In this thesis I argue that Jacques Derrida takes a mediating position in between Walter Benjamin and Carl Schmitt with regards to the relationship between law and reality. I do so by showing that...Show moreIn this thesis I argue that Jacques Derrida takes a mediating position in between Walter Benjamin and Carl Schmitt with regards to the relationship between law and reality. I do so by showing that Derrida wants to reside within the system - just like Schmitt - while he also partially argues for deconstructing the system - similar to Benjamin. The big difference with Benjamin is that Derrida wants to tear up the system from within.Show less
As current democratic governments are unsuccessful in fulfilling our moral obligations to future generations, future-focused institutions aim to adapt our democracy to neutralise this short-termism...Show moreAs current democratic governments are unsuccessful in fulfilling our moral obligations to future generations, future-focused institutions aim to adapt our democracy to neutralise this short-termism. However, it often appears to be impossible for future-focused institutions to be both effective and democratically legitimate. This thesis aims to resolve this dilemma by arguing for strong external representatives, representatives of future generations outside of legislative assemblies that have a strong mandate to veto laws that have a strong negative impact on future generations. To claim that this is not only effective but also democratically legitimate, this thesis analyses the most influential theories on the boundaries of the demos, the All Affected Interests Principle and Democratic Values Theory, and demonstrates that they require the inclusion of future generations by means of a strong-mandated representative. Finally, this thesis also provides several desiderata on how strong external representatives should be instituted and discusses its political feasibility.Show less
This thesis analyses the authority of international law from the perspective of international legal positivism. The traditional approach that takes the state’s will as the foundation of...Show moreThis thesis analyses the authority of international law from the perspective of international legal positivism. The traditional approach that takes the state’s will as the foundation of international law is problematic as it results in the voluntarist dilemma. For international law to have objective power, a state should be incapable of escaping its authority by its own will even though this will is what constituted international law in the first place. The incompatibility of this would mean that international law’s authority is actually based on a ‘special’ will that is external to the wills of states. Georg Jellinek devised a theory of international law that supposedly accounts for international law’s objective authority while maintaining the state’s will as its foundation. His theory is built on what he calls “the normative force of the factual”, but falls short as it cannot withstand Hume’s law. Herbert Hart’s theory of law is more promising as it leaves the state’s will out of the equation and focuses on legal practice to understand the necessary features of a legal system. International law, however, is “law” but not a legal system. This thesis challenges Hart’s understanding of international law as “law” and argues that there is an international legal system consisting of primary and secondary rules.Show less
The thesis argues that the concept of landscape fails to do justice to the experience of it. Through an analysis of the concept and of its origins, it locates the presuppositions of the concept in...Show moreThe thesis argues that the concept of landscape fails to do justice to the experience of it. Through an analysis of the concept and of its origins, it locates the presuppositions of the concept in its understanding of self and world. A phenomenological approach reveals that current understanding of landscape perpetuates the distinction of subject and object, disabling the experience of being in a landscape. Drawing on the later works of Husserl and Heidegger, the concluding chapters works towards an understanding of landscape as awareness of earth.Show less
In deze scriptie wordt aan de hand van de Urgenda-uitspraak van de rechtbank Den Haag het verschijnsel van de ‘politieke beslissing’ geïntroduceerd. Bij een zogenaamde politieke beslissing neemt de...Show moreIn deze scriptie wordt aan de hand van de Urgenda-uitspraak van de rechtbank Den Haag het verschijnsel van de ‘politieke beslissing’ geïntroduceerd. Bij een zogenaamde politieke beslissing neemt de rechter een beslissing waarbij de eigen politieke voorkeur leidend wordt geacht. Dergelijke beslissingen worden bekritiseerd. Aan de hand van de politieke filosofie en rechtsfilosofie van de Duitse filosoof Carl Schmitt wordt in deze scriptie echter betoogd dat iedere beslissing – in meer of mindere mate – een politieke dimensie kent. Het onderkennen van deze dimensie is essentieel alvorens een zinvolle discussie gevoerd kan worden over de politieke beslissing van de rechter. Deze scriptie poogt het startpunt te zijn van een dergelijke discussie.Show less
Since the beginning of the 1980s, much debate in the jurisprudential literature on freedom of speech has been about the (alleged) right to produce and publish pornography. Law professor and...Show moreSince the beginning of the 1980s, much debate in the jurisprudential literature on freedom of speech has been about the (alleged) right to produce and publish pornography. Law professor and feminist Catherine A. MacKinnon produced an interesting argument to justify censorship: pornography itself silences women (and we are allowed to silence silencing speech). This thesis seeks to investigate this normative defence of the 'silencing of the silencing', particular in the form promulgated by Rae Langton from the 1990s on. It argues that Langton and other feminists are right to conclude that free speech implies more than a mere 'right to locution' -- there must also be a right to be heard. Yet, it puts into question the premise that that fact alone could justify a censorship. That usually constitutes an offence against the spirit of autonomy, one of the main reasons to accept free speech in the first place.Show less
