Monograph by Gilbert Leung
This book seeks to engage in a renewed thinking of law through the work of Jean-Luc Nancy, a phil... more This book seeks to engage in a renewed thinking of law through the work of Jean-Luc Nancy, a philosopher who was once described by Jacques Derrida as the writer of some of the "immense philosophic works of our time".
Chapters include: 1) The First Question of Law; 2) Force as Sense; 3) Law, Violence, Sovereignty; 4) Natural Law; 5) Human Rights; 6) Law, Justice and the Political.
In addition to an extended analysis of these themes, the book includes an in-depth interview that will provide the reader with a direct insight into Nancy's often startling but always inspiring approach to thinking the ground of law.
Book Chapters by Gilbert Leung
Disobedience: Concept and Practice, Oct 10, 2013
In this chapter, the idea of ‘peace’ is linked to sovereignty through a stroke of irony in Kant’s... more In this chapter, the idea of ‘peace’ is linked to sovereignty through a stroke of irony in Kant’s essay on ‘perpetual peace’, in which he recounts that such an inscription was once put on a Dutch innkeeper’s signboard along with a picture of a graveyard. The graveyard is by definition the place where the dead are buried, the zone of pure silence after the end. While such a silence can be seen in terms of the oppressiveness of state-level sovereignty—a silencing—it will nevertheless be argued that silence, in its ontological relation to sovereignty, can also manifest itself in a sovereign counter-sovereignty, that is to say, political resistance.
Jean-Luc Nancy: Justice, Legality and World (London & New York, Continuum 2012)
New Critical Legal Thinking: Law, Politics and the Political (Routledge 2012), Jul 5, 2012
Access here: http://gilbertleung.net/2014/01/01/towards-a-radical-cosmopolitanism.
Cosmopolita... more Access here: http://gilbertleung.net/2014/01/01/towards-a-radical-cosmopolitanism.
Cosmopolitanism as an expression of human unity can be traced back to the noble philosophy of the Ancient Stoics, from Cleanthes to Seneca to Cicero. Yet the Stoics did not, contrary to popular perception, have a monopoly over the use of the term. Long before them, Diogenes the Kynic (kyon [gen. kynos] "dog" whence cynic), the founder of the most scorned form of anti-philosophy in Ancient Greece, had already identified himself as "kosmopolitēs". This essay is an original attempt to think through this other use of the word. The aim is not to replicate or monumentalize kynical cosmopolitanism. Instead, I try to conceive a form of 'postkynical' cosmopolitanism through, inter alia, a productive thinking of the aporetic relation between law and freedom. In stark contrast to the conventional Stoic/Kantian cosmopolitanism of global pacification, I eventually arrive at a radical cosmopolitics of world creation or what I simply term 'political cosmogenesis'.
Journal Articles by Gilbert Leung
Ethical Perspectives, Mar 29, 2013
Cosmopolitanism or cosmic/universal citizenship is a powerful ethical and political discourse tha... more Cosmopolitanism or cosmic/universal citizenship is a powerful ethical and political discourse that has been deployed in a variety of ways since its inception in the Ancient Greek world. This paper briefly surveys a selection of contemporary mainstream accounts, which are also liberal, top-down accounts, as represented by David Held, Jürgen Habermas, and Martha Nussbaum. It then proceeds to outline a number of critiques, of which it is suggested the most important are the concept’s supposed relation to imperialism and the tendency in liberal discourses to erase political antagonism. The paper then proceeds to show how a range of bottom-up and radical approaches, as represented by Fuyuki Kurasawa, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Jacques Derrida, Hardt & Negri, and Costs Douzinas, can serve to imagine cosmopolitanism differently. The aim of this essay is restricted to showing that it is possible, contrary to common understanding, to conceive cosmopolitanism outside standard liberal discourses and in terms of a radically democratic, anti-hegemonic, and antagonistic mode of political resistance. It concludes, somewhat paradoxically, that it is only when cosmopolitanism acts against cosmopolitanism that the concept’s place in the history of ideas is not foreclosed.
Journal of Law and Humanities
""‘ … when nothing else from today has a future, our laughter is the one thing that does!’ (F Nie... more ""‘ … when nothing else from today has a future, our laughter is the one thing that does!’ (F Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, [CUP 2002] 114)
This paper attempts to show how a form of existential laughter might relate to the radical critique of law and, as such, may be seen as a supplement to Peter Goodrich’s ‘Satirical Legal Studies’. The principle thesis that will be defended is the following: To think the essence of laughter is, paradoxically, to think it as without essence, to think it as the burst from nothing. This may seem a rather unproductive nihilism, but it will be argued that the burst from nothing is equally a burst of creation, a quasi-secular sovereign moment that has ethico-political ramifications at the ontological level. Laughter bursts out in surprise and propels being to another place, even or perhaps especially, towards a future.""
Law, Culture and the Humanities, 2009
This article excavates certain hidden and suppressed moments in the ancient and modern history of... more This article excavates certain hidden and suppressed moments in the ancient and modern history of cosmopolitanism. In contradistinction to mainstreamcosmopolitanism, which generally reduces the concept to a liberal politicsof global pacification, an essential agonism between cosmos and polis that is further reflected in the aporetic relation between freedom and law will berevealed. Cosmopolitanism is not only a philosophy of perpetual peace, it isalso, paradoxically, a call to perpetual provocation.
Law and Critique, Jan 1, 2009
At a time of unprecedented migration and social displacement, following a century ravaged by war ... more At a time of unprecedented migration and social displacement, following a century ravaged by war and hegemonic shift, the question of hospitality presents itself with unparalleled urgency. Taking his cue from Immanuel Kant’s cosmopolitics, Jacques Derrida addressed this question by deliberating on the nature of the political obligation to the other person. Invoking the work of Emmanuel Levinas, this demand is first of all ethical, and unconditional. But Derrida was also acutely aware of the residual violence of the hospitable gesture, which always takes place in a scene of power. The resultant aporias at the heart of hospitality provoked debate between the two authors at the 2007 Critical Legal Conference, and this paper seeks to elucidate and elaborate on this encounter. At stake are the matters of the potential political forms of hospitality, whether it should always be striven for and, ultimately, how one can conceptually reconcile its ethics with its violence.
A basic critique of modern cosmopolitanism through its overt humanist and covert imperialist pret... more A basic critique of modern cosmopolitanism through its overt humanist and covert imperialist pretensions. There are inherent tensions in cosmopolitanism that invite us to see it not as a solution but as a basic question of legal subjectivity. In one form it asks: Who is the ‘human’ of human rights? In another form: Who is the ‘citizen’ of citizenship?
Talks by Gilbert Leung
Paper delivered at the 'First Latin American Conference of Research Groups in Critical Theory: La... more Paper delivered at the 'First Latin American Conference of Research Groups in Critical Theory: Law, Postcolonial studies and political philosophy' at the Universidad del Atlántico, Colombia (2–4 October 2013). Includes Video.
Sculpting the human: Sculpt and Human: Two profound lexemes, both intimately linked with law.
This presentation is a few notes on a question. The question being: What does it mean to say: the... more This presentation is a few notes on a question. The question being: What does it mean to say: the free space of thinking? As my title suggests, I would like to relate the free space of thinking to what one might simply call nomadic thinking. To this end, I will draw upon Deleuze and Guattari's Nomadology and, in addition, the work of Jean-Luc Nancy in order to effect a kind of cross-fertilisation. What I will try to present is the following: first, an impossibly brief conspectus of Nancy's ideas on freedom, space, and what it means to think; second, a brief remark on the relevance of Deleuze and Guattari's nomad war machine; and finally, an all too hasty conclusion that will affirm the necessity to think critique in terms of a critical agency or, what amounts to the same thing, a warring subjectivity.
Justice' I would like to provide you with a fuller picture of the idea of cosmopolitanism and its... more Justice' I would like to provide you with a fuller picture of the idea of cosmopolitanism and its relevance for international lawyers.
An ancient fragment of around 500 BCE and attributed to Heraclitus reads: φύσις κρύπτεσθαι φιλεῖ ... more An ancient fragment of around 500 BCE and attributed to Heraclitus reads: φύσις κρύπτεσθαι φιλεῖ (phusis kruptesthai philei). Pierre Hadot, in his wonderful history of the concept of nature, argues that the word phusis does not mean here a fixed and permanent essence, but a thing's process of realization, genesis, appearance, or growth i.e. the totality of the process from
Critical Legal Thinking (.com) by Gilbert Leung
Law is, metaphorically speaking, a fugue. This metaphor is intended to compare law with the form,... more Law is, metaphorically speaking, a fugue. This metaphor is intended to compare law with the form, structure, and spirit of fugue, and by doing so to provide yet another way to (partially) reveal the nature of law.
Critical Legal Thinking
Intro: Jean-Luc Nancy notes three ways that fictions have been associated with law: 1) juris... more Intro: Jean-Luc Nancy notes three ways that fictions have been associated with law: 1) jurisprudential exercises that require imagining the extent of the applicability of the law, 2) the mysterious ground of the constitution, and 3) in Roman law, the extension of the law to cases it did not cover. (Nancy 156) Beyond this, Nancy demonstrates that jurisdiction itself — the extent of the power to make a legal decision or judgment — is ultimately a fictional construct. This he calls ‘jurisfiction’ ...
Critical Legal Thinking
Intro: In his distinctive concern for etymology, Nancy notes that abandonment contains th... more Intro: In his distinctive concern for etymology, Nancy notes that abandonment contains the semantic unit bandon, which is ‘an order, a prescription, a decree, a permission, and the power that holds these freely at its disposal.’ (Nancy 1993, 44) A ban in this context should be understood as a general proclamation of the sovereign rather than specific prohibition. To abandon, therefore, is to be delivered over to the sovereign ban and, as such, one always abandons to a law ...
Intro: Following on from my Impressions of the Critical Legal Conference 2012, in which I p... more Intro: Following on from my Impressions of the Critical Legal Conference 2012, in which I proposed a return to thinking in terms of definitions of law (emphasis on the plural), I here offer a version of my forthcoming entry on ‘Law’ for The Nancy Dictionary (Edinburgh University Press 2013). Readers will note that I provide an explanation of two ways that Jean-Luc Nancy uses law: one is classically juridical, the other is ontological. In fact there is at least one further way he understands and uses the term that I don’t go into for want of space; and that is, following Kant, in a priori relation to freedom. For legal theorists like Herbert Hart, such ‘stipulative’, ‘pragmatic’, or ‘constructive’ approaches to conceiving law avoid rather than resolve the central problem of properly defining it. Hart provided his own solution, a sociological description of the conditions in which law operates, which has been considered by some to suffer its own problems. Notwithstanding, I find it more interesting to go beyond Hart’s self-imposed remit by considering how multiple conceptions of law in different contexts can be used to advance the theoretical humanities in general. The following will hopefully exemplify this ...
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Monograph by Gilbert Leung
Chapters include: 1) The First Question of Law; 2) Force as Sense; 3) Law, Violence, Sovereignty; 4) Natural Law; 5) Human Rights; 6) Law, Justice and the Political.
In addition to an extended analysis of these themes, the book includes an in-depth interview that will provide the reader with a direct insight into Nancy's often startling but always inspiring approach to thinking the ground of law.
Book Chapters by Gilbert Leung
A preview of the first part of the collection, which includes Nancy's essay "From the Imperative to Law" can be found here: http://cipg.codemantra.us/UI_TRANSACTIONS/Marketing/UI_Marketing.aspx?ID=WP9781441123787&ISBN=9781441123787&sts=b#3"""
Cosmopolitanism as an expression of human unity can be traced back to the noble philosophy of the Ancient Stoics, from Cleanthes to Seneca to Cicero. Yet the Stoics did not, contrary to popular perception, have a monopoly over the use of the term. Long before them, Diogenes the Kynic (kyon [gen. kynos] "dog" whence cynic), the founder of the most scorned form of anti-philosophy in Ancient Greece, had already identified himself as "kosmopolitēs". This essay is an original attempt to think through this other use of the word. The aim is not to replicate or monumentalize kynical cosmopolitanism. Instead, I try to conceive a form of 'postkynical' cosmopolitanism through, inter alia, a productive thinking of the aporetic relation between law and freedom. In stark contrast to the conventional Stoic/Kantian cosmopolitanism of global pacification, I eventually arrive at a radical cosmopolitics of world creation or what I simply term 'political cosmogenesis'.
Journal Articles by Gilbert Leung
This paper attempts to show how a form of existential laughter might relate to the radical critique of law and, as such, may be seen as a supplement to Peter Goodrich’s ‘Satirical Legal Studies’. The principle thesis that will be defended is the following: To think the essence of laughter is, paradoxically, to think it as without essence, to think it as the burst from nothing. This may seem a rather unproductive nihilism, but it will be argued that the burst from nothing is equally a burst of creation, a quasi-secular sovereign moment that has ethico-political ramifications at the ontological level. Laughter bursts out in surprise and propels being to another place, even or perhaps especially, towards a future.""
Talks by Gilbert Leung
Critical Legal Thinking (.com) by Gilbert Leung
Chapters include: 1) The First Question of Law; 2) Force as Sense; 3) Law, Violence, Sovereignty; 4) Natural Law; 5) Human Rights; 6) Law, Justice and the Political.
In addition to an extended analysis of these themes, the book includes an in-depth interview that will provide the reader with a direct insight into Nancy's often startling but always inspiring approach to thinking the ground of law.
A preview of the first part of the collection, which includes Nancy's essay "From the Imperative to Law" can be found here: http://cipg.codemantra.us/UI_TRANSACTIONS/Marketing/UI_Marketing.aspx?ID=WP9781441123787&ISBN=9781441123787&sts=b#3"""
Cosmopolitanism as an expression of human unity can be traced back to the noble philosophy of the Ancient Stoics, from Cleanthes to Seneca to Cicero. Yet the Stoics did not, contrary to popular perception, have a monopoly over the use of the term. Long before them, Diogenes the Kynic (kyon [gen. kynos] "dog" whence cynic), the founder of the most scorned form of anti-philosophy in Ancient Greece, had already identified himself as "kosmopolitēs". This essay is an original attempt to think through this other use of the word. The aim is not to replicate or monumentalize kynical cosmopolitanism. Instead, I try to conceive a form of 'postkynical' cosmopolitanism through, inter alia, a productive thinking of the aporetic relation between law and freedom. In stark contrast to the conventional Stoic/Kantian cosmopolitanism of global pacification, I eventually arrive at a radical cosmopolitics of world creation or what I simply term 'political cosmogenesis'.
This paper attempts to show how a form of existential laughter might relate to the radical critique of law and, as such, may be seen as a supplement to Peter Goodrich’s ‘Satirical Legal Studies’. The principle thesis that will be defended is the following: To think the essence of laughter is, paradoxically, to think it as without essence, to think it as the burst from nothing. This may seem a rather unproductive nihilism, but it will be argued that the burst from nothing is equally a burst of creation, a quasi-secular sovereign moment that has ethico-political ramifications at the ontological level. Laughter bursts out in surprise and propels being to another place, even or perhaps especially, towards a future.""
Please note that in transcribing the workshop I have endeavoured to reproduce as faithfully as possible the free flowing style and nuances of the spoken word. I have made adjustments but only when absolutely necessary. Jean-Luc Nancy expressly bears no responsibility for the text. That burden must lie with me. He has, nonetheless, gracefully consented to its free distribution."