Stanley Fish on Philosophy, Politics and Law: How Fish Works PDF
Preview Stanley Fish on Philosophy, Politics and Law: How Fish Works
STANLEY FISH ON PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS, AND LAW Fish’swritingsonphilosophy,politics,andlawcomprisenumerousbooks andarticlesproducedovermanydecades.Thisbookconnectsthosedots inordertorevealtheoverallstructureofhisargumentandtodemonstrate how his work in politics and law flows logically from his philosophical stands on the nature of the self, epistemology, and the role of theory. MichaelRobertsonconsidersFish’spoliticalcritiquesofliberalism,critical theory, postmodernism, and pragmatism before turning to his observa- tionsonpoliticalsubstanceandpoliticalpractice.Thedetailedanalysisof Fish’s jurisprudence explores his relationships to legal positivism, legal formalism, legal realism, and critical legal studies, as well as his debate withRonaldDworkin.GapsandinconsistenciesinFish’sargumentsare fully explored, and the author provides a description of Fish’s own positiveaccountoflawanddealswiththechargethatFishisanindeter- minacytheoristwhounderminestheruleoflaw. michael robertson isanassociateprofessoroflawintheFacultyof LawattheUniversityofOtago,NewZealand,whereheteachescoursesin jurisprudence,legaltheoryandlaw&society. STANLEY FISH ON PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS, AND LAW How Fish Works MICHAEL ROBERTSON UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107074743 ©MichaelRobertson2014 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2014 PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata Robertson,MichaelSpencer,1952–author. StanleyFishonphilosophy,politicsandlaw:howFishworks/MichaelRobertson. pagescm ISBN978-1-107-07474-3(Hardback) 1. Fish,StanleyEugene. 2. Law–Philosophy. 3. Politicalscience–Philosophy. I. Title. K230.F57R63014 3400.1–dc23 2014014330 ISBN978-1-107-07474-3Hardback Additionalresourcesforthispublicationatwww.cambridge.org/9781107074743 CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication, anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. For Vicki Evans and Rick Norris CONTENTS Short titles of books by Stanley Fish x Introduction 1 part i: Philosophy 5 1 The nature of the self 7 Kant’sconceptionoftheself 7 Fish’scritiqueofKant’sconceptionoftheself 9 Fish’sconceptionoftheself 11 2 Epistemology 16 Foundationalism 16 Fish’scritiqueoffoundationalism 18 Fish’santi-foundationalism 21 Facts,reasons,andbeliefs 40 3 The role of theory 48 Threeorthodoxclaimsabouttheroleoftheory 48 Fish’srejectionoftheclaimthattheorycantranscend thelimitationsoflocalcontexts 50 Fish’srejectionoftheclaimthatalllocalpractices presupposesometheory 53 Fish’srejectionoftheclaimthattheoryhasaspecialrolein guidingorreformingotherpractices 55 Fish’saccountofthecontingentconsequencesoftheory 70 part ii: Politics 79 4 Political theory 81 Fish’scritiqueofliberalpoliticaltheory 81 Fish’scritiqueofanti-foundationalistpoliticaltheories: criticaltheory,postmodernism,andpragmatism 108 vii viii contents 5 Political substance 139 Fish’sclaimthatthereisnonecessaryconnectionbetweenhis philosophicalanalysisandanysubstantivepoliticalpositions 139 Fish’sownsubstantivepoliticalpositions 139 Theobjectionthatsomesubstantivepoliticalpositionsdo followfromFish’sphilosophicalanalysis 144 6 Political practice 154 Fish’sdifferentsensesof“politics” 154 Fishonpoliticalpractice 156 part iii: Law 177 7 Legal positivism 179 Theimpossibilityoftheunconstrainedlegalactor 179 Fish’srejectionoftheseparationoflawandmorality/politics 183 LegalpositivistresponsestoFish 186 8 Legal formalism 206 Thetextualistversionoflegalformalism 206 Fish’scritiquesoftextualism 213 MoreonFish’sintentionalism 228 9 The Fish/Dworkin debate 251 Fish’scritiqueofDworkin’sfearofanunconstrainedlegalactor 253 Fish’scritiqueofDworkin’shopeforanindependent constraintuponinterpretation 259 Fish’scritiqueofDworkin’shopethatphilosophycanprovide coherenceandguidanceforlaw 264 HowdoesFish’sanalysisofDworkinfitwithFish’sintentionalism? 269 Dworkin’scritiqueofFish’srejectionofunconstrainedlegalactors 273 Dworkin’scritiqueofFish’sanalogizingjudgingtotheinstinctive performancesofathletes 281 10 Fish’s positive account of law 287 Law’sdisorder 287 Law’sjobs 290 Law’stwostories 295 Law’samazingtrick 299 Rewritinginlaw 301 11 Change and indeterminacy in law 305 ArgumentsfortheclaimthatFishisanindeterminacytheorist 305
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