Tragedy in Ethics and Law: Other Voices of Dionysus

This book explores the relationship between tragedy and the justice that is sought in moral philosophy and the law. It shows how our moral and legal judgments can be seen as aesthetic or tragic judgments, and it considers what kind of passion or vocation moves the science and scholarship of law. It questions how democracy relates to the tragic dimension of existence and the conscience of so-called ‘democratic man.’ Using Nietzsche as a point of departure, these considerations fuel a tragic-creative ethics as well as an artistic excellence that promises to be vital both in theory and also in the practice of democracy, lawgiving and adjudication. From Nietzsche’s call to revive tragic thought to the voices of Pascal, Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Buber, and Tillich, a new path unfolds—one that reconnects law with life, creativity, and conscience. This book is of interest to researchers, advanced students, and professionals interested in the relationship between aesthetics, ethics, and the basic foundations of law prior to a rationalist and positivist science of jurisprudence.

Timo Slootweg is Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy of Law at the Institute for Metajuridica. In 2000, Timo obtained his PhD at the Faculty of Philosophy in Rotterdam. His research interests are in the philosophy and theology of law. His monographs include From Out of the Shadow of the Law: Introduction to the Aesthetics of Law and Along Tragic Horizons: Explorations in the Aesthetics of Morality and Law.