Freedom and Time: A Theory of Constitutional Self-GovernmentYale University Press, 2008 M10 1 - 272 páginas Should we try to “live in the present”? Such is the imperative of modernity, Jed Rubenfeld writes in this important and original work of political theory. Since Jefferson proclaimed that “the earth belongs to the living”—since Freud announced that mental health requires people to “get free of their past”—since Nietzsche declared that the happy man is the man who “leaps” into “the moment—modernity has directed its inhabitants to live in the present, as if there alone could they find happiness, authenticity, and above all freedom. But this imperative, Rubenfeld argues, rests on a profoundly inadequate, deforming picture of the relationship between freedom and time. Instead, Rubenfeld suggests, human freedom—human being itself—-necessarily extends into both past and future; self-government consists of giving our lives meaning and purpose over time. From this conception of self-government, Rubenfeld derives a new theory of constitutional law’s place in democracy. Democracy, he writes, is not a matter of governance by the present “will of the people” it is a matter of a nation’s laying down and living up to enduring political and legal commitments. Constitutionalism is not counter to democracy, as many believe, or a pre-condition of democracy; it is or should be democracy itself--over time. On this basis, Rubenfeld offers a new understanding of constitutional interpretation and of the fundamental right of privacy. |
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
Freedom and Time: A Theory of Constitutional Self-Government Jed Rubenfeld Vista previa limitada - 2008 |
Freedom and Time: A Theory of Constitutional Self-government Jed Rubenfeld Sin vista previa disponible - 2001 |
Términos y frases comunes
affirmative action American argument basis black codes Bork citizens claim commitment commitmentarian conception of self-government Condorcet paradoxes constitution-writing constitutional law constitutional rights constitutionalism as democracy contemporary contrary Court decision democracy democratic equal protection clause example existence fact force foundational paradigm Fourteenth Amendment freedom future harm principle Hence ideal identity individual autonomy interpretation intransitive intransitive preferences Jacques Derrida Jed Rubenfeld Jefferson judges judicial review justice legitimate liberal liberty living logic Lotion Madison majoritarian majority means ment Mill modern moral never normative obliged one’s original originalist paradigm case method past person political possible present-tense principle problem question racial rational reason requires right of privacy Robert Bork Rousseau rule segregation self-government sense sex discrimination social society speech speech-modeled conception speech-modeled self-government strict scrutiny supra Chapter supra note temporally extended theory thing thought tion unconstitutional understand violate voice words writing written constitutionalism