The Political Constitution of the Parallel Universe
Location:
Usha Kasera Lecture Theater
Old College
Date/time
Tue 3 June 2025
17:00 - 18:30
Seminar talk by David Dyzenhaus University Professor of Law and Philosophy
"My lecture will be based on the last chapter of a six-chapter draft of a book, a chapter entitled "The Political Constitution of the Parallel Universe". It deals with the way that the Oxford-based Judicial Power Project and Common Good Project unite in the person of John Finnis and explores Finnis's troubled and troubling relationship with liberalism. I argue that the political dimension of Finnis's work does not have its roots in the thought of Aquinas or in something called the 'classical' or 'natural law' tradition. Rather, its roots are in the work of the authoritarian political and legal theories from the 1930s of Eric Voegelin and Carl Schmitt. It is these theories that explain the kinds of arguments make by the lawyers of the Judicial Power Project over the years, arguments which make it appropriate to understand their project as an Executive Power Project, one designed to hand power to the "ruler" who will "promulgate the common good"".
This event is in person only.
Image credit: Freepik