About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

47 Rutgers L. Rec. 1 (2019-2020)

handle is hein.journals/rutglr47 and id is 1 raw text is: RUTGERS LAW RECORD The DigitalJournal of Rutgers Law School lawrecord.com Volume 47 2019-2020 ARTICULATING JUSTICE: THE CONTINENTAL TRADITION AND THE RULE AND LANGUAGE OF LAW NEIL VAISHNAV' The contemporary era is frequently characterized as one in which the law's legitimacy is under assault. In the popular imagination, this assault inexorably follows from the embrace of a Continental philosophical tradition that claims that all truths are partial.2 Yet a more careful examination of several seminal Continental thinkers suggests that the Continental tradition provides the theoretical foundation for the rule of law that our pluralistic age increasingly lacks. I argue that Continental thought both legitimates American legal traditions and institutions while providing the justification for their dynamism and growth in the face of evolving notions of justice. I. Introduction If all that enters consciousness, as Nietzsche believed, becomes shallow, thin, relatively stupid... a herd-mark, law and morality would seem to be in a great deal of trouble.3 For Nietzsche, consciousness was a late development, a tool suited only to the needs of group survival, and which therefore corrupted whatever the great submerged mass of our thinking gave up to the surface of our consciousness. Thus, what reason discloses to consciousness is at best superficial and at worst a series 1 J.D., University of California, San Francisco. 2 See, e.g., Jeet Heer, America's First Postmodern President, THE NEW REPUBLIC (July 8, 2017), https://newrepublic.com/article/143730/americas-first-postmodern-president; MICHIKO KAKUTANI, THE DEATH OF TRUTH (Tim Duggan ed., Tim Duggan Books 1st ed., 2018). 3 FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, THE GAY SCIENCE 213 (Bernard Williams ed., Josefine Nauckhoff trans., Cambridge Univ. Press 2001) (1887). 4 Idat 212. 1

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most