Habermas's Sociological and Normative Theory of Law and Democracy: A Reply to Wirts, Flynn, and Zurn
Philosophy and Social Criticism 40(2) pp. 225-34 (2014)
Boston Univ. School of Law, Law and Economics Research Paper
10 Pages Posted: 6 Oct 2015
Date Written: 2014
Abstract
In "Between Facts and Norms" (1996) Habermas presents the more straightforward normative discourse theory of law and democracy, in terms of contemporary legal orders, and then examines, in terms of social theory, whether the theory is plausible, given the complex nature of today’s conditions. The following article focuses in particular on Habermas’ social theory. It is critical of Habermas’ idea of ‘the lifeworld’ and discusses whether the circulation-of-power model might be mapped onto the system – lifeworld model.
Keywords: Democracy, Jürgen Habermas, law, lifeworld, social systems theory
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