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22 L. & Critique 1 (2011)

handle is hein.journals/lwcrtq22 and id is 1 raw text is: Law Critique (2011) 22:1-13
DOI 10.1007/s10978-010-9078-6
Doing Justice to Existence: Jean-Luc Nancy
and 'The Size of Humanity'
Ignaas Devisch
Published online: 14 December 2010
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
Abstract Jean-Luc Nancy has not written a single work dedicated entirely to the
problem of justice or related themes, but nevertheless, topics such as right, justice,
judgement or law appear in various places in Nancy's work. Besides 'Lapsus
judicii' and 'Dies irae', the theme of justice particularly comes up and in two small
texts: 'Cosmos Basileus' and 'Human Excess'. These texts are crucial to understand
Nancy's point of view in juridical matters but are largely left aside in secondary
literature, probably because of their enigmatic character. In this article we explore
the cluster of juridical questions in 'Cosmos Basileus' and 'Human Excess' and
argue why today, for Nancy, an ontological perspective is needed to cope with
juridical questions. For him, justice is in the first place bound up with the fact of our
co-existence, with what is unique about every existence in its co-existence with
other creations. He claims, first, that freedom is responsibility and the act of doing
justice to existence and, second, that sharing the world is the law of the world. We
will discuss these two claims and conclude with Nancy's plead for ontological
reflection within juridical topics.
Keywords    Justice - Co-existence - Measure - Humanity - Jean-Luc Nancy
Judgment
Justice and Humanity
In Law and Critique attention has already been given to the work of French
philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy and its relationship to law. In particular, the texts
'Lapsus judicii' (Nancy and Sparks 2003) and 'Dies irae' (Nancy 1985) are already
I. Devisch (E)
Philosophy of Medicine and Ethics/Social Work, Artevelde University College and Ghent
University, Campus Heymans (UZ) 3B3, De Pintelaan 185 BE, Ghent, Belgium
e-mail: Ignaas.Devisch@UGent.be; ignaasdevisch@scarlet.be

I_ Springer

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