J. A. Shawl Published online: 27 February 2017 © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017 Aesthetics originates from the Greek word aisthetikos (sensation or perception by the senses as opposed to reason) which is derived from aisthanesthai (to perceive or feel) and, while implicated in the production of metaphors and substitution, it has analogic connections to ethics and acts upon the emotions. In The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Adam Smith placed aesthetic perceptions and emotional reactions at the heart of moral judgment, and took the view that legal judgment is as much a property of feeling as of intellectual understanding or reason. To situate institutions such as slavery and destitution within a discourse of mercy, for example, comprises a form of sentimental jurisprudence which prioritises the synthesis of morality and compassion with social reality; but more importantly requires the ability to visualise, without self-interest, the circumstances in which the oppressed find themselves. Although, in general, aesthetic discourse allows a measure of flexibility that typically moral discourse often lacks, aesthetics and moral principles are not necessarily disparate notions. Just as Immanuel Kant concluded in his articulation of beauty as a distinct moral category in Critique of Judgment, similarly for Friedrich Schiller the adoption of an appropriately moral disposition (deemed essential for moral actions) depends on aesthetic sensitivity. This is because only an aesthetic sensibility was considered to have both a transformative and educative impact which enabled 'universally valid judgments and universally valid actions' to become 'an object of the heart's desire' (Schiller 1967, p. 33.5, 9.7). The cultivation of an inner sense of beauty or aesthetic attitude was also considered necessary in order to overcome the egoism of aesthetic taste, by increasing receptivity to the human condition and in so doing, internalising the rational call of conscience and moral duty. ® Julia J. A. Shaw jshaw@dmu.ac.uk Reader in Law and Literary Jurisprudence, School of Law, De Montfort University, Leicester LEl 9BH, UK I Springer

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