Law, representation, and violence

Michael Moxter, Law, representation, and violence. The significance of Cassirer’s philosophy for the legal sphere, Occasional Papers of the Swedish Ernst Cassirer Society, nr. 5 (2013)

Modern secularized societies lack the horizon or the fertile ground on which a sense of togetherness as well as shared beliefs and an idea of obligation can grow. Carl Schmitt hinted at the resulting crisis from which, according to him, only Catholicism can rescue us. Hägerström, in contrast, argues that only relativism suits modern democracy. But both authors agree on one specific point: they both take the genesis and the historical background of legal order as decisive and significant for the role that law actually plays in our societies. They just draw opposite conclusions from a common presupposition.

Cassirer is opposed to both of them, especially to the point of their agreement.

> Maria Johansen, Mats Rosengren & Ola Sigurdson, ”Preface”
> Michael Moxter, ”Law, representation, and violence. The significance of Cassirer’s philosophy for the legal sphere”