RphZ Rechtsphilosophie

When, within the framework of a highly controversial debate of the early 1990s in Germany on the right to asylum, Winfrid Brugger argued, a human right to asylum could not be based on sound reason, he referred to the supposed impossibility of an...

The restriction of freedom of movement within the German asylum procedure is legally controversial. My essay applies John Rawls’ Theory of Justice to this problem. This is appropriate because Rawls makes the principle of equal basic freedoms the...

Kant’s philosophy of law is predominantly received without reference to its author’s - seemingly less compatible - positions in the philosophy of history. The following article attempts to trace the internal dependence of Kant’s philosophy of...

In his late work Perpetual Peace. A philosophical sketch from 1795/96, Kant gives us some hints on the relation between migration and cosmopolitanism. In his “general law of hospitality”, which is not a law of guest, but guarantees a right of...

This article analyses nudging from the perspective of liberal democratic theory of law. On the level of constitutional law, nudging is criticised for being paternalistic. At second thought, many forms of nudging are in contrast not paternalistic,...

Law requires language. Within legal theory one is aware that language can be used as a vehicle to fill legal norms with the subjective preferences of the respective author when interpreting and generating law. However, the cognitive basics of legal...

Why should we read Carl Schmitt, an authoritarian and at times convinced National Socialist jurist, today? What could we gain and learn from Schmitt’s thought that would be of more than historical interest? And how should his indissolubly...

In his contribution, Jens Hacke considers the potentials of a liberal reception of Schmitt from the perspective of political science. On the one hand, he highlights the descriptive value of some of Schmitt’s theorems when being taken up and...

In her contribution, Anna-Bettina Kaiser first asks the sociological question whether Schmitt’s wide reception is a testament to the topicality of his thought or whether it is also to an important degree due to an influential group of students....

In the section „On the Constitution“ in his „Foundations of Natural Right“, Johann Gottlieb Fichte designs a total police state. The passport functions as an instrument to ensure permanent surveillance of citizens. This text paradigmatically...

In his contribution, Klaus Günther deals with Schmitt’s distinction between legality and legitimacy. According to Günther, Kervégan’s decontextualization of the distinction first requires a recontextualization. Thus, he shows to what extent...

In her contribution, Marietta Auer takes up Jean-François Kervégan’s call to decontextualize Schmitt and to take up and modify individual aspects of his writings. Auer addresses the problem of a specifically jurisprudential epistemology and thus...

As in the book “Was tun mit Carl Schmitt?”, we try here to provide a decontextualized account of some Carl Schmitt’s arguments, in order to evaluate their possible fertility. This concerns what “political theology” implies for law, the...

Interestingly, the right to leave, which is generally considered to be at the core of liberal states, has rarely been substantiated in the history of philosophy. This neglect is unfortunate, in particular since this right is currently contested both...

Subjects are not simply found. They are constructed by institutions, social practices and societies. The subject is the result of subjectification. This analysis of transformation aims to show, on the basis of penal practices, that an appropriate...

As empirical migration studies have repeatedly shown, since the late 1990s mandatory integration policies have steadily gained importance in Western societies. These policies require immigrants to take certain actions or to demonstrate certain...

Migration is a basic component of human life. Therefore, the question of a right to migrate and a corresponding right to reside in the country of arrival is inevitable. However, such a right can only be understood as “imperfect”, because even if...