Wouter de Been
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804756594
- eISBN:
- 9780804787529
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804756594.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
This book presents a comparison between the legal realists, a group of pragmatic legal theorists from the 1920s and 1930s, and critical legal studies, a movement of postmodern legal theory during the ...
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This book presents a comparison between the legal realists, a group of pragmatic legal theorists from the 1920s and 1930s, and critical legal studies, a movement of postmodern legal theory during the end of the twentieth century. It argues for a return to legal realism and the classical pragmatism of John Dewey and William James, and for a rejection of the postmodern critique of critical legal studies. The book discusses the two movements with respect to three topics: their view of history, their view of social science, and their view of language. Rejecting the claim that critical legal studies can be seen as the heir of legal realism, it argues that, with respect to each of these three topics, the realists still present a stronger argument than their more radical descendants.Less
This book presents a comparison between the legal realists, a group of pragmatic legal theorists from the 1920s and 1930s, and critical legal studies, a movement of postmodern legal theory during the end of the twentieth century. It argues for a return to legal realism and the classical pragmatism of John Dewey and William James, and for a rejection of the postmodern critique of critical legal studies. The book discusses the two movements with respect to three topics: their view of history, their view of social science, and their view of language. Rejecting the claim that critical legal studies can be seen as the heir of legal realism, it argues that, with respect to each of these three topics, the realists still present a stronger argument than their more radical descendants.
