Critique of the “Juridical”: Some Metatheoretical Remarks

Abstract

In the context of the renaissance of critical legal theory and in particular its growing popularity in Central and Eastern Europe, the paper aims at a preliminary metatheoretical enquiry concerning the identity of critical legal science. In particular, the paper enquires about the identity of critique as applied in critical legal science, as well as about the method and object of that critique. It also highlights the importance of the triangular relationship between the juridical, the political and ideology as the central theme of critical legal science.

Pedagogies of the Poor: Resisting Resilience in Eastern Europe and Beyond

“…Anna Grear, writing for the influential journal, Law and Critique, itself edited by Douzinas, has argued that critical legal scholarship needs to get busy with delivering resilience in today's world of climate crisis and what, as we will see later, is now called the Anthropocene (Grear 2015, 246). If legal critique is to meet the challenges which it has posed for itself, as expressed clearly by Rafał Mańko, of exposing the function of law in maintaining hegemonic ideology, as well as the function of hegemonic ideology within law itself, then it needs to address, also, the ways in which 'critique' itself too often serves to mask ideology (Mańko 2018). Legal critique is no exception to this danger of 'critique' turning toxic.…”