Abstract
This Essay embarks on a metatheoretical project to provide a unifying philosophical framework for pluralistic legal theories. Put differently, it seeks to identify a structural common denominator for all pluralistic theories of law. The Essay first rejects the notion of complementarity coined by Nobel Prize laureate Niels Bohr and applied to legal theory by Izhak Englard. It then advocates the allegedly Thomist aphorism hominem unius libri timeo ("I fear the man of a single book") and connects it to Isaiah Berlin's renowned distinction between the hedgehog and the fox. The primary aim is intellectual, although--as is always the case with intellectual projects--future practical implications cannot be ruled out.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 647-669 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Tulane Law Review |
| Volume | 90 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| State | Published - 1 Feb 2016 |
Keywords
- BOHR, Niels, 1885-1962
- ENGLARD, Izhak
- LEGAL pluralism
- JURISPRUDENCE
- INTELLECTUALS