Law and the Passions

<p>Engaging with the underlying social context in which emotions are a motivational</p><p></p><p>force, <em>Law and the Passions</em> provides a uniquely inclusive commentary on the significance</p><p></p><p>and influence of emotions in the history and continuing development of</p><p></p><p>legal judgment, policy formation, legal practice and legal dogma.</p><p></p><p>Although the emotionality of the law and the use of emotional tropes in legal</p><p></p><p>discourse has become an established focus in recent scholarship, the extent to</p><p></p><p>which emotion and the passions have informed decision-making, decision-avoidance</p><p></p><p>and legal reasoning – rather than as simply an adjunct – is still a matter for</p><p></p><p>critical analysis. As evidenced in a range of illustrative legal cases, emotions have</p><p></p><p>been instrumental in the evolution of key legal principles and have produced many</p><p></p><p>controversial judgments. Addressing the latent influence of fear, hate, love and</p><p></p><p>compassion, the book explores the mutability of law and its transformative power,</p><p></p><p>especially when faced with fluctuating social mores. The textual nature of law and</p><p></p><p>the impact of literary forms on legal actors are also critically examined to further</p><p></p><p>elucidate the idea of law-making as both rational and emotional, and significantly</p><p></p><p>as an essential activity of the empathic imagination. To this end, it is suggested</p><p></p><p>that critical scholarship on law, the passions and emotions not only advances our</p><p></p><p>understanding of the inner workings of law, it constitutes a fundamental part of</p><p></p><p>our moral reasoning, and has the capacity to articulate the conditions for a more</p><p></p><p>dynamic, adaptable, ethical and effective legal institution.</p><p></p><p>This interdisciplinary book will be of interest to scholars and students in the</p><p></p><p>fields of law and literature, legal theory, legal philosophy, law and the humanities,</p><p></p><p>legal aesthetics, sociology of law, politics, law and policy, human rights, general jurisprudence</p><p></p><p>and social justice, as well as cultural studies.</p> <p>Table of Contents</p><p></p><p>Preface</p><p></p><p>Introduction</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 1</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>No slave to reason: the significance of the passions in mapping the legal landscape</strong></p><p></p><p>The impossibility of reason without passion: I feel, therefore I am</p><p></p><p>Robes and lobes: the convergence of law and neuroscience</p><p></p><p>The <i>logos </i>of law and moral judgment as an emotional <i>lexis</i> </p><p></p><p>Turtles (and the normativity of law) all the way down</p><p></p><p>Intersubjectivity, law’s unconscious, and the ethical authority of the human face</p><p></p><p>The life of law as the life of reason <i>and</i> the passions</p><p></p><p>Chapter 2</p><p></p><p>Law, emotions and aesthetic justice</p><p></p><p>The aesthetic influence on legal sensibilities</p><p></p><p>Narrative creativity as the ‘life of law’ and the ‘law of life’</p><p></p><p>From expressivist aesthetics to expressivist ethics</p><p></p><p>Poetry in (e)motion: expressing the inexpressible</p><p></p><p>Through the looking-glass or the mirror crack’d</p><p></p><p>Chapter 3</p><p></p><p>Law as Fear</p><p></p><p>Fear and evaluative judgments</p><p></p><p>Fear-mongering and the media: implications for justice</p><p></p><p>Where Judges fear to tread: law and the politics of fear</p><p></p><p>Fear, fetish, fantasy and legal framing strategies</p><p></p><p>Legal truths and truisms, moral metaphors and moral panic</p><p></p><p>Reimagining the foundations for justice: overcoming the new politics of fear</p><p></p><p>Chapter 4</p><p></p><p>Law as Hate</p><p></p><p>Law’s symbolic violence: use of linguistic coercion in the constitution of the legal order</p><p></p><p>Law’s truth and the Tinkerbell Effect</p><p></p><p>The (in-)visibility of law: ‘secret’ justice is justice denied</p><p></p><p>Law as hate: killing in the name of the law</p><p></p><p>On ideology and language in the classification of legal subjects: ‘them’ and ‘us’</p><p></p><p>Reimagining the Other as self: the promise of justice fulfilled</p><p></p><p>Chapter 5</p><p></p><p>Law as Compassion</p><p></p><p>From vengeance to compassion: the two faces of ‘justice’</p><p></p><p>Compassionate justice and the ethical significance of vulnerability</p><p></p><p>‘Truth waits for eyes unclouded by longing’: ‘enlarged’ (empathic) perception motivates compassionate judgment</p><p></p><p>Compassion and the criminal justice system</p><p></p><p>Compassion without justice is mere sentimentality however justice without compassion is but tyranny</p><p></p><p>Chapter 6</p><p></p><p>Law as Love</p><p></p><p>Determining the ‘right kind of love’: love as a moral emotion</p><p></p><p>Love enriches and extends the scope of the lawyer’s question ‘who is my neighbour?’</p><p></p><p>Law and love: against the entitlement of wealth and the obstruction of justice</p><p></p><p>The heart as law’s attorney: there can be no justice without love</p><p></p><p>The imperative of a sentimental education: in recognition of law as an activity of the heart, soul and intellect</p><p></p><p>Bibliography</p><p></p>