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Cardozo Law Review

Abstract

The epistemological problem of critical theories is easy to state but hard to resolve. On the one hand, if the theories are too descriptive and draw their conceptual resources from the ideas and institutions which currently exist, they lose their critical force. While they may provide elaborate reconstructions of the structure of social practices, they remain internal to these practices, part of a field of knowledge in which, at worst, theory is merely a form of public relations. On the other hand, if they articulate forms of critique that are entirely external to the systems of knowledge and practice that exist, then they threaten to become elitist and dependent on "transcendental" support, hence lacking any basis in the experience of the subjects for whom the theory is articulated in the first place.

Keywords

Democracy, Political Systems and Governments, Jurisprudence, Legal History, Philosophy

Disciplines

Jurisprudence | Law | Legal History | Philosophy

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