RphZ Rechtsphilosophie

Is there such a thing as evil morality? Is it therefore morally reprehensible in itself? And what does such morality mean for society? In his book Moral als Bosheit (2021), Alexander Somek attempts to reconstruct the structure of moral malice. The...

Lon L. Fuller’s The Morality of Law articulates much more than a rejection of legal positivism’s “separation thesis”. The book gives expression to a sustained refusal of positivism’s mission to reduce theoretical comprehension of the...

Among Anglo-American legal philosophers of the 20th Century, Lon Fuller stands apart by his keen interest and firm belief in juridical forms and their relevance for a well-functioning and just legal system. The article contextualizes, analyzes, and...

This study was written in connection with the recently published first German edition of Lon Fuller's book Morality of Law. The author argues that although Fuller’s legal theory is strongly linked to the institutional structure of the common law...

The semantic complexity of human dignity as a legal principle, a moral claim, or a fragile self-relationship corresponds to a plurality of criticisms that have been directed against it. In my contribution, I analyze three forms of critique, namely a...

One of Fuller’s central criteria for the internal morality of law is the existence of rules. This topic marks an important interface between Fuller’s philosophy of law and a fundamental problem of administrative law: the parliamentary proviso....

The peculiarities of the German post-war renaissance of natural law thinking may be part of the explanation that Fuller’s work has not yet received adequate attention within our tradition of legal philosophy. This is regrettable, not least because...

Die Schwierigkeit bei Sammelbänden besteht oftmals darin, ihnen eine gemeinsame Absicht zu entnehmen. Was sich für den Verfasser als Oeuvre darstellt, ist für den Leser vielfach nur eine Aneinanderreihung von Texten aus verschiedenen Epochen....

Quotas for structurally disadvantaged groups have been discussed for around fifty years. The article analyzes the development and changes in this discussion. Even though a material understanding of equality has replaced a formal concept of equality...

Legal gender studies, as the area of legal scholarship specialized in the study of law, gender and sexuality, have a lot to offer to the field of family law. The article identifies three key contributions that legal gender studies make to the...

It has become quite common within the field of Legal Gender Studies to take intersectionality into account. Applying an intersectional approach does not only entail a proliferation of relevant categories of analysis, but implies a relational line of...

The article explores the concept of collective autonomy, which is central to labor law, through the lens of Otto Kahn-Freund’s work on workers’ collective organization. It examines how insights from intersectional legal gender studies enrich...

In many areas of legal scholarship, the long cherished standard of objectivity, crudely juxtaposed to subjectivity, has become contested. The article advances positionality as a concept between objectivity and subjectivity. Positionality upholds the...

This study traces the astonishing – from today’s point of view – promptness or carelessness with which violent legal institutions, in particular slavery and cruel punishment, were accepted or even approved in Ancient philosophy. The basic...

This article examines the topic of anorexia in young women and their coercive treatment from the perspective of legal gender studies, beginning with a literary account of their experiences that invites dialogue. Legal gender studies offer critical...

As Aristotle stated in Book IV of the Metaphysics – that being is said in many ways – the same can be said of responsibility, a multifaceted concept that takes on different meanings depending on the context in which it is examined, evolving...

The challenge that legal responsibility currently faces in the face of neuroscientific findings has often been framed in the context of the free will debate. Free will has been seen as the philosophical basis of both moral and legal responsibility....

Recent immigration debates bring to the surface a peculiar argument about regulating immigration: Sovereign states may prevent immigrants from entering the country, because they have a right to exclude foreigners from their territory, much like...

The article challenges the traditional private law doctrine that exclusively attributes responsibility to human actors and advocates for a deanthropocentric framework of attribution and responsibility. It argues that private law constructs – such...

Carrying out professional activities, individuals and companies can – typically without the purpose to – contribute to crimes and human rights violations. Originating in German Criminal Law, the term “neutral acts” emphasizes the normal...

Does the issue of responsibility arise in cases of “oppressive coercion”, where the coercive threat builds on an oppressive normative practice or social schema? In contrast to widespread views, I argue (i) that oppression is not an exculpatory...

The essay concerns the theory of penal functionalism and in particular the Hegelian roots of the theory of intention developed by Günther Jakobs and recently analyzed in Kritik des Vorsatzbegriffs (2020). In particular, the author highlights the...